I think Indigo was built on good intentions, however this is no longer the case. The main reason Indigo failed was that it never decided what it wanted to be. At first, it was a relatively focused biotech company, but it soon became clear that management had little to no understanding of how much of an investment is required to produce new products, so they branched into several different areas at once. Now, they are focusing primarily on Marketplace, a grain trading platform that is advertised as free but actually skims money from hardworking farmers, and Terraton, a soil carbon trading platform that is not based on research, only anecdotes and pseudoscience.
Even more depressing is Indigo's lack of regard for employee welfare. This was always a weak spot for Indigo. The pay is not great and there aren't any real benefits. Instead of promoting existing employees, Indigo hires new ones, refusing to advance qualified employees who had been in their positions for years. Indigo suffered from terrible decision making in upper management. They grew too fast, recklessly spending and expanding without any sales or profits to justify their decisions, and when they needed to cut people (~250) they showed no remorse. One, they insist that they are hiring in other departments, but made no effort to transfer qualified employees to open positions. Also, they accidentally leaked the termination dates of cut employees online one week in advance, then tried to cover their mistake by likening it to a software glitch. This fooled no one and I thought it was particularly insensitive to patronize employees immediately before cutting them. Then they laid off employees go with no official notice given. After the first few rounds of cuts, the CEO held an all hands meeting where he said that the next few rounds of cuts would be smoother now that they'd "practiced" and when he was asked what they would be doing to improve company morale following the mass layoffs, he said that working for a company with such an inspiring mission should be motivating enough. Now, during the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, Indigo is staying open and forcing many employees to come in to work by exploiting a loophole that categorized agriculture as an essential business in order to continue food production. To clarify, Indigo does not produce food.
It was particularly painful to watch a company that I had initially loved so much crash and burn in such a massive way. My advice to anyone considering an offer is to think carefully before accepting a job here. If you are planning on taking a job here, bear in mind that you will likely work extra hours with no additional compensation, you will likely never be offered any benefits (and any stock options you are offered will most likely be worthless), you will likely never have the opportunity to advance or increase your salary, and you might be laid off in a few months with no notice given. Make sure to negotiate your salary accordingly.
