Loom reviews

The product has great potential (more on that later) but your experience at Loom will definitely depend on if you are a manager or IC. If you are a manager at Loom, you’ll get lots of power, pay, and room to grow even if it’s your first time managing a team. The learning curve can be steep, but Loom will be patient with your progress. As an IC, you can expect to wait a long time to level up if at all. You are expected to be the best of the best to get the recognition you deserve so don’t count on a promotion or raise even after putting in the work. I have never experienced the divide between leadership and ICs as much as I have at Loom. Engagement surveys show how bad things have gotten and eNPS scores are tanking across core teams (we are talking single digits out of 100 for product, engineering, and design which are core teams). Back to the product. While the core product is fantastic, Loom just rolled out Loom HQ, which most of the company was against. It's caused a lot of behind-the-scenes friction and confusion over the direction this company is headed in. As the company scales rapidly, the cofounders seem to be losing their way. The CEO is learning to be an executive in real time but its clear he is better suited and more interested in being a product leader. The CTO is overly involved in non-technical projects and his priorities are very confusing. He clearly wants control of Loom’s culture without the operations background to properly execute his ideas. Both cofounders are close friends with early employees and aren’t shy about hanging out with them which gives off a sense of favoritism and unfair treatment to the rest of the company. Not a good look for a company this size and stage. The pressure of building a company with a product that has a lot of traction after the pandemic isn’t for everyone and the positive reviews the cofounders have left of themselves on Glassdoor show that they aren’t great at handling criticism which is a major red flag as leaders. Remember at the end of the day these are the guys that are your manager’s managers. They are the ones reporting to the board. Also, managers and leaders are asked to leave favorable Glassdoor reviews which skews stats because they are the ones with most leeway in the company anyway as I explained above. But even then multiple execs (VP level) have left due to burnout in the last year (Marketing, Design, People), and new execs are creating very stressful environments for their teams as they try to reach unrealistic goals. This isn’t meant to be a criticism of either of the cofounders, these are just observations, actions, and consequences that people should know about. I’m sure they’re decent people but what matters is who they are in a work context. Since everything trickles from the top their lack of focus causes thrash that even the most junior members of the company can feel. Loom isn’t a huge company so it is important for anyone considering working here to know these things. There is a difference between creating a product and creating a company, and Loom seems to think its product is enough to create a company. It’s not. Its buying too much into its own sales pitch…sure the product helps with remote and hybrid work and is a great product but it isn’t the only solution. We still have issues with communicating, managing time, and getting our own team members to feel comfortable with recording Looms. No meeting Wednesdays are good but it can still be a struggle at times. The culture is changing a lot which you can expect at a growing company. Attrition is growing and I wouldn’t be surprised if attrition is on an upswing in a few months as employees reach their first or second anniversaries and get their equity mostly vested. I’ll probably be one of them. People aren’t mass quitting yet but whenever I hear about who is leaving it is always someone who had a big presence at the company and/or a POC. From my perspective Loom operates as: profit/product and then people. Loom is trying hard to be the social network for work but the lack of support for ICs, poor communication practices and culture shows that a social network isn’t enough. If you are an IC who is ok with just showing up getting your paycheck and moving on with your life you can tolerate this place. But if you want to grow and thrive and have a career defining experience look somewhere else. There are other companies where the drama doesn't take away from what could otherwise be a good career experience.

- If you’re looking to climb the ladder quickly, or god forbid you were misleveled when you came in, you will probably always be playing catch-up. The most recent calibration round has left a lot of employees far behind in title and level (which impacts your pay and equity) that those employees are performing at. There are many flight-risks as a result and anticipate a lot of churn on several teams, which has already begun. - The leadership team loves the idea of people over product, but in practice they do not prioritize career growth or recognizing an individual contributor’s performance or value. The main way for a company to show appreciation to their employees is time and money. With efforts around no-meeting Fridays, company-wide closures during the year, and unlimited PTO, they are definitely trying with time. But unfortunately once you’re hired, there isn’t much opportunities for increase in salary, even with promotions. - As is often the case, you can make a lot more being a contractor, so several contractors are choosing to stay on a contract basis, and at least one person has made the jump from full-time back to contracting, so if company equity isn’t a big deal to you, staying a contractor may be in your best interest. - The company is growing fast and there are some major growing pains. Processes and teams need to scale effectively and quickly. Headcount planning is incredibly important and some teams aren’t getting the headcount they need and have to rely on contractors. - The product strategy currently seems to be throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, but they don’t invest in what sticks. There are a lot of ideas for features, but none of them are best in class. For example, there is so much room for improvement when it comes to speed, transcription, video and sound quality, accessibility, and closed captions. - While the company is remote-first, hiring is prioritized in the US and Canada, and traveling abroad for any extended period of time is not encouraged. It’s possible, if you are willing to work with insane time differences, but you would be met with a lot of pushback if you planned to do this. A few team members with family in India have done this, but few of them recommend it. Depending on how long you stay in other countries, or if you maintain a US address, your pay may be affected to account for that country’s tax laws and local salary standards.