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I've followed Dgraph off and on. I enjoy looking through their open sourced work. A lot of it is interesting. Manish seems to be THAT person. The technically c

by ctvo 5y ago

I've followed Dgraph off and on. I enjoy looking through their open sourced work. A lot of it is interesting. Manish seems to be THAT person. The technically competent, unwavering to the technical vision, doesn't work well with others person at your company. He went on to found a startup so he could do what he wants, and unfortunately has now realized board members are very similar to managers at Google. Here's a blog post where he stepped down from being CEO to being CTO: https://dgraph.io/blog/post/changing-guard/ https://dgraph.io/blog/post/changing-guard/ > I’m very confident in my abilities to bring in a solid VP team and lead the GTM motion. But, I’ve also realized that Dgraph is an intrinsically technical product. While I can find other S&M folks, finding a true engineering replacement for me has been, and will continue to be a real challenge. Reviews from Glassdoor confirm this inability to let others touch his baby: https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Dgraph-Labs-Reviews-E1284992.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Dgraph-Labs-Reviews-E12849... > Massive layoffs with no warning and almost no severance pay. This is a sinking ship, not a rocket ship - avoid it! Inept founder (was CEO and CTO while I was there) who only believes in his ability and doesn't trust employee expertise. He would rather be right than make money or see his company succeed. Manish doesn't listen to employees or managers and even disputes data showing false assumptions or failed business approaches. Micromanages in departments where he has minimal knowledge or understanding, leading to low morale and poor results.

throw10920 5y ago
If he is "THAT person" then why is the (rest of the) core Dgraph team also leaving and joining his new project?
- darkcoderrises 5y ago
  Most people are not joining his new project. Source: I was part of the core team.
  - throw10920 5y ago
    Aha, so the original post was inaccurate, intentionally or not. Thanks for the info!
mrjn 5y ago
Manish here. I don't know who you are or what your motivations are. Glassdoor Reviews are anonymous (read trolls) and a lot of them were created post the layoffs, to create a story that would take the blame away from the hired CEO. Read between the lines about why the layoffs happened in the first place. If not, read this: https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Dgraph-Labs-RVW56000221.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Dgraph-Lab... When you have nothing to say about a leader, it always works to say, "he didn't give a shit about his employees." That's not how companies get built. These are the core values that we had created, which accurately reflect how I operate: https://discuss.dgraph.io/t/dgraph-core-values-v20-05-31/1402 https://discuss.dgraph.io/t/dgraph-core-values-v20-05-31/140... So, no. I'm NOT THAT person.
- ignoramous 5y ago
  A lot of shit will be flung but the fact that the core team is on board with you to create Outcaste, a Dgraph fork, is a strong enough signal for many. Hopefully, you folks make it work!
- ctvo 5y ago
  > I don't know who you are or what your motivations are. I'm a rubbernecker passing by a car crash. I have no other motivations. I don't know you personally or anyone who works at Dgraph. I'm piecing together a guess of the culture from what's available externally. I would love to read the details when you're ready to share. Editing to say that the only reason I remembered the blog was because there were multiple parts of it that made me cringe when I initially read it: > I can be a good CEO. I just can not be a good CEO, a good CTO, and the top engineer on the team for a highly technical product, all at the same time. If I could have found a true engineering replacement for me, I’d have stayed on as the CEO. > And two, we lost a couple of deals last quarter due to engineering challenges I can help solve in weeks but would take my team months on their own. Some of these problems wouldn’t get solved without my help. Publicly throwing your engineering team under the bus repeatedly isn't something you commonly see.
  - threeseed 5y ago
    It sure seems like you used to work there since you're making specific critiques about company culture and decisions that only someone internal would know. And you're taking statements like "lost a couple of deals last quarter due to engineering challenges" as being a personal slight against the engineering team when an impassioned observer would not really see it that way. I don't know the specifics of Dgraph's failings but reading the Glassdoor reviews it sure looks like the main issue is that the CEO failed to organise a bridge round and that the disputes between the CEO and CTO and poor metrics meant the VCs didn't want to provide one. You can fix any problem at a company except running out of money.

by ctvo 5y ago

throw10920 5y ago

If he is "THAT person" then why is the (rest of the) core Dgraph team also leaving and joining his new project?

darkcoderrises 5y ago
Most people are not joining his new project. Source: I was part of the core team.
- throw10920 5y ago
  Aha, so the original post was inaccurate, intentionally or not. Thanks for the info!

mrjn 5y ago

Manish here. I don't know who you are or what your motivations are. Glassdoor Reviews are anonymous (read trolls) and a lot of them were created post the layoffs, to create a story that would take the blame away from the hired CEO. Read between the lines about why the layoffs happened in the first place. If not, read this: https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Dgraph-Labs-RVW56000221.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Dgraph-Lab... When you have nothing to say about a leader, it always works to say, "he didn't give a shit about his employees." That's not how companies get built. These are the core values that we had created, which accurately reflect how I operate: https://discuss.dgraph.io/t/dgraph-core-values-v20-05-31/1402 https://discuss.dgraph.io/t/dgraph-core-values-v20-05-31/140... So, no. I'm NOT THAT person.

ignoramous 5y ago
A lot of shit will be flung but the fact that the core team is on board with you to create Outcaste, a Dgraph fork, is a strong enough signal for many. Hopefully, you folks make it work!
ctvo 5y ago
> I don't know who you are or what your motivations are. I'm a rubbernecker passing by a car crash. I have no other motivations. I don't know you personally or anyone who works at Dgraph. I'm piecing together a guess of the culture from what's available externally. I would love to read the details when you're ready to share. Editing to say that the only reason I remembered the blog was because there were multiple parts of it that made me cringe when I initially read it: > I can be a good CEO. I just can not be a good CEO, a good CTO, and the top engineer on the team for a highly technical product, all at the same time. If I could have found a true engineering replacement for me, I’d have stayed on as the CEO. > And two, we lost a couple of deals last quarter due to engineering challenges I can help solve in weeks but would take my team months on their own. Some of these problems wouldn’t get solved without my help. Publicly throwing your engineering team under the bus repeatedly isn't something you commonly see.
- threeseed 5y ago
  It sure seems like you used to work there since you're making specific critiques about company culture and decisions that only someone internal would know. And you're taking statements like "lost a couple of deals last quarter due to engineering challenges" as being a personal slight against the engineering team when an impassioned observer would not really see it that way. I don't know the specifics of Dgraph's failings but reading the Glassdoor reviews it sure looks like the main issue is that the CEO failed to organise a bridge round and that the disputes between the CEO and CTO and poor metrics meant the VCs didn't want to provide one. You can fix any problem at a company except running out of money.