Inkitt reviews

3.7

64% would recommend to a friend

(119 total reviews)
avatar

Ali Albazaz

62% approve of CEO

66% positive business outlook

Inkitt has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 119 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Inkitt employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Mídia e comunicação industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

119 reviews
1.0
Mar 7, 2025

RUN AWAY. DO NOT WORK HERE.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

You'll form deep, fast friendships—mostly through shared trauma—with your talented colleagues who, like you, have had their potential stifled by management. At least telling people you work for a werewolf porn app makes for a great conversation starter.

Cons

Every negative review you've seen about this place is spot on. If you’re not careful, it will crush your confidence and wreck your mental health. Ali, the CEO, has turned toxicity into an art form—he thrives on pitting employees against each other while pretending he’s not responsible for any of the chaos. His way of speaking to people is beyond disrespectful, and his leadership style is purely fear-based. Anyone paying attention knows that the man who demands CEO approval for a $5 office supply order has absolute control over everything that happens at Inkitt. They talk a big game about "moving fast," but in reality, management just plays a never-ending game of hot potato, passing decisions around to avoid making a call that might upset Ali. If he likes you, you’ll have a lot of freedom—at least until he changes his mind. But earning that favor means sacrificing your personal life entirely. He genuinely seems to believe that paying a market-rate salary entitles him to every hour of your day. If they suspect you’re job hunting, expect direct confrontations. The SF office lives in fear of being fired in this job market, while EU employees have slightly more security thanks to labor laws. If you decide to work here, brace yourself for nonsensical OKRs, being asked to take on tasks way beyond your job description, and being gaslit into believing that extreme micromanagement is just part of their "transparent culture." Spoiler: there’s nothing transparent about this place. In 2024 alone, nearly half the company turned over. Long-term employees don’t even bother learning new hires' names anymore—most of them will be gone within a month or two.

1.0
Feb 7, 2023

Do NOT Recommend

Anonymous employee
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

Unfortunately, cannot really find any positive things. Some people are really nice, that's it.

Cons

- Late calls with the US office, 8pm in Berlin is considered to be "accommodating each others' time zones" - absolutely unfriendly, if not toxic atmosphere - people scheduling calls on your calendar, not respecting lunch time, end of working hours, etc., without any notes on the topic of the call and at the same time cancelling scheduled calls, not even mentioning the reasons for cancellation - signed documents are not provided to employees, as signing them takes months - working in a startup with 100 employees, you don't have access to some people because "they are busy" - ridiculously long interviewing process (2,5 months on average); random people from different departments are doing technical interviews, not being specialists of the given field The list goes on, but I don't want to waste more time.

avatar
Inkitt Response
3y
Thank you for your comments. As we have offices in both Berlin and San Francisco, it is true that time zones pose a challenge. While we do have to take some evening calls with San Francisco from Berlin it is also true that company policy is for Berlin to generally start its day later. Meanwhile, San Francisco starts early, but also ends early. This is in line with how most companies with teams across time zones operate. As per the scheduling issues, that is excellent feedback and we need to ensure team members execute better calendar booking practices, as it does not make sense to schedule calls over lunch time, or off hours, etc. (it sounds like the sort of thing that might have been done unintentionally - but in any case its for sure not company policy to do so). As per the interview process; another good feedback point and we are glad you raise it. This is something we became aware of thanks to feedback like this one, and have made big improvements already speeding up the process with the aim of massively improving candidate experience.
2.0
Dec 5, 2022

Chaotic with its Highs & Lows

Anonymous employee
Recommend
Business Outlook

Pros

- Incredibly talented team members - open work environment - Dog-friendly office - Team summits and in-person meetups, dinners and team events - Benefits and decent pay remote/hybrid work options

Cons

- Incredibly poor upper management - Too many last minute changes that require immediate attention, calling a lack of prioritisation and effective communication - One of the most unstable work environments that I have ever stepped foot in. - The mission is aspirational, the product is subpar at best - The treatment of certain departments (i.e. data, engineering) is treated in a superior fashion, not allowing other departments to grow as quickly or with as much emphasis - Everything that they preach (i.e. diversity, supporting work-life balance, hybrid work) is superficial and done at such a rate to appeal investors, it is appalling - Clear sense of lack of ownership, ingenuity, and superficiality - They claim to care about their authors and their users, but there is a clear sense that they lack the support or resources to care for the evolution of each employee’s career growth - They are hyper focused on business objectives and lack the empathy to follow through on caring about the well-being of their team as a whole. - Huge sense of burnout across all departments and roles due to lack of clarity of how they prioritise projects - there is still a sense that the CEO does not fully trust all of his staff, including the Leadership team, which is a huge red flag - They move fast; but in a sense make too many irreversible mistakes that cost them a lot of time, energy, and resources - especially when it comes to one’s mental capacity to move forward

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Inkitt Response
3y
Thank you for your feedback. We are sorry to hear you feel this way about our working environment. Our aspiration is to create a work environment where employees, driven by our mission as our north star, are empowered and enabled to work independently towards their goals. There are many cases of employees who exemplify this aim. But we're constantly working on how we can improve the culture and our way of working so that even more employees can operate in this manner. In many cases where it is not the case, there have also perhaps been good reasons. Work at Inkitt can be dynamic and challenging at times. We do also offer unlimited paid time off and encourage employees to take the necessary time off from work to always rest and recharge. We encourage open communication, especially with your team managers to address these needs.
Viewing 13 - 15 of 119 Reviews

Glassdoor has 143 Inkitt reviews submitted anonymously by Inkitt employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Inkitt is right for you.