21 feb 2020
Risposta di PotGuide
5yA disappointing review, however, the sentiments contained within are the result of a disgruntled employee. To put things into context, this review was left by the first and only employee to be terminated from PotGuide in our 7-year history. While we certainly don’t deny there are some factual statements in the review, there are also many misrepresentations as well as outright falsehoods.
First, I’d like to provide insight into why the Reviewer was terminated. Among other things that are HR protected, on a base level, they exhibited an unwillingness to follow guidance and requests, were dishonest on multiple occasions and would fail to show up for work without notification. They were often confrontational and disrespectful to their co-workers as well as our sales prospects. It’s also important to note that the Reviewer was at the company for 8 weeks before being terminated.
One of the reasons the Reviewer was hired was due to their record in building a ‘book’ of recurring business at their previous employer, which is also involved in cannabis media and advertising. What they failed to disclose during the vetting process was that the vast majority (90%+) of their sales at their previous employer involved selling to unlicensed (illegal) dispensary and delivery services in District of Columbia, California and Michigan. PotGuide only markets towards legal, licensed businesses, however, the Reviewer constantly pressured us to take advertising money from illegal businesses.
The issue resulting from this deceptive behavior is the sales approach and success rate will vary greatly between licensed and unlicensed businesses, the latter being much easier to ‘sell’ as they lack legal channels for marketing. A lot of the Reviewer’s negative sentiment originates from frustration in their lack of ability to make sales to licensed operations and transition from selling to black market businesses. Post-termination, we received negative feedback from prospects about the Reviewer’s approach and “pushy” sales tactics.
Overall, this hire did not fit into our company values and work ethic, and culturally was clashing with the team and collaborative working environment. Furthermore, the expectations for this hire were clearly laid out in the job description and they showed an initial willingness to work hard during the interview process. Upon starting however, that sentiment changed and the Reviewer acted as if these aspects were not discussed or laid out, becoming abrasive when tasks were asked of them.
If you are interested at working at PotGuide, the first task is to leave your ego at the door. Since we are a small team, expectations include a willingness to assist and contribute to many areas of the business. My philosophy is no person, including myself, is “above” any needed task. I like to say if somebody needs to clean the toilets, I would be the first to volunteer. People who bark orders or speak down to others is not acceptable at PotGuide. I’m not happy unless the team is happy, we do have a lot of fun in the office and I consider my co-workers friends first and foremost.
I have a results-focused management style, conveying the desired goal and allowing my co-workers to implement their strategy and processes. The team’s goal is to assist their co-workers as needed to reach the desired outcome of progressing the company forward so we can all rise together. My duty is to provide as much desired support as possible to my teammates and not micro-manage. Do I always have the correct answers or guidance? No, I’ll be the first to admit that. Ultimately any failures at the company are my responsibility and provide valuable lessons to help myself become a better manager and leader.
Finally, I would like to address some of the additional criticisms in the review, which I certainly don’t want to nitpick apart, but feel it is important to provide factual information.
Our company turn-over has been low, all but one employee has been at the company for over a year, many for multiple years. The Reviewer also mentions knowing why the co-founder departed the company yet has never communicated with them. This is purely speculation and not factual information.
We are not “bleeding money,” we’ve been around for 7 years with just 60k of funding in 2015. Feel free to verify on Crunchbase. Our positive revenues fund our operations.
We have many automations such as collaboration software to keep the team working cohesively as we are all working remotely during COVID.
We are one of the largest cannabis sites in the world with over 1.6M monthly visitors, and have achieved a level of success that many of our competitors have been unable to achieve even with millions in funding and 10x the personnel. The reason? An amazing team of people, both current and past, who have made countless contributions and had a blast doing so. We welcome hard-working employees from all walks of life to be a part of our culture.