|
private:xprizefoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=22931
|
Mar 31st, 2021 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
XPRIZE
|
Marketing Intern
|
|
|
no thanks
|
|
nah this was not it there was none
|
god awful management i dislike this greatly
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.0
|
2.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
|
22931
|
Open
|
|
0.0
|
[]
|
PART_TIME
|
No
|
No
|
|
0.0
|
|
|
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
X PRIZE Foundation
|
|
|
|
private:xprizefoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=22931
|
Oct 24th, 2020 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
XPRIZE
|
Marketing
|
Los Angeles, CA
|
|
Come work here and we'll CRUSH YOUR DREAMS! Where Marketing careers fizzle.
|
|
We seem to do a good job convincing people not to pay any attention to the Glassdoor reviews, even though 90% of them are negative, and the other 10% are clearly not legitimate.
|
Sure – I suppose there was a brief period of time when I too thought I took the job at X-Prize for a larger purpose – to make the world a better place through our work. And that’s also a great recruitment hook (“ignore what you read on Glassdoor, that won’t apply to you, because you’re taking this job to SAVE THE WORLD – woo hooo!”). And for someone in Marketing – what a dream job, it would seem, to be able to share these incredible stories and to work in such an innovative environment.
However, the truth is a bit different. It takes an average employee at X-Prize 9-12 months for the luster to wear off. There’s no changing-the-world here, unfortunately. You’d be hard-pressed to find one credible, legitimate example of that. Instead, we are forced to rewrite history, exaggerate or misrepresent the impact of the work we have done in the past. And there’s really no rhyme or reason why we do the things we do, other than opportunism (someone handing us a check), which becomes deflating the more you think about it.
Perhaps one of the most disappointing things you’ll discover is the incredibly wide chasm between the innovation and creativity we claim to stimulate through the work we do, and the complete and total lack of innovation and creativity within our own four walls. Instead, we are saddled with unnecessary bureaucracy, we suffocate in layers and layers of approvals and archaic processes, and we actively discourage new ideas or anything that might be construed as dissent or even constructive feedback (our founder infamously says “the squeaky wheel gets replaced.”)
There’s been a revolving door of CMOs, seemingly none who lasted even 2 years. A simple LinkedIn search will show you 7-8 people who have served that role in the past few years, and it’s usually unclear why they got the job in the first place. The most recent has been MIA for months – not attending key meetings – delegating everything to others in order to avoid accountability – and plainly just without the relevant experience or leadership skills to get the job done. I’ve sat through countless presentations in which he presented new sound effects and visual textures that should be part of our new branding (no joke) while never presenting an actual strategy or vision to accomplish the goals of the foundation. He's completely oblivious to the universal "eye-roll" that results every time he speaks.
This is his first CMO role and it’s clear that he’s never led a team before, he has no non-profit experience, and has been floundering, hoping that his agreeable nature among leadership, or his charming British accent, will let him coast by a bit longer while he’s lining up another role.
The Marketing department at large has the highest turnover in the foundation, and likely among the highest turnovers of ANY company. Dozens of people are let go every year, from a department that employs less than 10 people. It’s baffling. Also, you’ll find relatives of board members hired as staff, contracts with outside vendors/agencies that have been flagged as suspicious and certainly not part of a competitive bidding process, and so on.
Furthermore, the volume of work for some people is pure insanity, but it's not evenly distributed, and it's just the result of poor (or no) planning, no real goals or benchmarks set at the top, and wasted time dealing with the unhelpful red tape.
Listen – I get it. Who doesn’t want to change the world?! I sure did. But your energy and passion will be better leveraged elsewhere. This is not that place. Anyone that argues otherwise is simply not being genuine.
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
DISAPPROVE
|
15.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
2.0
|
1.0
|
|
22931
|
Open
|
Start over. For real. You have the wrong team in place. I don't think it's too late, but I'm definitely not convinced that X-Prize is able to move at any pace other than glacially.
Be honest with yourselves. How many times do you read a Glassdoor review and just chalk it up to a disgruntled employee with a grudge, instead of taking the feedback to heart? Most of the themes are recurring throughout every single review, so either there's a highly coordinated disinformation conspiracy taking place, or maybe these reviews contain feedback that's worth taking to heart and - dare I say - addressing!
It's not too late. If you really are blind to what happens without our walls, how about you do a though experiment and pretend there's a new 6-month X-Prize competition we just launched with the goal of completely revamping the internal culture, reducing the turnover, and ensuring the longevity of the foundation (perhaps even at a far less operational cost). But, just like our competitions, you have to be able to stomach wildly different models or solutions, and you have to be comfortable letting go of legacy thinking and legacy people. Hopefully, the end result looks nothing like the current set-up.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
X PRIZE Foundation
|
|
|
|
private:xprizefoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=22931
|
Oct 22nd, 2020 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
XPRIZE
|
Researcher
|
Los Angeles, CA
|
|
We change the world - and feel like it
|
|
We change the world. We really, really do. Where else can you say something like that?
|
Bit of chaos in the office, but of the good kind. People are friendly, productive and helpful.
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
0.0
|
4.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
5.0
|
4.0
|
4.0
|
|
22931
|
Open
|
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
X PRIZE Foundation
|
|
|
|
private:xprizefoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=22931
|
Sep 23rd, 2020 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
XPRIZE
|
Prize Lead
|
|
|
"A Spaceship without a Mission Control - Career Stopper"
|
|
Let me preface my review with this: This review is meant to give you insight into what is currently going on at the company and what you will be dealing with on a daily basis. While reviews are generally skewed in a certain direction, this review is meant to give an honest experience of what an employee will face and give merit to other reviews that have been written on this foundation and clearly neglected.
Pros
1. Some of the workers you'll get to work in the trenches with (yes ....trenches because you'll literally have to dig through the layers of feces (glassdoor version profanity) that you face on daily basis) are some of the most intelligent, hard-working, and real people you'll get to meet in your professional career.
2. Thats about it......
|
Cons
1. Career: Hope you enjoyed your career up until this point because applying for a position here will essentially force your retirement, leave you hating your job, or leave you stuck in the Sunken Place ala "Get Out" (pun not intended but applicable).
The quote on the application for a position here "Willing to Wear Multiple Hats" ,with regard to helping in other areas outside your job description, will essentially lead you down a suffocating rabbit hole where your career will take more hits than Alice did in Wonderland. When you finally come to, you'll realize the job you applied for and the job your currently have have nothing in common, and unfortunately it'll set your career back around 5 years ( 5 years for every year at XPRIZE). Other reviews mention that XPRIZE has a start-up mentality, which is true, but the start-up here functions as successfully as the Zune was (for younger individuals the Zune was supposed to compete with the Ipod... RIP). Executive and senior level individuals will offer your services without even consulting or informing you leaving you with the same feeling as George Clooney floating away in space in Gravity.
2. CEO: The rating of the CEO on the Glassdoor page for XPRIZE, if anything is skewed up, when in actuality it should be much lower. A foundation like XPRIZE should have a CEO who clearly understands how to exactly execute the mission of the foundation while being able to clearly understand how to progressively transform how to set up prizes, reach a broader audience of donors and interested teams. Instead, the CEO has provided limitless funding to unproven platforms that frequent borderline plagiarism. Instead of uniting the workforce, especially during dangerous times we face now, frequently
she uses weekly gatherings to attack and pick on individuals who simply ask questions in the company message board regarding new directions the foundation will be taking. Questions that arises essentially because of her lack of ability to clearly articulate and explain her vision for the company leading to general confusion and dissension. When questioned she flaunts that she was the "CEO at a multi-million dollar company", when in actuality if you search for the company "Prodea" ,which she is co-founder and serves as the Executive Chairwoman of, you'll see similar ratings to those of XPRIZE where individuals at the company were not even paid for their services.
2. Leadership & Inaction: Apart from what has been mentioned above about the CEO, the real leaders at this foundation have had their influence reduced and minimized by the CEO's promotion of certain individuals, in particular the Chief Innovation and Growth Officer. This individual had had multiple complaints filed against him to HR (oh by the way HR consists currently of one individual after the entire HR department was let go) and instead was rewarded by the CEO with a full time C-level executive position. He subverts the PrizeOps departments and has zero accountability and transparency with regard to what he actually does at the company. He regularly fails to attend weekly gatherings and inform the rest of the company on dealings leading to confusion. His department is funded based on lies and false promises that he claims his platform can deliver on and offer, that to this day have never been presented in front of the company nor verified by competent individuals. His “platform” is spearhead by the equally dubious Chief Technology Officer who works in tandem with the CIO. For those who truly enjoy their careers in IT, this individual will ruin your career. His lack of respect for his team is made self-evident through the outrageous deadlines he sets for his team combined with his arrogant and often insulting nature when it comes to berating members of the team in meetings. He frequently tries to scapegoat members of the team because of his own failures, basic lack of qualifications to be a CTO, and inability to deliver upon what he has promised, leading to an uneasy and often anxious feeling felt by those in the team. For those that disagree with his opinion, his solution is to question your loyalty to the team and subsequently seek to terminate your employment. His lack of planning is clearly evident to the rest of the organization as requests submitted by various department are frequently not met because of his fidelity to the Chief Innovation and Growth Officer’s requests which he prioritizes over others leading to certain departments striking out and seeking their own IT solution. He believes he is accountable to no one which further highlights his lack of respect for those members of his team who have to create his plagiaristic vision. If your looking for someone who truly cares about your personal growth and development in your career, you’ve come to the wrong place. XPRIZE has become the Titanic and these two individuals will sink this ship.
3. Transparency: Its as transparent as a one-way mirror. Team Council does its best, but the very implementation of a "Team Council", where executive leadership is not invited to, simply highlights the lack of trust that individuals feel in sharing their true thoughts and ideas about the foundation itself.
4. Work/Life Balance: None. Your work will consist of digging out of the millions of promises and requests accepted by your managers and executives that have been placed on your shoulders to deliver on. You'll always have a feeling of instability and anxiousness because failure to deliver on any one of these unreasonable requests in the absurd timeline presented will lead to off-the record calls in the middle of the night where you are chastised for not working 12 hours. Reporting any issues you’re having to HR is useless because of lack of confidentiality which will only speed up your exit. PTO is treated more as a gift rather than something you've earned and have the right to take.
5. The way this company initially handled COVID-19 was frankly embarrassing. Two individuals (the CTO and Chief Innovation and Growth Officer) were in Italy prior to news of the outbreak and no one at the company was alerted to the fact that they had been abroad and in contact with many individuals at the company. When companies began shutting down offices, employees began questioning what the delay was with regard to the actions that would be taken by executive leadership. An employee simply asked the question about what measures were being taken by the company in the foundation public discussion forum which was met by derision by the CEO, and that she would keep the office open for “those who wanted to come in” essentially mocking those who wanted to take precautions by working at home. A day later LAUSD closed all schools and the office was closed…..
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
DISAPPROVE
|
29.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
|
22931
|
Open
|
Advice to Management
Where to Start....
1. Transfer leadership to the executives in PrizeOps and I&D who know what the foundation's goals are and how to achieve them; not the individuals who hide behind false promises and unverified platforms to justify their departments.
2. Stop forcing individuals to wear multiple "hats" and not compensating them for the amount of roles they are forced to undertake. People apply for a job because it suits their skills and their career path, forcing them to do otherwise shows a lack of respect for that worker as a person and as a professional.
3. This is fairly simple and embarrassing that it needs to be mentioned: To the CEO stop targeting your employees, who have the right to question your decisions, during weekly gatherings. And don't ignore reviews posted on forums like these because they're not said to your face. There is a reason that things like Team Council exist at the foundation, because you have sown mistrust and fear, and people feel the only way to express how they feel is in private meetings where executive leadership is not invited. Team Council is essentially an in-person version of Glassdoor, and the reviews here on Glassdoor reflect the same discussions and reviews that individuals have about XPRIZE. If attention was paid to feedback provided by these reviews, maybe the workplace would be a better place to work in.
People spend about 1/3 of their life working. Its your responsibility to make sure that that portion of their life puts them in a position to have success and happiness, rather then misery.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
4.0
|
|
|
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
X PRIZE Foundation
|
|
|
|
private:xprizefoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=22931
|
Jul 15th, 2020 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
XPRIZE
|
Associate
|
Culver City, CA
|
|
Are You Misappropriating Your Nonprofit’s Funds
|
|
Great talented staff. Great mission.
|
CEO just announced that we will be doing away with restricted and unrestricted funding. Nontheless the law says all 501(c)(3) non-profits must adhere to and restricted funding designations are made by the donors at the time of donation specifically, NOT by non-profit organization.
It seems like CEO is very unaware of how non-profits should operate. Wishful thinking can get us all in trouble. CEO totally lacks much needed non-profit and financial experience. I guess she is learning as she goes.
And, restricted means RESTRICTED! This is not a trivial matter. Donors can take legal action against a nonprofit that it believes is misusing restricted donations.
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
DISAPPROVE
|
17.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
3.0
|
1.0
|
|
22931
|
Open
|
Stop wasting money on nonsense. Listen to your staff.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
4.0
|
|
|
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
X PRIZE Foundation
|
|
|
|
private:xprizefoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=22931
|
Jun 2nd, 2020 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
XPRIZE
|
Senior Account Executive
|
Kwun Tong, Kowloon City
|
|
High workload
|
|
Friendly staffs and happy environment
|
Heavy workload, under pay, long working hours
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
4.0
|
3.0
|
3.0
|
3.0
|
|
22931
|
Open
|
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
X PRIZE Foundation
|
|
|
|
private:xprizefoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=22931
|
Apr 22nd, 2020 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
XPRIZE
|
|
|
|
Do Not Work Here...EVER
|
|
Some very talented and intelligent people work there.
|
Too bad they're in a terrible place of work. Leadership is an absolute joke and doesn't provide any inspiration or genuine human connection whatsoever. They really like to pat themselves on the back constantly. Communication is practically non-existent so good luck trying to figure out how to piece any project together. I would describe their approach as "surface level" and that's putting it mildly.
I encourage you to read the other reviews on here. They sum it up perfectly. No career advancement, high-pressure toxicity, high turnover rate, low morale, and just an overall mess of an organization. It's not worth it in any respect. You're better off anywhere else.
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
DISAPPROVE
|
23.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
|
22931
|
Open
|
BE a leader instead of acting like one. Practice more compassionate and understanding, otherwise, you'll just come across as hollow and inhuman.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
0.0
|
|
|
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
X PRIZE Foundation
|
|
|
|
private:xprizefoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=22931
|
Mar 15th, 2020 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
XPRIZE
|
|
Los Angeles, CA
|
|
Disappointing Experience in my IT Career Path
|
|
-Good office perks.
-Health Benefits.
-Good PTO (If you are lucky enough to go on vacation without being called all the time)
-Free Parking.
|
- IT Management is not open to suggestions, ideas nor improvements.
- There is no trust at all within the team.
- Rotation is pretty high. There is no job stability.
- The SW developed in house is very unreliable and archaic.
- Aggressive and Confusing Micromanagement.
- There is no Work/Life Balance. The CTO and Director will contact you outside business hours and if you don't answer your job could be at risk.
- Most of the time your effort won't be acknowledged by management and the CTO may take credit for your work if you did something right.
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
-1.0
|
DISAPPROVE
|
10.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
3.0
|
1.0
|
|
22931
|
Open
|
To HR: Communication needs to be improved within IT and values need to be changed to eliminate the toxicity within the team.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
1.0
|
|
|
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
X PRIZE Foundation
|
|
|
|
private:xprizefoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=22931
|
Feb 7th, 2020 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
XPRIZE
|
IT Manager
|
Culver City, CA
|
|
Poor leadership by self promoting CTO
|
|
Awesome team supporting various technology initiatives,
|
Poor leadership by CTO (Max Cappellari) who constantly manipulates team members against each other, expects everybody to be available 24x7 and if you forgot to response to his weekend requests he harasses you out of company.
Almost everybody in IT has negative opinion about him but fail to express because of job related threats extended by him on daily basis
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
1.0
|
POSITIVE
|
1.0
|
APPROVE
|
11.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
4.0
|
1.0
|
3.0
|
3.0
|
|
22931
|
Open
|
HR management should conduct reviews with IT team to understand the concerns and take appropriate action to improvise team's morale
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
9.0
|
|
|
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
X PRIZE Foundation
|
|
|
|
private:xprizefoundation
|
https://www.glassdoor.com?employer_id=22931
|
Dec 3rd, 2019 12:00AM
|
Open
|
Open
|
XPRIZE
|
Marketing
|
|
|
Would not recommend to a friend
|
|
Solid mission and some very smart people who truly want to make a difference. Good work/life balance.
|
Terrible place for a marketer given the internal structure, but a new CMO was brought in and is hopefully shaking things up. Marketing had no budget and basically took orders from teams who know nothing about marketing. It’s also a meeting heavy culture, so be prepared to spend all of your time in mostly unnecessary meetings. Pay is terrible, even for a nonprofit. No learning or career advancement opportunities. There were also several times when the Founder and CEO gave conflicting feedback and direction causing major confusion and anxiety. Decisions are slow to be made and often have no clear strategy or rational behind them.
|
-1.0
|
NEGATIVE
|
|
|
0.0
|
NO_OPINION
|
14.0
|
2.0
|
4.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
1.0
|
2.0
|
|
22931
|
Open
|
Rethink internal structure to allow for better communication and collaboration among teams and shared resources. Empower marketing with tools and the trust to do their job. Settle internal issues at the very top. Establish clear and consistently enforced standards in regards to foundation ethics (what you’ll do and won’t do, who you will and won’t take money from, etc.) to ensure everyone is aligned and march towards the same goals.
|
0.0
|
[]
|
REGULAR
|
No
|
No
|
|
0.0
|
|
|
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
May 12th, 2021 08:15PM
|
X PRIZE Foundation
|
|
|