Upwork Management

Investments
,
1

Upwork’s management esp. the CEO Hayden Brown is one of our largest concerns when it comes to the Upwork investment thesis.

After she assumed the CEO position at the beginning of 2020, there have been unsuccessful attempts like creating an expensive brand awareness marketing campaign which had limited success, and trying to appeal to large enterprise clients, which completely failed.

Additionally, there has been a worrying magnitude of management and leadership changes.

@Aron reported about it:

Our goal now is to find more clues how the business is evolving at an operating level. This means

  • are there meaningful improvements to the company or products?
  • is the new leadership of the company performing well?
  • how is the mood and culture within the company? (Do important problems surface? Do people disagree? Is there an atmosphere of fear?)
  • Are there any additional worrying signs or red flags?
  • Is the company moving in the right direction strategically?
  • Are there any bugs?
  • Is software, costumers support, transactions etc. working well?
  • How smoothly is the business operating? How good is it’s planing?
    etc.

Answering questions like those will make it easier for us to determine if Hayden Brown simply needed time to grow into her role, but is taking the right decisions now and changes to the management are strengthening the company or if Hayden Brown is ruining a previously well-run organization and has lead it into a state of chaos. (Or something in between those two extremes)

1 Like
2

  • Given that Hayden Brown was the Chief Marketing and Productuct Officer between 2019 and 2020 and held senior product roles since joining Upwork in 2011, I would say that she has been at the forefront in product developments.

  • In 2023, only 67 bug issues have been reported in the platform. Out of this, 60 have been resolved:
    Upwork: Product Developments - InvestmentWiki

  • The press release announcing Hayden Brown’s appointment as CEO noted that she was appointed unanimously by the board. I think that speaks of the confidence the board had in her. Otherwise, they won’t have added that statement:
    Upwork:Management - InvestmentWiki

  • More insights on Upwork’s culture are scanty but it has a rating of 3.8 in Glassdoor and Indeed.com:
    Upwork:Culture - InvestmentWiki

2 Likes
3

I ran into issues yesterday with my newly created private Upwork account as it was shut down suddenly without warning for a security review after I posted a local guide job there and boosted it.

They could not tell me what the reason for the shutdown was, had me submit documents like ID and proof of address and were not able to review those documents/open the account again by now.

Support overall was frustrating as it is not possible to call them or chat with them while the account is suspended.

Incidents like those makes me question the strength of execution at upwork and how costumer centric management is.

Further general steps: Once I find some time I will start defining all criteria I am looking for when analyzing the management of a company. They reach from principles the management is applying philosophically (costumer centricity is a very important one), to the culture they foster in the company + how they recruit and retain talent and ultimately how well the company is executing.

1 Like
4

I=8
Upwork shares up 5%+ on report that activist investor Engine Capital has taken a 4% stake on the company and is pushing for a shakeup of its board.

Engine Capital Sends Letter to Upwork’s Board of Directors Regarding Opportunities to Substantially Increase Shareholder Value

1 Like