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katebrarian 's review for:
Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble
by Dan Lyons
This book was really amusing and kind of scary for lots of different reasons. Both Lyons and HubSpot came across as kind of insufferable, but Lyons also said a lot of what I would have been thinking in his position. HubSpot sounds like a seriously awful place to work. After I finished the book, I read through their website and "Culture Code" and it's just as exhausting as I thought it would be. It's so twee and enthusiastic and self-congratulatory. I would really hate to work there. I also read HubSpot's response to the book (called "Undisrupted" - uuugh) and the writing style is the same there. I don't know how to describe it perfectly but the word insufferable pops up a lot in my head. I'm glad they apologized for calling it a "graduation" whenever someone quit or was fired, though, that was pretty ridiculous. I also did not realize how many startups make MILLIONS and BILLIONS of dollars for investors without even turning a profit...I mean I really have no idea how business works but doesn't it kind of seem like a scam if a small number of people can make such an insane amount on a company that loses money? Maybe this is just how it is now but it doesn't sound like it's great for the employees. And I'm sure it's not this way at all startups but at this one at least it really sounded like people were drinking the kool-aid pretty hard. I feel like it's normal to have some criticisms about your business or place of work, and while there have been lots of places I've loved working at, there haven't been any that I've thought were perfect or where I thought nothing could have been improved. Lyons reporting of the cruelty of the company sounded legit to me, and it makes the cheery emphasis on "delightion" that they put forward as their brand even more cult-ish. On the other hand, Lyons felt like an entitled old who misses the old days when you could talk at work about firing your nanny because she made your wife uncomfortable and not have coworkers think that was gross. But I am more on his side than HubSpot's, mainly because he's one person and they are a company, and their brand even outside of what Lyons wrote about it feels creepy to me...or at least just really annoying. Lyons could probably stand to get his head out of his ass a little bit, because I'm sure many of the jokes he cracked to lighten the mood deserved the blank stares they got, but I feel like this was probably the worst place he could have ended up after journalism. A startup that was less ridiculous and felt more like a business might have gotten him to think about some of the notions he had about how to joke/banter with coworkers in a funny and respectful way in the 21st century, but as it was, there was no way for him to tell what was politically correct for 2015 and what was definitely ridiculous. He did reach out to friends and colleagues to ask about some of the stuff he encountered to be sure that his feelings about them were not overreactions, but the absurdity of HubSpot didn't leave a lot of room for nuance.
I also did think briefly about whether or not it makes me cynical or joyless to not be on board with "delightion" or sending emails with many exclamation points to praise all my coworkers for the AWESOME jobs they're doing!!!!!!! and I think I'm good. I mean, I think I'd rather get my joy elsewhere.
I also did think briefly about whether or not it makes me cynical or joyless to not be on board with "delightion" or sending emails with many exclamation points to praise all my coworkers for the AWESOME jobs they're doing!!!!!!! and I think I'm good. I mean, I think I'd rather get my joy elsewhere.