Uber and AirBNB have scared the heck out of huge incumbent industries and cities/governments and had scraps to be sure. But they don't have the consistent missteps as Zenefits. They know when to fight and when to take a lump or two, stay quiet, and bide their time.
ADP might lose this lawsuit (I have no idea), but Zenefits is already looking much less impressive.
I'm far more locked into the consequences of the bad decision if I go with the sketchy SaaS provider and employee benefits broker
I feel like AirBnB, and even more so Uber, have had plenty of very public missteps. Both Uber's CEO and execs have come under fire for some dumb things they've said:
http://pando.com/2014/02/27/we-call-that-boob-er-the-four-mo...
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/uber-executive-suggests-dig...
That clearly doesn't mean you can't be successful, but I wouldn't say Zenefits has done or said anything worse than these other companies have.
If an employee applied to work for my business and one of their "concerns" was how our company would appear on their resume (in contrast to another), I would similarly discard their application.
The mistake wasn't the hiring decision, clearly it was getting into an argument with a prospective employee in a public internet posting.
That shows a serious lack of judgement and poor leadership.
And moreover this isn't a photo sharing business he's running, when you're asking people to trust you with their income and their medical coverage you are going to be held to a higher standard.
Yes. Getting into acrimonious debate with a prospective junior hire about their future career prospects is almost the definition of a misplaced sense of priority.
It's a not a good sign when your CEO argues with a "junior hire", however if he's successful at growing the company and creating value, it will be painted as part of his winning formula.