Not all that great - Recensione dipendente - Freelancer presso Source.ag

This review comes from an ex-employee that has just been part of a mass layoff, so it might be a bit biased. At first sight, the company is built on a smart idea (using technology to help greenhouse growers), has been well funded so far (over 30 million Euros) and is located in Amsterdam. Sounds perfect, right? Recent actions from management would suggest it's not that perfect: one morning, management suddenly decided to lay off 20% of the company because it just found out that the company is running out of money faster than expected (seems accounting and math are too hard for an AI company). No prior warnings and no efforts to take any measures to protect it's people. Stated reason: "We were too ambitious and promised too much. Sorry" Did they do any cost cutting first? No, on the contrary: recently moved to a new and bigger office to better fit all the people, expanding in North America with new offices and new hires, recently hired a bunch of people in the Netherlands, not long ago had a roof-top terrace company party, free company lunch plus free drinks and snacks, new and expensive Macbooks for all new hires, and other perks. As if money is not a problem and the company is doing very well financially. Even when directly asking management about runway and funding everything seemed positive. My take on what led to this: inexperienced management with no clear vision and maybe not enough technical background + working on too many products at once, instead of first building the core technology that would allow those products to function in the first place + poor people management + spending money inefficiently + dishonesty + not great times for funding (which is not their fault). The company is built on a mission with a large emphatic side - healthy food voor everyone - but management showed no empathy for it's own people and just disposed of them on a whim. Is this irony or hypocrisy?