Laid off half the company and we all saw it coming - Anonymous employee StyleSeat Employee Review

1.0
19 Sept 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Really great vision Amazing perks You actually have work/life balance

Cons

Silicon Valley is a metrics based world but StyleSeat isn't a metrics based company. The people that actually cared about data were either laid off months ago or left on their own accord (to join some of the top tech companies in the valley.) The CEO, Melody, doesn't understand numbers at all. There were many impressive employees that would hit insane goals and run amazing, strategic tests and engineers were building incredible tools. Seemed like this company was going places! Things seemed to change in an instant. People disappeared one-by-one and no one knew why. We always knew everyone's targets and accomplishments thanks to our Monday Meetings but people were really succeeding would suddenly be laid off. Whispers really started happening when a marketing employees were let-go, seemingly on a whim, and they were all replaced by a VP from a certain company and her team. They were really difficult to work with and we lost faith in Melody as we all saw that they weren't capable and that decision came from her lack of experience in operations. The new VP and her team were also let go after 3 months. My main issue was that it seemed she wasn't interested in the product at all. It was tough because a lot of us put our hearts and soul into something we believed in. She would ask "Since when have we had this feature!?" and no one knew how to answer the question... because the feature had been there all along. A few months ago, about half the company was laid off. We weren't generating revenue and the CEO invested in a new marketing team that had never driven revenue before. The campaigns failed. The money was gone. Now, I hear everyone is looking to leave. I'm so sad because I spent so much time on a vision that could change the world. In the period of 6 months, things changed and the only thing I can point to as to why, is the CEO. She's also NASTY to people and about people. After she hangs up the phone, she'll say really rude things about the person she was talking to. I'm still in shock.

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StyleSeat Response
9y
We appreciate you taking the time to write a review and providing what you feel is honest feedback. Running a business can sometimes mean changing direction in order to do what is best for the company. Our priority is to treat all employees with respect and appreciation for their contributions and we know that StyleSeat's continued growth and success depends on our people just as much as the leaders. Thank you for the work you did while you were with us, and we wish you much luck and success in your future endeavors.

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Pros

- Awesome managers - Interesting projects

Cons

Can't really think of cons. Mostly a positive experience

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StyleSeat Response
2y
We're delighted to hear that your experience was largely positive. Thank you for your contributions to StyleSeat.
1.0
8 Apr 2026
Recommend
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Pros

Talented individuals across teams, especially among peers - Opportunity to learn quickly in an unstructured environment - Exposure to multiple functions (sales, onboarding, retention, support)

Cons

Compensation structure lacked transparency. The role was presented with a base salary, but in practice operated as a quota-dependent structure where earnings were contingent on hitting targets, without clear communication upfront. - No sales infrastructure at launch. No dialer, no real CRM discipline, and no consistent tracking of activity or performance for a founding sales team. - Constantly shifting expectations. KPIs, responsibilities, and priorities changed frequently without clear direction. - Role ambiguity. SDRs were expected to perform full-cycle sales, onboarding, retention, and customer support simultaneously. - Lead quality issues. Outreach was primarily directed at competitors’ existing users, many of whom had already tried and rejected the product. - Lack of cross-functional alignment. Sales, marketing, and customer support operated in silos, often sending conflicting messages to customers. - Product-market fit challenges. Retention issues were known internally but not addressed at the root, creating friction in sales conversations and onboarding. - Culture of optics over execution. Emphasis on narrative (“bullish on sales,” “VIP experiences”) without the systems to support those initiatives.

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