Pandora's IPO and the shifting culture of a public company
A lot of tech companies have jobs that are half customer service, half tech support. At Pandora, it was called “listener support.” Our department was in charge of figuring out how to make different rules and guidelines [for how to respond to customers.] It was flexible. We could come in whenever we wanted for eight-hour stretches. We had a certain number of emails to answer every day, which increased over time. In the beginning, we’d just divide them up. After we went public, it became more of a normal corporate customer service team. I saw a lot of people quit. Toward the end, there was a schedule. The lunches were very set, and there were timeclocks.
