Summary:
Folks, if you have ever heard the phrase "Lipstick on a Pig", that is how I would describe this company. Walking in to their building was impressive, since they have the top floor by the Embarcadero with panoramic views of the Bay, gorgeous office space, a workout rooms, sleeping pods, and thoughtful design. Pretty much all the start up "checkmarks".
Listen to me closely, that should be a big warning sign for anyone looking to interview for a company that is just entering one of the most competitive markets out there, has not received any funding, and is being funded from a CEO who was outed from his last company in a very negative manner. This company is being built on a personal vendetta and it's being covered up by pretty shiny things to distract you from that fact.
That's not the stability you should be looking for. The company is grabbing up debt and defunct companies that should be out of business, with seemingly little strategic vision, and then saying that all these new technologies play really well together. I call BS.
What happened:
I was contacted on LinkedIn, I set up an initial call, and immediately given an in-person interview.
I got to the office and was initially impressed with what I saw, but then I started thinking about how much all of that costs. It hit me that this was a blatant cookie cutter start up culture. It wasn't organically created based on team values, but rather just bought and paid for by a CEO who wanted to attract talent to a company created out of his bank account.
I want to start by saying that the folks I interviewed with meant well, but they mainly came from failed companies that were bought up by Gravity4 and squeaked through the subsequent job cuts and everyone else had lackluster backgrounds/experience fit for building a company like this. Luckily, they don't have to, since the CEO rather acquire failed technologies and rebrand them as part of this "platform" than create any real competitive differentiation.
With that said, they had very little knowledge of the competitive space and technologies. I'm not an ad-tech veteran by any means, but I was coming from one of the top companies in the space and immediately realized why we were such a great company. Essentially, interviewing at Gravity4 scared me into wanting to stay with my current employer.
I never received an offer, but I also never received a rejection. They are a mess of a company.