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Feels like an old school Friday night news drop. Man, Zenefits has had it rough in the press recently. I think Sacks has done an extraordinarily good job as CE

by qwrusz 10y ago

Feels like an old school Friday night news drop. Man, Zenefits has had it rough in the press recently. I think Sacks has done an extraordinarily good job as CEO. Hard to put oneself in the CEOs shoes here, but this guy had to make multiple huge decisions and changes to Zenefits over the past year. Sacks' consistency of right calls and handling things deftly under a ton of pressure, I can't remember the last time a CEO had to run such a gauntlet, maybe Iceman back in 1986. The guy deserves more credit than he has gotten. Though it's not surprising the press missed this part of a story as they tend to do when they smell unicorn blood in the water. I also don't think it's too surprising he is stepping down. How long can someone work on cleaning up someone else's mess? While under-compensated for it. And while putting better more interesting potential opportunities on hold.

jpeg_hero 10y ago
> And while putting better more interesting potential opportunities on hold. Yeah, news here is Sacks thinks this is no longer the number one opportunity in the valley. Probably when they turned their back on the enterprise market. And now internal numbers might not show rocket ship growth in SMB market. Can't "push" into 20 employee companies, and the "pull" must not be there.
- brandnewlow 10y ago
  Meanwhile, Gusto's software is really excellent. I started using it a few months ago and it's one of the best business apps I've ever seen in terms of thoughtfulness-of-UI.
  - mrkurt 10y ago
    No kidding. The HR / legal stuff available to startups now is such a boon.
snarf 10y ago
This was partially his mess as well since he was COO before becoming CEO, no? And he has a very significant investment in Zenefits which he made when becoming COO, so while he does not draw a cash salary, it's hard to say he is under-compensated given the investment opportunity and his ownership stake. I do think he had a very difficult job as turnarounds are tough, and he made a good effort.
- forgetsusername 10y ago
  >This was partially his mess as well since he was COO before becoming CEO, no? There's a difference in the scale of the offense (but in either case people weren't physically harmed), but contrast this with the thread about the Wells Fargo CEO stepping down, where people here thought the CEO should go to prison for the culture he set at the company. The SV guys get sympathy and an "'atta boy!"
- harryh 10y ago
  He was only COO for a year before the CEO got fired and he took over. I think it's fair to say that it's partially his mess but also fair to say that a lot of the mess got created before he started as COO.

by qwrusz 10y ago

jpeg_hero 10y ago

> And while putting better more interesting potential opportunities on hold. Yeah, news here is Sacks thinks this is no longer the number one opportunity in the valley. Probably when they turned their back on the enterprise market. And now internal numbers might not show rocket ship growth in SMB market. Can't "push" into 20 employee companies, and the "pull" must not be there.

brandnewlow 10y ago
Meanwhile, Gusto's software is really excellent. I started using it a few months ago and it's one of the best business apps I've ever seen in terms of thoughtfulness-of-UI.
- mrkurt 10y ago
  No kidding. The HR / legal stuff available to startups now is such a boon.

snarf 10y ago

This was partially his mess as well since he was COO before becoming CEO, no? And he has a very significant investment in Zenefits which he made when becoming COO, so while he does not draw a cash salary, it's hard to say he is under-compensated given the investment opportunity and his ownership stake. I do think he had a very difficult job as turnarounds are tough, and he made a good effort.

forgetsusername 10y ago
>This was partially his mess as well since he was COO before becoming CEO, no? There's a difference in the scale of the offense (but in either case people weren't physically harmed), but contrast this with the thread about the Wells Fargo CEO stepping down, where people here thought the CEO should go to prison for the culture he set at the company. The SV guys get sympathy and an "'atta boy!"
harryh 10y ago
He was only COO for a year before the CEO got fired and he took over. I think it's fair to say that it's partially his mess but also fair to say that a lot of the mess got created before he started as COO.