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I used to work for a company that was purchased by a Multi Level Marketing coughpyramidschemecough company similar to Herbalife. They purchased us for our techn

I used to work for a company that was purchased by a Multi Level Marketing coughpyramidschemecough company similar to Herbalife. They purchased us for our technology to power their platform. There was supposed to be very little overlap with their business, so I did not feel too worried about it. As time went on, our focus was more on how to sell more of the parent company's products. I also learned more on how the MLM business really worked, and I was disgusted at how the system preyed on the vulnerable. With very few jobs in the area, I continued working there. I eventually moved and turned down requests to work remotely. None of my co-workers seemed to have cared. Either that, or they understood it was still one of the better tech opportunities in an area with very few.

tswartz 10y ago
Now I'm curious... How did they sell the change in focus to your team/company? What aspects about MLM did you find most surprising?
- donretag 10y ago
  There was no change in focus per se. The company was an e-commerce site, and the parent company was going to simply be another vendor. They were using our in-house technology to power their external (to us) e-commerce presence, besides the placement of their products on our site. However, their products started to receive more and more focus on our site. If their highly profitable products had competitors in certain categories, we would eliminate those other products. SEO was optimized for those products. The underlying tech focus did not change. The UI team continued working on UIs, mobile teams on the app, etc. MLM was/is designed to fail. The barriers of entry for any form of compensation were incredibly high. If you satisfied some requirement of the program, there would be another one that was not achieved, invalidating any profits. I had zero insights on the parent company's network, but I simply do not see how a new person could make any money at all. Although our location, at least those in tech, had nothing to do with the MLM program, except for putting the products on the site (through the standard vendor process), it was still uneasy to be part of. I was not starving. I had a choice to not be part of it, so I exercised that choice. I should add the MLMs are completely legal under strict federal guidelines. Nothing illegal was happening, it was a bit too immoral for my personal standards.
batbomb 10y ago
In Utah County, by chance?
- pseudobry 10y ago
  > Multi Level Marketing coughpyramidschemecough company similar to Herbalife Definitely could be Utah county, but > one of the better tech opportunities in an area with very few Probably not Utah county. The greater than 4000 tech companies[1] in and around Utah County cannot hire software engineers fast enough. [1]: http://siliconslopes.com/about/utah-economy/ http://siliconslopes.com/about/utah-economy/
  - x0x0 10y ago
    where do you look for jobs in utah? Craigslist seems pretty dead. Thanks!
bitwize 10y ago
Does it have a name like a rejected Asterix character by any chance?

tswartz 10y ago

Now I'm curious... How did they sell the change in focus to your team/company? What aspects about MLM did you find most surprising?

donretag 10y ago
There was no change in focus per se. The company was an e-commerce site, and the parent company was going to simply be another vendor. They were using our in-house technology to power their external (to us) e-commerce presence, besides the placement of their products on our site. However, their products started to receive more and more focus on our site. If their highly profitable products had competitors in certain categories, we would eliminate those other products. SEO was optimized for those products. The underlying tech focus did not change. The UI team continued working on UIs, mobile teams on the app, etc. MLM was/is designed to fail. The barriers of entry for any form of compensation were incredibly high. If you satisfied some requirement of the program, there would be another one that was not achieved, invalidating any profits. I had zero insights on the parent company's network, but I simply do not see how a new person could make any money at all. Although our location, at least those in tech, had nothing to do with the MLM program, except for putting the products on the site (through the standard vendor process), it was still uneasy to be part of. I was not starving. I had a choice to not be part of it, so I exercised that choice. I should add the MLMs are completely legal under strict federal guidelines. Nothing illegal was happening, it was a bit too immoral for my personal standards.

batbomb 10y ago

In Utah County, by chance?

pseudobry 10y ago
> Multi Level Marketing coughpyramidschemecough company similar to Herbalife Definitely could be Utah county, but > one of the better tech opportunities in an area with very few Probably not Utah county. The greater than 4000 tech companies[1] in and around Utah County cannot hire software engineers fast enough. [1]: http://siliconslopes.com/about/utah-economy/ http://siliconslopes.com/about/utah-economy/
- x0x0 10y ago
  where do you look for jobs in utah? Craigslist seems pretty dead. Thanks!

bitwize 10y ago

Does it have a name like a rejected Asterix character by any chance?