Blind Spot
WMMM #028 - This week I share another edition in the Master Useless Information series.
Jeff Keplar Newsletter August 5, 2023 8 min read
Mastering “Useless Information” is an antiphrasis for “being interesting” as a sales skill, in addition to “being interested.”
Blind Spot
I came across this article about an app that gives employees a voice in the workplace.
I had not heard of the app, but as I began reading and reached this statement,
“If LinkedIn is where Silicon Valley’s ego goes to humble brag, Blind is where its id goes to vent,”
I knew this topic was ideally suited for our Master Useless Information series.
H/T: “How Blind Became the App Silicon Valley Bosses Love to Hate” was written by Paris Martineau for the Weekend edition of The Big Read in The Information, a leading tech publication.
The Emperor Has No Clothes
Hated by tech magnates and loved by their rank-and-file, Blind is the insider’s Reddit, bubbling over with anonymous bitterness, juicy layoff leaks, bold compensation confessions, and a rich serving of corporate gossip.
It was early 2021, and Alex Shin, a Blind advisor at the time, found himself teetering on the edge of a botched deal.
Shin was on a call with investors from Cisco System’s venture capital wing, presenting them with the tantalizing prospect of investing in Blind. It’s an app with millions of users from across tech companies who use it as a platform to anonymously discuss everything from salaries to the nightmarish dating scene in San Francisco.
Proudly, Shin introduced a new feature from Blind—a sentiment analysis tool designed to gauge employees’ raw, honest opinions about their workplaces. But when the investors requested to see Cisco’s score, Shin hesitated. Due to employee grievances, Cisco’s dismal 2.5-star rating was hardly brag-worthy. Regardless, they insisted.
“Should We Just Fire All of Siri?”
“We shared the data, and the Zoom call went eerily silent,” recalled Shin. “The investors broke the silence, saying, ‘That’s accurate. We’re in.’” Despite attempts to reach out, Cisco has yet to comment on the incident. Currently, their Blind rating stands at 3.7 stars.
While LinkedIn is the go-to for Silicon Valley’s humble-bragging, Blind is where raw, unfiltered thoughts are unleashed. Employees vent about poorly planned return-to-office schemes, argue over who’s the “alpha” CEO in tech, and brag about their compensation packages. While some disclose their poor experiences under tyrannical bosses, others air grievances about underperforming colleagues.
Earlier this year, a contentious poll sparked on Blind among Apple employees: “Should we just fire all of Siri?”
User Verification and Guaranteed Anonymity
By mid-March, a staggering 75% of nearly 300 participants had voted ‘yes,’ according to a screenshot obtained by The Information.
Certainly, Blind is a hotbed of anonymous grumblings, like many other short-lived social media upstarts. Yet Blind has stayed in the game, its relevance amplified by the increasing instability in the tech industry.
But what sets Blind apart? The answer lies in its user verification. Before users can post, Blind verifies their employment through their corporate email. Users can post publicly, with their company displayed, or in private forums exclusive to their colleagues. Consequently, these private forums host the juiciest gossip, including heads-up on layoffs and in-depth compensation details.
This approach has understandably irked the tech industry’s managerial class. An outspoken CEO of a publicly-traded tech company, who requested anonymity for fear of backlash from Blind users, berated it as a toxic whirlpool of grumblers.
“Blind is universally detested,” said the CEO, seemingly oblivious to the irony of his anonymous criticism of the app, notorious for anonymous CEO-bashing. “It’s hard to find anything positive about Blind. I can’t name a founder or CEO who’d have anything good to say about it.”
Glenn Kelman, CEO of online real estate broker Redfin, copes with Blind by ignoring it entirely. “I’m too old, insecure, and self-important to visit Blind,” Kelman admitted. “But anonymous message boards have always been a part of the internet. They’re pure breeding grounds for misery.”
“A Voice to the Powerless”
Yet, Kelman recognizes a paradox in apps like Blind: “Anonymity provides a shield for slander, but it also gives a voice to the powerless,” he stated.
Contrary to the belief of tech elites, not everyone in the tech industry despises Blind. Many tech workers view it as the best way to understand the industry’s zeitgeist—for instance, tracking compensation trends, a frequently discussed topic on Blind.
Amanda Richardson, CEO of CoderPad, describes Blind as “60% junk food and 40% insight into the tech industry’s psychology.”
Despite its contentious reputation, Blind boasts approximately 12 million active monthly users worldwide. And although it pales compared to Instagram or Snap, Blind’s power lies in its reach within the most influential tech companies.
“Like Stages of Grief”
Blind is now looking to transform its grassroots presence into a sustainable business model. Despite being unprofitable, the company has launched several revenue-generating products, including Talent by Blind, a recruiting agency connecting tech workers to top companies, and Insights by Blind, providing execs with insights into their company’s reputation among tech workers.
To fund these efforts, Blind has raised $62 million from investors, including Cisco, DCM Ventures, and SoftBank Ventures Asia, and expanded to a team of 200 globally. But can it win over the very tech bosses it has spent years aggravating? Kyum Kim, Blind’s co-founder, believes it can.
“Blind’s acceptance is like the stages of grief,” Kim pointed out. “You initially fight it, then give up as you realize it’s here to stay, and finally, you accept it as a resource.”
The Platform’s Redeeming Qualities
The rise of Blind has undeniably showcased the need for a platform that gives employees a voice, encouraging authenticity and freedom of expression. The platform’s journey, from the chaebols of South Korea to the tech campuses of the U.S., highlights the universal craving for a space where employees can freely discuss, debate, and air grievances without fear of retribution. The founders of Blind, having bravely navigated the cultural shift from the highly hierarchical Korean business landscape to the paradoxically open yet guarded culture of Silicon Valley, have succeeded in providing this vital outlet.
The stories that have come to light on Blind - the ‘Macadamia Nut Scandal,’ workplace toxicity at Amazon, and Uber’s sexual harassment scandal - show us the power of anonymity in challenging corporate abuses and inequities. It provides a rallying point for employees seeking solidarity in problematic work cultures and highlights issues that can force change within these companies.
The Concerns of Many - Unconstructive Negativity
However, with power comes responsibility, and the cases of CEO interference on the platform underline the importance of preserving and protecting the integrity of Blind as an anonymous space. As a third party, it must continually work to balance the demand for unfettered discussion with the risk of spreading unchecked misinformation, damaging reputations, and enabling cyberbullying. It must ensure the platform does not become a hotbed of hate and negative discussions.
Don’t Bite the Hand that Feeds You
And a platform that enabled employees to air their grievances is likely why I never heard of it. When our role in the company is sales and customer-facing, we aren’t looking for more negativity, especially not about our employer.
1) To begin with, handling rejection is part of the job. How many of us have heard the saying:
“If I encounter twenty interactions before noon, and only one of them is positive, I’m having a great day.”
2) Another part of the sales role is being the “face” of your employer to the outside world.
Like it or not, when customers or prospects encounter us, we are our employers to them.
3) A psychological tactic many sales professionals use each morning is to remind themselves of all the things they love about working for their employer. This enables them to create a positive vibe about the company they represent for the next 12 hours.
4) Finally, given what sales professionals do for a living, there does not seem to be much logic in “biting the hand that feeds us.” If we are unhappy, our performance is bound to suffer, and we should focus on finding a place of employment that better matches our ideals.
Participating in a medium created for giving employees a voice will naturally air grievances and negativity. It has a place. But for sales professionals, it is likely to impair our performance.
Conclusion
As the tech industry, and indeed the corporate world, evolves, Blind will undoubtedly continue to face challenges. Yet its continued relevance and popularity show the necessity for its existence. It’s a harbinger of an ongoing shift in our perceptions of corporate culture - a shift that values authenticity, openness, and respect for employee voices. More than ever, platforms like Blind serve as a reminder that behind corporate facades, employees seek respect, empathy, and a safe space to express their thoughts.
In the final analysis, Blind’s impact, however controversial, is proof of a larger truth. As it stands now, the app is a testament to the transformation of workplace dynamics in the age of the digital revolution. It has given employees a louder voice, encouraging frank and free conversations, thus disrupting the traditional power dynamics within companies. It embodies the age-old struggle for open dialogue in the workplace. While it may not be a perfect solution, it has initiated an essential conversation on creating a more transparent and honest work environment.
Thank you for reading,
Jeff
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