It's a job to know where to start really but I guess we should start with the product.
It was world beating best of breed data visualisation tool. However , they had this idea that they would pour loads of resource into R&D and pockets of techies went off trying to build really cool features whilst the rest of the world focused on cloud.
Tableau now faces a game of catch up - the online offering leaves much to be desired and quite frankly the best hope is if they are bought by a company that knows how to do cloud correctly like Amazon or Salesforce.
Management - they like to call themselves the "Leadership Team" but sadly not a single leader amongst them.
Focused on spreadsheets and micro-management , asking the same questions over and over again regardless of whether they are relevant to the situation. I used to feel embarrassed for them at times. Promotion is possible , but would you really want it ?
Tableau does somehow manage to recruit some quality sales people and if you consider the sales people as the special forces then the management team are Dad's Army.
Culture - If you drink the cool aid , wear the T- shirts, shout and scream, love silent discos, think free food is a good replacement for respect then its great , its all great , just keep thinking it's great ! You will be told it's great every day. When the share price dropped 50% it was all great - nothing wrong with Tableau - it's everyone else. There is a fine line between cult and culture and Tableau crosses it frequently.
