Poolside
Small (~150)
Samsara
Large (~5,200)
Best For
Poolside
Best for: AI researchers who want frontier code generation work with genuine remote flexibility and Paris offsites
Samsara
Best for: Sales and ops professionals who thrive in a high-growth public company selling real IoT hardware+software to physical industries
Ratings
PoolsideSamsara
3.8
4.0
Overall
3.5
3.9
Work-Life Balance
3.9
4.1
Culture & Values
3.8
4.0
Comp & Benefits
3.6
3.8
Senior Mgmt
3.6
3.8
Career Opps
👍 76% Recommend
👤 80% CEO Approval (Jason Warner)
👍 80% Recommend
👤 84% CEO Approval (Sanjit Biswas)
Culture Values
Poolside only
⚙️ Engineering-Driven🌐 Remote-Friendly🤝 Flat Hierarchy🧩 Wears Many Hats
Samsara only
🎯 Direct Product Impact🚀 Ship Fast & Iterate💎 Strong Comp & Equity
Shared
🌱 Learning & Growth
Pros & Cons
Poolside
- Remote-first with monthly Paris gatherings
- Cutting-edge code generation research
- Early-stage with limited structure
- Comp may trail larger AI labs
Samsara
- Clear career trajectory with frequent promotions in sales
- Real-world product impact building IoT for physical operations
- Engineers rate WLB at only 2.9/5 despite company average of 3.9
- Remote work used to justify overwork including weekends
Bottom Line
Poolside
Choose Poolside if you want cutting-edge code AI research on a remote-first flat team (ex-GitHub CTO leadership) — but expect early-stage ambiguity and comp that trails the larger AI labs.
Samsara
Strong sales culture and real-world product impact at massive scale, but engineers report significantly worse WLB than the company average suggests.
Open Roles
Poolside — 12 jobs
💻 Engineering
9
📊 Data
2
🧠 ML / AI
1
Samsara — 383 jobs
💼 Sales / GTM
188
💻 Engineering
60
📋 Product
36
📣 Marketing
11
🧠 ML / AI
10
📊 Data
7
⚙️ Operations
7
🎧 Support
5
👤 HR / People
3
⚖️ Legal
2
🎨 Design
1
Summary
Poolside scores 3.8/5.0 on Glassdoor with a 3.5 work-life balance rating. Samsara scores 4.0/5.0 overall with a 3.9 WLB. That’s a 0.2-point gap on overall satisfaction.
Both companies share these culture values: Learning & Growth. Poolside also emphasizes Engineering-Driven, Remote-Friendly, Flat Hierarchy, Wears Many Hats. Samsara also emphasizes Direct Product Impact, Ship Fast & Iterate, Strong Comp & Equity.
On the hiring front, Poolside has 12 open roles and Samsara has 383 open roles.