6 ms·
Just curious, what is the benefit of staying with the Zenefit name and brand? It's fairly toxic, as it is associated with debauchery and fraud. Wouldn't you wa
by jimmywanger 10y ago
Just curious, what is the benefit of staying with the Zenefit name and brand?
It's fairly toxic, as it is associated with debauchery and fraud. Wouldn't you want to raze the brand to the ground and start with something else, even if you're keeping the same tech stack and sales contracts?
- brightball 10y agoNo such thing as bad publicity? Any other name will need to reach people all over again.
- hueving 10y agoSo who wants to restart Enron with me? Hipster energy company trading artisanal clean energy derivatives.
- ChuckMcM 10y agoOk, that is priceless. Sounds like something Brad Bradstone would head up.
- pavlov 10y agoThat would be in the same spirit as the food-replacement startup named Soylent.
- daveguy 10y agoJust don't buy the green version.
- jedberg 10y agoThis may interest you: http://www.npr.org/2015/09/23/442761531/one-mans-mission-to-bring-back-hydrox-cookies http://www.npr.org/2015/09/23/442761531/one-mans-mission-to-... It's about a man who bought the Hydrox brand to try and revive the cookie. People do it with old brands all the time. If you google "buy expired trademark" you'll get a ton of info. Although most of those people are buying old good brand names. :)
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- skmurphy 10y agoNone, new CEO should have re-branded to signal a change.
- skmurphy 10y agoLooks like they have re-branded as Z2 on Oct 18 https://www.wired.com/2016/10/zenefits-reboots-z2-might-not-enough/ https://www.wired.com/2016/10/zenefits-reboots-z2-might-not-...
- sfifs 10y agoThey're notorious in tech circles. How notorious are they in the circles of small business owners and HR mangers?
- ams6110 10y agoNot very. In many cases, probably unheard of.
- terravion 10y agoAlso, the Zenefits service works. If HR compliance and administration is the business equivalent of going to the dentist for tooth removal, Zenefits is at least anesthesia during the procedure. Not to condone violating laws, but if the old management was ignoring the insurance equivalent of dealer franchise or taxi medallion laws, and that now has the new management super serious about compliance--that's just an even better service for us users.
- sargun 10y agoMy VP of HR said she would be very worried about hiring anyone from Zenefits (even as an engineer), and that she'd want to have a personal, 1:1 conversation with them prior. I disagree wholeheartedly, but this is an anecdote of signal.
- colechristensen 10y agoSo their office was a little bit too 'Mad Men' and they cheated a little on some regulations that seem like they should only apply to b2c relationships when Zenefits is b2b... yeah, I don't care. If they broke laws I don't have a problem with any legal consequences they might experience, but it doesn't really affect my perception of Zenefits. Likewise, as an example, Apple getting a $15B tax bill from the EU doesn't really affect my opinion of Apple. Seems like it was the right thing to do, but as a consumer it's just somebody else's problem.
- forgetsusername 10y ago>they cheated a little on some regulations What's wrong with a little cheating, as long as it's in Silicon Valley, not Wall Street, am I right?
- gjolund 10y agoI know you are joking, but I hear this sentiment all the time. SV is just as corrupt as wall street, and would be just as willing to take bailouts if they were offered.
- colechristensen 10y agoI care about the intent, purpose, and reasonability of regulations not just their existence. I also care about actions that are "technically legal". What is wrong and what is illegal are very different things and I don't confuse them.