extraordinary workplace with inspiringly professional colleagues - Flash Lead Ustream Employee Review

Intelligent, hilarious, and fun team. Environment was fun and collaborative. I was always laughing!

Once the company was acquired, the CEO got his money, disappeared, and abandoned his team.

I came onboard when Ustream was on the upswing. They were getting great press, just enough name recognition that if you mentioned the Puppy Cam people knew what you were talking about, and an accessible technology. Ustream had some extremely bright people with great ideas, generally positive about the technology and the space, and for the common worker bees, great camaraderie with team mates.

On the downside, a series of mis-steps by upper-upper management has made the place nearly unbearable. At one point we had so many VPs with no reports, you didn't know who you were in a meeting with. If you disagree with the CEO, he either writes you off as an idiot, or he will fire you. Layoffs are a fact of life in a start up, but when you look at who they let go (people who were actually bringing in money or had strong leadership qualities, or both) vs. who they kept (VPs and "Directors" who don't contribute to anything at all), it's extremely clear that they thought they could make a quick buck and sell. But at this point, who's buying? To add insult to injury, a development team overseas that, for every rock star (and they have a few) there are 2 or 3 who only serve to bog down the machine.