
Zenefits CEO responds to rumors of company's struggles - zabramow
http://www.businessinsider.com/zenefits-ceo-refutes-the-naysayers-2015-11
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z0r
That image in the article makes it look like a terrible place to work:
[http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/56495c0e112314ef038...](http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/56495c0e112314ef038b5496-1228-921/zenefits%20offices.jpg)

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ryanSrich
That's literally the scene of almost any SV startup. They don't "do" remote.
Nor work life balance. It's all about asses in seats. Stay very clear of a
work environment like that.

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AndrewKemendo
We are a remote team. I talked with a VERY PROMINENT VC not long ago and he
had this to say about it:

 _It’s probably also worth mentioning that we have a bit of a bias against
distributed teams, based on previous investment experience._

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Nicholas_C
What was their previous investment experience with remote teams?

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tarr11
[http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2010/07/05/the-power-
of-i...](http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2010/07/05/the-power-of-in-person-
why-distributed-teams-are-less-effective/)

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powera
1600 employees and only $80 million in revenue? That's only $50k per employee,
which seems very low for a company hiring that aggressively (+25%/quarter).

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yeukhon
I wonder why they really need 1600 employees...to be quite honest, and I have
a feeling half of them are contractors / consultants.

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Domenic_S
Commissioned salespeople for sure.

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ar7hur
He'd rather respond to us disgruntled customers instead of doing PR. I'm very
concerned about the future of this company.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10578397](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10578397)

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rabidonrails
I expect him to say that his company is "doing great," but he doesn't address
why Fidelity cut its outlook on Zenefits (especially if everything is rainbows
and butterflies).

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tomasien
It went from a 4.5B company in their estimation to a 2.5B company in their
estimation, still less than 3 years after it was founded. All projections were
so far into the future already that they could swing massive %'s based on
partner activity, even small revenue misses (ever changed your mo/mo growth
rate in a spreadsheet by 1%?), or competitive activity. But going from a 4.5B
company to a 2.5B company while still less than 3 years old isn't a sign of
the apocalypse in the company.

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d_welsman
Assuming the figures that Conrad is saying are correct, it is still an amazing
company that is growing quickly. Just investors are starting to take a more
realistic view on valuations, and readjusting those valuations in their books.

Just because super ambitious growth targets aren't met doesn't mean the
company is about to go under...

