An unsatisfying place to devote your passion and time - Anonymous employee Blue State Employee Review

2.0
7 Apr 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Located in Soho/Tribeca. It used to be a fun, exciting environment before it got too big, too fast.

Cons

Ah where do I begin... I had such high hopes when I first started. It was small, scrappy, and cared about its employees and clients. Now, it's a big wishy washy digital agency with no focus, muddled vision and rather incompetent senior management. More specifically... -The hours and salary: they work you to the ground without decent pay. This used to be acceptable when we were working for interesting clients and supporting good causes. Not really the case anymore as the only thing senior management cares about now is the company's bottom line. Small budget clients are shunned for big, corporate clients that only care about how to sell sell sell through digital. Our quality of work has also deteriorated significantly because we don't have enough resources to devote fully and completely to meet our clients' needs. Our main goal has become to get things done fast and cheap. - People, behind their facade of niceties, are vicious, unfriendly, and try to one up each other ALL THE TIME. People are always fighting in meetings, and it's rather draining to try to work in such a tense, unproductive environment. Very unhealthy. - Development opportunities are slim and ambiguous. There isn't a clear path as to how you will grow and develop, and unfortunately, the management does not care. Your manager also won't care—they're not trained on how to manage and it's not prioritized in this company. They don't seem to realize managers can make or break your experience at a job. - The senior management is incompetent. It's one thing to be smart and another thing to be business savvy. The upper management is filled with friends of the CEO who have been promoted through questionable paths. I wouldn't complain about this if they were actually good at running the place, but they have absolutely no idea what they're doing. We grew too big too quickly without a plan for how to maintain that growth. We've expanded our "expertise" beyond our core areas and diluted our brand and services. The outlook for this place is rather grim, from what I've seen. The above reasons have pushed many employees, new and old, out. It's unfortunate it has come to this because it had a lot of potential.

Explore other reviews about Blue State

5.0
7 Jan 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Team members take on their responsibilities and complete things on time when assigned

Cons

Sometimes difficult work based on client business

2.0
11 May 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Amazing coworkers Decent benefits Work from home Cool clients doing huge projects

Cons

This place will suck the life out of you. After a few questionable upper management decisions, layoffs had really run this place below ground. Beforehand, though, was a clear indicator of things going downhill. Teams burnt out and stretched thin. Project managers doing their best to accommodate, despite being stretched thin themselves. Upper management not doing anything to help. There is one review I read here during my first few months that stated this place is sexy and promising on the outside but the opposite inside and now I can see why. You will be micromanaged and gaslit into thinking you are a terrible worker here. Little to no real professional advice, they literally just expect you to do 12 hours of work in 8 hours (not to mention the insane amount of unpaid overtime you’ll be doing). Steer clear of this place (at least until the figure their sh** out)

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