What I don't get is this; how does Living Social do ~$500mm in revenue and still fail to be in the black? It's not like they have any physical merchandise. All their expenses should be personnel, servers and bandwidth right? How are they bleeding through over $500mm in a year then? All the employees are overpaid? Paying too much for servers?
There are a couple disparate pieces to their earning puzzle that don't quite add up to me : 1. Many here seem to feel that taking 50% is unfair to their merchant partners. Yet, they are nonetheless struggling to turn a profit 2. Like any other coupon, LS deals run the risk of un-use. Speaking for myself, I have forgotten about at least 4 separate deals, and am not an active "daily deals" consumer. How can LS ever be…
What really happened at LivingSocial?
141–150 of 154 posts
Re: What really happened at LivingSocial?
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
Looking at the Founder's background and the roster of corporate clients, PrivCo look fairly legit. http://www.privco.com/our-team/founder-and-ceo
LivingSocial denied unequivocally the following: * That the investors PrivCo mentioned as participants were participants or even investors in LivingSocial * That it was a debt round rather than an equity round * That the liquidation preferences on the deal came close to 4x * That it repriced existing shareholders * That quotes attributed to LivingSocial personnel were real These are not minor details. They are major…
PrivCo is contextualizing an apparent leak with what it thinks it knows about the company finances and making a judgment call about the reliability of their sources. That isn't horrible journalism and if they are right this piece is miles above most of what passes for tech journalism online. And if it is wrong they have just tanked their reputation Judith Miller style and posters like the one above will be able to support their claims in the future.
In the meantime, dealing with this sort of thing is part-and-parcel of running a very public business that has taken nearly a billion dollars in outside investment. You are going to have aggrieved investors and employees when things go sour. They seem to be handling it professionally.
Re: What really happened at LivingSocial?
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
Looking at the Founder's background and the roster of corporate clients, PrivCo look fairly legit. http://www.privco.com/our-team/founder-and-ceo
LivingSocial denied unequivocally the following: * That the investors PrivCo mentioned as participants were participants or even investors in LivingSocial * That it was a debt round rather than an equity round * That the liquidation preferences on the deal came close to 4x * That it repriced existing shareholders * That quotes attributed to LivingSocial personnel were real These are not minor details. They are major…
First, it bothers me that in this initial memo announcing the funding he said nothing but how terrific it is that their investors love LivingSocial's financial performance SO much that they doubled down with more money. NO mention that they were down to their last month of cash left. NO mention that they had to give up the farm to get the money. NO naming (as is the custom) of the investors who invested (i.e. hiding that some did not...usually ALL prior investors put in at least a nominal amount and a new lead investor "leads the round). Here it was very bizarre the investors weren't named.
And he doesn't say anything about this NOT just being a standard straight VC stock round, but only when pushed by PrivCo he coughs up yea ok the securities do "have some bells and whistles" that makes the employees' stock worth less. No mention of that on Wed. announcement (before privco forced the issue). Then he has the balls to suggest that don't worry if we IPO all of this won't matter. He the the guys KNOWS they'll never IPO.
So call me old fashiond but that just bugs me. And hats off to PrivCo or any other media/research firm that calls companies out (esp private ones you can't even short sell...they took all their time prepping their research and went out ona limn for what? Bunch of blog posts criticizing em b/c CEO who has no more credibility IMO just says so, and he's the son in law of the CEO of the Washington Post, so he can say whatever the f'k he wants and we're all just supposed to take it all at face value.
Obv PrivCo made every effort to get the facts right - they just even outed the sr. exec at Living Social to prove they didn't make up quotes: http://www.privco.com/livingsocial-receives-emergency-110m-c... (at the bottom) - nobody even the NYTImes bats 1,000, but this LIvingSocial CEO's arrogant dishonesty to those 4,000 employees while he cuts a side deal i'm sure so he gets some millions no matter how badly it tanks....well I just don't like it and I don't trust him one bit. It's drip drip drip with this guy. Spit it out: we basically borrowed money, we were almost out of cash, we call it equity but it has interest, loan's due in 4 yrs, we call it a "VC round" but look we had to do it. Now we need a new strategy and streamline.
Re: What really happened at LivingSocial?
#144privco's sales people e-mailed the address on my company's domain and offered research services. when we declined, four days later an article ran on privco (an 'exclusive') reporting that we refused comment on something we had never seen which was an article full of made-up dire horseshit. so I was left explaining to my employees why this company was out to get us and no, I wasn't misleading them about our finances.…
Re: What really happened at LivingSocial?
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
Looking at the Founder's background and the roster of corporate clients, PrivCo look fairly legit. http://www.privco.com/our-team/founder-and-ceo
LivingSocial denied unequivocally the following: * That the investors PrivCo mentioned as participants were participants or even investors in LivingSocial * That it was a debt round rather than an equity round * That the liquidation preferences on the deal came close to 4x * That it repriced existing shareholders * That quotes attributed to LivingSocial personnel were real These are not minor details. They are major…
http://www.glassdoor.com/GD/Reviews/LivingSocial-Reviews-E23...
Re: What really happened at LivingSocial?
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
Looking at the Founder's background and the roster of corporate clients, PrivCo look fairly legit. http://www.privco.com/our-team/founder-and-ceo
LivingSocial denied unequivocally the following: * That the investors PrivCo mentioned as participants were participants or even investors in LivingSocial * That it was a debt round rather than an equity round * That the liquidation preferences on the deal came close to 4x * That it repriced existing shareholders * That quotes attributed to LivingSocial personnel were real These are not minor details. They are major…
“Lies, Unprofessional Management, Abuse” Current Marketing Consultant in Township Washinton, NJ – Reviewed Dec 4, 2012
Cons – Daily HR violations Lies
“Executives are in over their head” Former Senior Marketing Associate in Washington, DC – Reviewed Feb 27, 2013 – New
Communication is pathetic. I sold takeout and delivery and I was never told when the product was going to launch until I read about it in the news. Not efficient - managers take over a month to make simple decisions that could be made in one hour. Its a "fake it till you make it" hierarchy. Directors and executives are all talk and basically take 50 PTO days and play on their computers all day. Not very motivating
Advice to Senior Management – Restructure the whole organization. Hire seasoned directors and executives instead of 20 somethings who just want to make money and have fun. Culture should be more strict.
Strategic Account Manager-Intel
VMware – Reston, VA
“Cool brand but dying industry”
Former Account Manager in San Diego, CA – Reviewed Feb 22, 2013 – New
Cons – incompetent management and dying product.
Advice to Senior Management – get out in the field“Sinking Ship” Former Sales in New York, NY – Reviewed Feb 21, 2013 – New
Advice to Senior Management – Get out now, company won't last very long
“Horrible Place, Worst Experience Ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Former Account Manager in Washington, DC – Reviewed Sep 8, 2012 No one is happy. Employees are crying in the bathrooms and taking long lunch breaks for job interviews. People are dropping left and right, either getting fired for not hitting outlandish goals or leaving for positions with an actual career path. Comp plan changes for no reason and terrible direction. All the while, they punish employees by having them go on performance plans or firing them while they are experimenting with plans. When questioned about the extremely high turnover, terrible responses such as "we only want the best" or "that's the nature of sales" is given. Instead of being an innovate company, they just want to copy others.
Worst of all, they set your expectations during the interview so high, while knowing too well that you will never make that overall comp. They are crooks!
Given how badly Groupon peformed post IPO, they can no longer go IPO, so everybody is leaving.
Be warned, stay away!!!!
Advice to Senior Management – Stop treating employees as a number and be honest with them.
“Long hours, very hard to move, do not look behind the curtain” Current Inside Sales in Washington, DC – Reviewed Jul 16, 2012 LivingSocial talks a big game about how innovated they are but their sales department is a carbon copy of every other sales department out there, if you've worked in one whip cracking sales department you've worked at LivingSocial's. The one they got going for them is a lot of young people who dont know any better and don't mind drinking the kool aid. They'll be delusional and talk about the great perks but they really don't know any better. Also, I find a lot of the practices unethical. We were told not to post fake reviews on ratings sites so that our merchants look better. But then LivingSocial corporate/HR does the same thing
The biggest con is a con in itself. “Bread and Circuses replaces all values” Former Employee in Washington, DC – Reviewed Jun 7, 2012
I would think an organization who communicates to their employees that they are not like that wouldnt: lay off influential employees, punish those who do not bend the rules, force employees into roles they are not comfortable with and threaten them with unemployment if they don't comply, make false promises, not consider all factors when coming up with performance plans, etc
- Inadequate leadership. This stems from having too many on staff that are not experienced enough to handle the tasks at hand.
- Inept leadership. I do not need the VP of sales to tell me to make more money to "just sign better deals." My eyes could not roll further back into my head.
- Comp plan changes with no rhyme or reason and terrible direction. All the while, they punish employees by having them go on performance plans or firing them while they are experimenting with plans. When questioned about the extremely high turnover, terrible responses such as "we only want the best" or "that's the nature of sales" is given. Instead of being an innovate company seems as if they want to follow lock step behind others.
- And worst of all, the Bread and Circus. LivingSocial has taken a page out of the formula the Romans used to keep the populace at bay. They knew that conditions were terrible and so to keep the general populace at bay, the Romans gave away bread and held circuses for entertainment. LivingSocial does the same and disguises it as "culture." Take away the bread and circuses and you have an extremely unhappy employee base.
Advice to Senior Management – Be an actually innovative company.
Senior Wholesaler/External Practice Management Consultant Advice to Senior Management – RETRENCH! get back the good, upscale subscribers and lose the tanning, National, and kettleball deals!
“Pitiful” Current Account Executive Manager in Orlando, FL – Reviewed Feb 26, 2012 Disgusting Local Management. Selfish to point of "winning becomes more important than ethics and honesty" Gossipy, easily put down competition when competition clearly outshines Living Social. Most unethical group of people to work with. If you have ethics, morals, scruples, a sense of fairness and have been up to this point descent - THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU. If you posses those traits run to DC and get the job. You will fit in at all levels right up to the President. By the way if I was an investor quickly demand your money back and RUN!
Advice to Senior Management – EGO's so big - they all think they are Local God's so full of Self Worship.
“I drank the Kool-Aid and woke up in Sugar Shock” Former Marketing Consultant in Brooklyn, NY – Reviewed Feb 5, 2012
“Don't waste your time!” Current Marketing Consultant in Los Angeles, CA – Reviewed Dec 1, 2011
Linux Systems Administrator – new
MITRE – McLean, VA
“Great Employees, bad communication.”
Horrible communication. Leadership was held by those with little experience who did not know how to manage people.
MorePoor management; job was not what I interviewed for” Former Employee – Reviewed Dec 10, 2012
Strategic Account Manager-Intel
“Lack of Integrity and Honesty”
Former Employee – Reviewed Nov 13, 2012Sr. Management and BP (lacking integrity and emotional maturity) Hiring people who lack certifications and credentials
Advice to Senior Management – Be honest with your employees and be sure to provide them with a solid support and development system in which you are willing to back up.
“Absolutely miserable experience full of stress and LOW PAY” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Jun 3, 2012 management that is clueless You will be churned and burned and replaces without a thought Groupon is offering better cuts and we are supposed to tell the merchant "oh well, we are God and won't do that" Don't be fooled by these phony HR planted reviews. This is a miserable existence where you will literally wake up in the middle of the night thinking "I have to get another deal." If you have any more that 5 years in sales....walk away from this. You get into sales for autonomy and the money. With this, you have NEITHER.
“Dying industry - TERRIBLE salary, zero respect for staff, unrealistic goals” Current Account Executive, Outside Sales – Reviewed Mar 4, 2012 “Merchants don't want to run deals!” Current Senior Marketing Consultant-Outside – Reviewed Jan 4, 2012
I have been at LS over 18 months. My biggest issue is that most merchants are now pretty savvy to the "deal" space and no longer want to participate. Both LS and Groupon have a bad reputation. They are unhappy with type of customer they are getting, no repeat business, only deal seekers and in some cases have been pushed to brink of bankruptcy. I would like to leave as I feel morally that what we are selling is no longer in the business owners best interests and my conscience is getting the better of me...
Advice to Senior Management – sell before it is too late!
I was misled and made a huge mistake by coming on board” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Dec 20, 2011
Markets are saturated. Trying to get 20 new clients every month is nearly impossible unless you're in a new or huge market
Advice to Senior Management – You reap what you sow. I'm checked out.
“Holding on by a thread” Former Employee – Reviewed Dec 12, 2011 Advice to Senior Management – You are a lawsuit waiting to happen
“Karma is not going to be kind Livingsocial - you are headed towards a train wreck!” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Dec 3, 2011
Re: What really happened at LivingSocial?
#147“Lies, Unprofessional Management, Abuse” Current Marketing Consultant in Township Washinton, NJ – Reviewed Dec 4, 2012
Cons – Daily HR violations Lies
“Executives are in over their head” Former Senior Marketing Associate in Washington, DC – Reviewed Feb 27, 2013 – New
Communication is pathetic. I sold takeout and delivery and I was never told when the product was going to launch until I read about it in the news. Not efficient - managers take over a month to make simple decisions that could be made in one hour. Its a "fake it till you make it" hierarchy. Directors and executives are all talk and basically take 50 PTO days and play on their computers all day. Not very motivating
Advice to Senior Management – Restructure the whole organization. Hire seasoned directors and executives instead of 20 somethings who just want to make money and have fun. Culture should be more strict.
Strategic Account Manager-Intel
VMware – Reston, VA
“Cool brand but dying industry”
Former Account Manager in San Diego, CA – Reviewed Feb 22, 2013 – New
Cons – incompetent management and dying product.
Advice to Senior Management – get out in the field“Sinking Ship” Former Sales in New York, NY – Reviewed Feb 21, 2013 – New
Advice to Senior Management – Get out now, company won't last very long
“Horrible Place, Worst Experience Ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Former Account Manager in Washington, DC – Reviewed Sep 8, 2012 No one is happy. Employees are crying in the bathrooms and taking long lunch breaks for job interviews. People are dropping left and right, either getting fired for not hitting outlandish goals or leaving for positions with an actual career path. Comp plan changes for no reason and terrible direction. All the while, they punish employees by having them go on performance plans or firing them while they are experimenting with plans. When questioned about the extremely high turnover, terrible responses such as "we only want the best" or "that's the nature of sales" is given. Instead of being an innovate company, they just want to copy others.
Worst of all, they set your expectations during the interview so high, while knowing too well that you will never make that overall comp. They are crooks!
Given how badly Groupon peformed post IPO, they can no longer go IPO, so everybody is leaving.
Be warned, stay away!!!!
Advice to Senior Management – Stop treating employees as a number and be honest with them.
“Long hours, very hard to move, do not look behind the curtain” Current Inside Sales in Washington, DC – Reviewed Jul 16, 2012 LivingSocial talks a big game about how innovated they are but their sales department is a carbon copy of every other sales department out there, if you've worked in one whip cracking sales department you've worked at LivingSocial's. The one they got going for them is a lot of young people who dont know any better and don't mind drinking the kool aid. They'll be delusional and talk about the great perks but they really don't know any better. Also, I find a lot of the practices unethical. We were told not to post fake reviews on ratings sites so that our merchants look better. But then LivingSocial corporate/HR does the same thing
The biggest con is a con in itself. “Bread and Circuses replaces all values” Former Employee in Washington, DC – Reviewed Jun 7, 2012
I would think an organization who communicates to their employees that they are not like that wouldnt: lay off influential employees, punish those who do not bend the rules, force employees into roles they are not comfortable with and threaten them with unemployment if they don't comply, make false promises, not consider all factors when coming up with performance plans, etc
- Inadequate leadership. This stems from having too many on staff that are not experienced enough to handle the tasks at hand.
- Inept leadership. I do not need the VP of sales to tell me to make more money to "just sign better deals." My eyes could not roll further back into my head.
- Comp plan changes with no rhyme or reason and terrible direction. All the while, they punish employees by having them go on performance plans or firing them while they are experimenting with plans. When questioned about the extremely high turnover, terrible responses such as "we only want the best" or "that's the nature of sales" is given. Instead of being an innovate company seems as if they want to follow lock step behind others.
- And worst of all, the Bread and Circus. LivingSocial has taken a page out of the formula the Romans used to keep the populace at bay. They knew that conditions were terrible and so to keep the general populace at bay, the Romans gave away bread and held circuses for entertainment. LivingSocial does the same and disguises it as "culture." Take away the bread and circuses and you have an extremely unhappy employee base.
Advice to Senior Management – Be an actually innovative company.
Senior Wholesaler/External Practice Management Consultant Advice to Senior Management – RETRENCH! get back the good, upscale subscribers and lose the tanning, National, and kettleball deals!
“Pitiful” Current Account Executive Manager in Orlando, FL – Reviewed Feb 26, 2012 Disgusting Local Management. Selfish to point of "winning becomes more important than ethics and honesty" Gossipy, easily put down competition when competition clearly outshines Living Social. Most unethical group of people to work with. If you have ethics, morals, scruples, a sense of fairness and have been up to this point descent - THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU. If you posses those traits run to DC and get the job. You will fit in at all levels right up to the President. By the way if I was an investor quickly demand your money back and RUN!
Advice to Senior Management – EGO's so big - they all think they are Local God's so full of Self Worship.
“I drank the Kool-Aid and woke up in Sugar Shock” Former Marketing Consultant in Brooklyn, NY – Reviewed Feb 5, 2012
“Don't waste your time!” Current Marketing Consultant in Los Angeles, CA – Reviewed Dec 1, 2011
Linux Systems Administrator – new
MITRE – McLean, VA
“Great Employees, bad communication.”
Horrible communication. Leadership was held by those with little experience who did not know how to manage people.
MorePoor management; job was not what I interviewed for” Former Employee – Reviewed Dec 10, 2012
Strategic Account Manager-Intel
“Lack of Integrity and Honesty”
Former Employee – Reviewed Nov 13, 2012Sr. Management and BP (lacking integrity and emotional maturity) Hiring people who lack certifications and credentials
Advice to Senior Management – Be honest with your employees and be sure to provide them with a solid support and development system in which you are willing to back up.
“Absolutely miserable experience full of stress and LOW PAY” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Jun 3, 2012 management that is clueless You will be churned and burned and replaces without a thought Groupon is offering better cuts and we are supposed to tell the merchant "oh well, we are God and won't do that" Don't be fooled by these phony HR planted reviews. This is a miserable existence where you will literally wake up in the middle of the night thinking "I have to get another deal." If you have any more that 5 years in sales....walk away from this. You get into sales for autonomy and the money. With this, you have NEITHER.
“Dying industry - TERRIBLE salary, zero respect for staff, unrealistic goals” Current Account Executive, Outside Sales – Reviewed Mar 4, 2012 “Merchants don't want to run deals!” Current Senior Marketing Consultant-Outside – Reviewed Jan 4, 2012
I have been at LS over 18 months. My biggest issue is that most merchants are now pretty savvy to the "deal" space and no longer want to participate. Both LS and Groupon have a bad reputation. They are unhappy with type of customer they are getting, no repeat business, only deal seekers and in some cases have been pushed to brink of bankruptcy. I would like to leave as I feel morally that what we are selling is no longer in the business owners best interests and my conscience is getting the better of me...
Advice to Senior Management – sell before it is too late!
I was misled and made a huge mistake by coming on board” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Dec 20, 2011
Markets are saturated. Trying to get 20 new clients every month is nearly impossible unless you're in a new or huge market
Advice to Senior Management – You reap what you sow. I'm checked out.
“Holding on by a thread” Former Employee – Reviewed Dec 12, 2011 Advice to Senior Management – You are a lawsuit waiting to happen
“Karma is not going to be kind Livingsocial - you are headed towards a train wreck!” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Dec 3, 2011
Re: What really happened at LivingSocial?
#148“Lies, Unprofessional Management, Abuse” Current Marketing Consultant in Township Washinton, NJ – Reviewed Dec 4, 2012
Cons – Daily HR violations Lies
“Executives are in over their head” Former Senior Marketing Associate in Washington, DC – Reviewed Feb 27, 2013 – New
Communication is pathetic. I sold takeout and delivery and I was never told when the product was going to launch until I read about it in the news. Not efficient - managers take over a month to make simple decisions that could be made in one hour. Its a "fake it till you make it" hierarchy. Directors and executives are all talk and basically take 50 PTO days and play on their computers all day. Not very motivating
Advice to Senior Management – Restructure the whole organization. Hire seasoned directors and executives instead of 20 somethings who just want to make money and have fun. Culture should be more strict.
Strategic Account Manager-Intel
VMware – Reston, VA
“Cool brand but dying industry”
Former Account Manager in San Diego, CA – Reviewed Feb 22, 2013 – New
Cons – incompetent management and dying product.
Advice to Senior Management – get out in the field“Sinking Ship” Former Sales in New York, NY – Reviewed Feb 21, 2013 – New
Advice to Senior Management – Get out now, company won't last very long
“Horrible Place, Worst Experience Ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Former Account Manager in Washington, DC – Reviewed Sep 8, 2012 No one is happy. Employees are crying in the bathrooms and taking long lunch breaks for job interviews. People are dropping left and right, either getting fired for not hitting outlandish goals or leaving for positions with an actual career path. Comp plan changes for no reason and terrible direction. All the while, they punish employees by having them go on performance plans or firing them while they are experimenting with plans. When questioned about the extremely high turnover, terrible responses such as "we only want the best" or "that's the nature of sales" is given. Instead of being an innovate company, they just want to copy others.
Worst of all, they set your expectations during the interview so high, while knowing too well that you will never make that overall comp. They are crooks!
Given how badly Groupon peformed post IPO, they can no longer go IPO, so everybody is leaving.
Be warned, stay away!!!!
Advice to Senior Management – Stop treating employees as a number and be honest with them.
“Long hours, very hard to move, do not look behind the curtain” Current Inside Sales in Washington, DC – Reviewed Jul 16, 2012 LivingSocial talks a big game about how innovated they are but their sales department is a carbon copy of every other sales department out there, if you've worked in one whip cracking sales department you've worked at LivingSocial's. The one they got going for them is a lot of young people who dont know any better and don't mind drinking the kool aid. They'll be delusional and talk about the great perks but they really don't know any better. Also, I find a lot of the practices unethical. We were told not to post fake reviews on ratings sites so that our merchants look better. But then LivingSocial corporate/HR does the same thing
The biggest con is a con in itself. “Bread and Circuses replaces all values” Former Employee in Washington, DC – Reviewed Jun 7, 2012
I would think an organization who communicates to their employees that they are not like that wouldnt: lay off influential employees, punish those who do not bend the rules, force employees into roles they are not comfortable with and threaten them with unemployment if they don't comply, make false promises, not consider all factors when coming up with performance plans, etc
- Inadequate leadership. This stems from having too many on staff that are not experienced enough to handle the tasks at hand.
- Inept leadership. I do not need the VP of sales to tell me to make more money to "just sign better deals." My eyes could not roll further back into my head.
- Comp plan changes with no rhyme or reason and terrible direction. All the while, they punish employees by having them go on performance plans or firing them while they are experimenting with plans. When questioned about the extremely high turnover, terrible responses such as "we only want the best" or "that's the nature of sales" is given. Instead of being an innovate company seems as if they want to follow lock step behind others.
- And worst of all, the Bread and Circus. LivingSocial has taken a page out of the formula the Romans used to keep the populace at bay. They knew that conditions were terrible and so to keep the general populace at bay, the Romans gave away bread and held circuses for entertainment. LivingSocial does the same and disguises it as "culture." Take away the bread and circuses and you have an extremely unhappy employee base.
Advice to Senior Management – Be an actually innovative company.
Senior Wholesaler/External Practice Management Consultant Advice to Senior Management – RETRENCH! get back the good, upscale subscribers and lose the tanning, National, and kettleball deals!
“Pitiful” Current Account Executive Manager in Orlando, FL – Reviewed Feb 26, 2012 Disgusting Local Management. Selfish to point of "winning becomes more important than ethics and honesty" Gossipy, easily put down competition when competition clearly outshines Living Social. Most unethical group of people to work with. If you have ethics, morals, scruples, a sense of fairness and have been up to this point descent - THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU. If you posses those traits run to DC and get the job. You will fit in at all levels right up to the President. By the way if I was an investor quickly demand your money back and RUN!
Advice to Senior Management – EGO's so big - they all think they are Local God's so full of Self Worship.
“I drank the Kool-Aid and woke up in Sugar Shock” Former Marketing Consultant in Brooklyn, NY – Reviewed Feb 5, 2012
“Don't waste your time!” Current Marketing Consultant in Los Angeles, CA – Reviewed Dec 1, 2011
Linux Systems Administrator – new
MITRE – McLean, VA
“Great Employees, bad communication.”
Horrible communication. Leadership was held by those with little experience who did not know how to manage people.
MorePoor management; job was not what I interviewed for” Former Employee – Reviewed Dec 10, 2012
Strategic Account Manager-Intel
“Lack of Integrity and Honesty”
Former Employee – Reviewed Nov 13, 2012Sr. Management and BP (lacking integrity and emotional maturity) Hiring people who lack certifications and credentials
Advice to Senior Management – Be honest with your employees and be sure to provide them with a solid support and development system in which you are willing to back up.
“Absolutely miserable experience full of stress and LOW PAY” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Jun 3, 2012 management that is clueless You will be churned and burned and replaces without a thought Groupon is offering better cuts and we are supposed to tell the merchant "oh well, we are God and won't do that" Don't be fooled by these phony HR planted reviews. This is a miserable existence where you will literally wake up in the middle of the night thinking "I have to get another deal." If you have any more that 5 years in sales....walk away from this. You get into sales for autonomy and the money. With this, you have NEITHER.
“Dying industry - TERRIBLE salary, zero respect for staff, unrealistic goals” Current Account Executive, Outside Sales – Reviewed Mar 4, 2012 “Merchants don't want to run deals!” Current Senior Marketing Consultant-Outside – Reviewed Jan 4, 2012
I have been at LS over 18 months. My biggest issue is that most merchants are now pretty savvy to the "deal" space and no longer want to participate. Both LS and Groupon have a bad reputation. They are unhappy with type of customer they are getting, no repeat business, only deal seekers and in some cases have been pushed to brink of bankruptcy. I would like to leave as I feel morally that what we are selling is no longer in the business owners best interests and my conscience is getting the better of me...
Advice to Senior Management – sell before it is too late!
I was misled and made a huge mistake by coming on board” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Dec 20, 2011
Markets are saturated. Trying to get 20 new clients every month is nearly impossible unless you're in a new or huge market
Advice to Senior Management – You reap what you sow. I'm checked out.
“Holding on by a thread” Former Employee – Reviewed Dec 12, 2011 Advice to Senior Management – You are a lawsuit waiting to happen
“Karma is not going to be kind Livingsocial - you are headed towards a train wreck!”
Re: What really happened at LivingSocial?
#149LivingSocial's response is extremely damning of "PrivCo".
“Lies, Unprofessional Management, Abuse” Current Marketing Consultant in Township Washinton, NJ – Reviewed Dec 4, 2012
Cons – Daily HR violations Lies
“Executives are in over their head” Former Senior Marketing Associate in Washington, DC – Reviewed Feb 27, 2013 – New
Communication is pathetic. I sold takeout and delivery and I was never told when the product was going to launch until I read about it in the news. Not efficient - managers take over a month to make simple decisions that could be made in one hour. Its a "fake it till you make it" hierarchy. Directors and executives are all talk and basically take 50 PTO days and play on their computers all day. Not very motivating
Advice to Senior Management – Restructure the whole organization. Hire seasoned directors and executives instead of 20 somethings who just want to make money and have fun. Culture should be more strict.
Strategic Account Manager-Intel
VMware – Reston, VA
“Cool brand but dying industry”
Former Account Manager in San Diego, CA – Reviewed Feb 22, 2013 – New
Cons – incompetent management and dying product.
Advice to Senior Management – get out in the field“Sinking Ship” Former Sales in New York, NY – Reviewed Feb 21, 2013 – New
Advice to Senior Management – Get out now, company won't last very long
“Horrible Place, Worst Experience Ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Former Account Manager in Washington, DC – Reviewed Sep 8, 2012 No one is happy. Employees are crying in the bathrooms and taking long lunch breaks for job interviews. People are dropping left and right, either getting fired for not hitting outlandish goals or leaving for positions with an actual career path. Comp plan changes for no reason and terrible direction. All the while, they punish employees by having them go on performance plans or firing them while they are experimenting with plans. When questioned about the extremely high turnover, terrible responses such as "we only want the best" or "that's the nature of sales" is given. Instead of being an innovate company, they just want to copy others.
Worst of all, they set your expectations during the interview so high, while knowing too well that you will never make that overall comp. They are crooks!
Given how badly Groupon peformed post IPO, they can no longer go IPO, so everybody is leaving.
Be warned, stay away!!!!
Advice to Senior Management – Stop treating employees as a number and be honest with them.
“Long hours, very hard to move, do not look behind the curtain” Current Inside Sales in Washington, DC – Reviewed Jul 16, 2012 LivingSocial talks a big game about how innovated they are but their sales department is a carbon copy of every other sales department out there, if you've worked in one whip cracking sales department you've worked at LivingSocial's. The one they got going for them is a lot of young people who dont know any better and don't mind drinking the kool aid. They'll be delusional and talk about the great perks but they really don't know any better. Also, I find a lot of the practices unethical. We were told not to post fake reviews on ratings sites so that our merchants look better. But then LivingSocial corporate/HR does the same thing
The biggest con is a con in itself. “Bread and Circuses replaces all values” Former Employee in Washington, DC – Reviewed Jun 7, 2012
I would think an organization who communicates to their employees that they are not like that wouldnt: lay off influential employees, punish those who do not bend the rules, force employees into roles they are not comfortable with and threaten them with unemployment if they don't comply, make false promises, not consider all factors when coming up with performance plans, etc
- Inadequate leadership. This stems from having too many on staff that are not experienced enough to handle the tasks at hand.
- Inept leadership. I do not need the VP of sales to tell me to make more money to "just sign better deals." My eyes could not roll further back into my head.
- Comp plan changes with no rhyme or reason and terrible direction. All the while, they punish employees by having them go on performance plans or firing them while they are experimenting with plans. When questioned about the extremely high turnover, terrible responses such as "we only want the best" or "that's the nature of sales" is given. Instead of being an innovate company seems as if they want to follow lock step behind others.
- And worst of all, the Bread and Circus. LivingSocial has taken a page out of the formula the Romans used to keep the populace at bay. They knew that conditions were terrible and so to keep the general populace at bay, the Romans gave away bread and held circuses for entertainment. LivingSocial does the same and disguises it as "culture." Take away the bread and circuses and you have an extremely unhappy employee base.
Advice to Senior Management – Be an actually innovative company.
Senior Wholesaler/External Practice Management Consultant Advice to Senior Management – RETRENCH! get back the good, upscale subscribers and lose the tanning, National, and kettleball deals!
“Pitiful” Current Account Executive Manager in Orlando, FL – Reviewed Feb 26, 2012 Disgusting Local Management. Selfish to point of "winning becomes more important than ethics and honesty" Gossipy, easily put down competition when competition clearly outshines Living Social. Most unethical group of people to work with. If you have ethics, morals, scruples, a sense of fairness and have been up to this point descent - THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU. If you posses those traits run to DC and get the job. You will fit in at all levels right up to the President. By the way if I was an investor quickly demand your money back and RUN!
Advice to Senior Management – EGO's so big - they all think they are Local God's so full of Self Worship.
“I drank the Kool-Aid and woke up in Sugar Shock” Former Marketing Consultant in Brooklyn, NY – Reviewed Feb 5, 2012
“Don't waste your time!” Current Marketing Consultant in Los Angeles, CA – Reviewed Dec 1, 2011
Linux Systems Administrator – new
MITRE – McLean, VA
“Great Employees, bad communication.”
Horrible communication. Leadership was held by those with little experience who did not know how to manage people.
MorePoor management; job was not what I interviewed for” Former Employee – Reviewed Dec 10, 2012
Strategic Account Manager-Intel
“Lack of Integrity and Honesty”
Former Employee – Reviewed Nov 13, 2012Sr. Management and BP (lacking integrity and emotional maturity) Hiring people who lack certifications and credentials
Advice to Senior Management – Be honest with your employees and be sure to provide them with a solid support and development system in which you are willing to back up.
“Absolutely miserable experience full of stress and LOW PAY” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Jun 3, 2012 management that is clueless You will be churned and burned and replaces without a thought Groupon is offering better cuts and we are supposed to tell the merchant "oh well, we are God and won't do that" Don't be fooled by these phony HR planted reviews. This is a miserable existence where you will literally wake up in the middle of the night thinking "I have to get another deal." If you have any more that 5 years in sales....walk away from this. You get into sales for autonomy and the money. With this, you have NEITHER.
“Dying industry - TERRIBLE salary, zero respect for staff, unrealistic goals” Current Account Executive, Outside Sales – Reviewed Mar 4, 2012 “Merchants don't want to run deals!” Current Senior Marketing Consultant-Outside – Reviewed Jan 4, 2012
I have been at LS over 18 months. My biggest issue is that most merchants are now pretty savvy to the "deal" space and no longer want to participate. Both LS and Groupon have a bad reputation. They are unhappy with type of customer they are getting, no repeat business, only deal seekers and in some cases have been pushed to brink of bankruptcy. I would like to leave as I feel morally that what we are selling is no longer in the business owners best interests and my conscience is getting the better of me...
Advice to Senior Management – sell before it is too late!
I was misled and made a huge mistake by coming on board” Current Marketing Consultant – Reviewed Dec 20, 2011
Markets are saturated. Trying to get 20 new clients every month is nearly impossible unless you're in a new or huge market
Advice to Senior Management – You reap what you sow. I'm checked out.
“Holding on by a thread” Former Employee – Reviewed Dec 12, 2011 Advice to Senior Management – You are a lawsuit waiting to happen
“Karma is not going to be kind Livingsocial - you are headed towards a train wreck!”
Re: What really happened at LivingSocial?
#150This in particular makes PrivCo look stupid: "Two of the three investors listed on the PrivCo site as participating in the round didn't participate, and one isn't even an investor in the company."
"According to PrivCo sources, the financing effort was led by LivingSocial's largest outside shareholder, Amazon.com, with participation from some of its major venture capital investors (who had already invested $823,624,695 in equity in LivingSocial - per PrivCo V.C. Funding data - before today's emergency debt financing) in the hopes of salvaging what they can, with strict terms in place to ensure they are first to be paid upon a sale or bankruptcy. (Prior investors in LivingSocial include: Lightspeed Venture Partners, Grotech Ventures, Revolution Ventures, and U.S. Venture Partners; the VC firm confirming today's deal terms preferred not be to named. PrivCo is not suggesting any particular firm named above participated in the new financing.)"
http://www.privco.com/livingsocial-receives-emergency-110m-c...
So LivingSocial damage-control CEO's "Talking Points Memo" spin is either because he's confused and mis-read/misunderstood, or more likely is making an "ad hominem" response (that is, try to attack the character of who he's debating, but without addressing the substance of their argument).
And how come all of his details weren't provided to employees Tues or wed. or whenever his email bragging about the round, but then some were only dragged out of him / forced out next day (on liquidation preferences, on being a "down round" (major down round, minimum of 75% by his subtle hint, Reuters citing experts reviewing the docs say implied valuation much lower, maybe as low as the $110M itself.
There are 400 laid off employees from LivingSocial who by next week have to decide to excercise their soon to expire common stock options and write a check for lots of money to livingsocial to buy the commmon stock at whatever strike price their options were at (anywhere from $1b to $2b to $5.7B valuation if granted in past year). One I know asked what she should do (she would have to write a check for "tens of thousands of dollars" to livingsocial to buy LS common stock, which if the valuation is under a Billion (and cmon it obviously is, look at Groupon look at Amazon's own auditors valuation of less than $100M). Now she didn't know what a liquidation preference is, or in this case accurately reported by PrivCo to be more than the 1x liquidation preference but "multple times" the $110M provided (as even CEO - though said nothing about it in Memo 1, fessed up in Memo 2 yes it is a several times liquidation preference, based on finanial metrics, but won't possibly go as high as 4x." Even if it's 3x, that $330M, plus the former $850M preferred raised. What I am going to tell her? And 4,000 employees who are deciding whether to stay or leave based on what their common stock options are worth sticking around for, and being misled by their CEO (again nothing said in Memo 1 at ALL about impact on common - which cmon folks is worthless - and in memo 2 says "ok I admit it, your common stock is diluated - but "not much" - even though we just got funding with multiple x liquidation preferences, we must pay that back plus interest ("dividends") within 4 years, then throwing out we might IPO and then it won't matter. That's Chutzpah to say that with a straight face.
I think PrivCo did those employees a service, those 400 laid off about to write a check for LivingSocial common stock- and would have based on the glowing Memo 1 from the CEO - and now are correctly thinking they probably shouldn't as by any math they would be giving their hard earned savings to LivingSocial for a security (its common stock, not preferred) that is worth zero now. Kudos to PrivCo, we need more whistleblowers, whether co is public or private like here. Praying for the rest of the 4000 employees now tonight.