Why executives are fleeing $500 million startup Rent the Runway

In the last two months, Rent the Runway has lost four top executives.

The New York startup, which rents formal dresses and accessories to users for affordable prices, recently lost chief technical officer Camille Fournier and chief creative officer Linda Honan, in addition to its head of partnerships and president.

More executives have left in the past year, too, including the company's CFO, head of people and talent, and its COO.

On Tuesday morning, Fortune's Daniel Roberts published a report after speaking with Rent the Runway's former employees, investors, and CEO. The article concluded that Rent the Runway's problems with turnover stem primarily from a hostile corporate culture.

Rent the Runway was founded in 2009 by two Harvard Business School classmates, Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss. Hyman is the company's CEO, and Fleiss heads up the company's business development efforts. The startup was last valued at about $500 million by venture capitalists and it has raised more than $110 million to date.

Business Insider had been working on a story similar to Fortune's, having interviewed a few former employees and executives at Rent the Runway who had similar accounts of what was happening at the startup. Here's what they said.

• Management team is not on the same page. There's "definitely a lack of strategic direction from senior management," one former employee says. "The C-suites are NOT aligned."
• Jenn Hyman has a reputation for being "cold." Former employees have told Business Insider that Rent the Runway's management, specifically Hyman, is a large part of the reason Rent the Runway has been bleeding talent. One former employee called Fleiss the good cop and Hyman the bad cop.
• A "culture of fear" in the office. Of Hyman one person said, "She creates an environment of fear because she wants you to be afraid of her and she wants you to know that she's in charge. She creates this toxic environment where people are on edge every single day." It's important to note, however, that no source provided a specific instance of Hyman acting cold or being unapproachable. Some said they were afraid that sharing a particular incident might reveal their identities.
• Parts of the company are disorganized and inefficient. "You're constantly running in circles, never being able to get things done and having things go through a million processes and reviews," a former employee told Business Insider.
• An excessive amount of turnover. One former employee who was at the company for about two years says she saw 100 people leave in that time. Some departures had a ripple effect. When CTO Camille Fournier left, for example, it created a rift because she was well-liked and respected within the organization.
• Rent the Runway rolled out an unlimited subscription service last year, and it's not doing so well. Called Unlimited, the program is in beta now and the CEO admitted to Fortune that the product has gone through 40 different iterations. A former employee who spoke with Business Insider also says Unlimited is stumbling. "Unlimited just never leveled up into a higher business strategy, and I think they're still trying to figure it out," this person said.
• There's a "Devil Wears Prada"-like book that's supposedly about Rent the Runway. "The Knockoff" is a 2015 book co-written by Lucy Sykes, who worked for Rent the Runway as a fashion director and consultant from 2011 to 2012.
• Fortune unearthed a Facebook group called "Rent the Runaways" consists of about 100 former Rent the Runway employees. A source told Fortune the group exists because everyone who leaves the company has post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

We reached out to Rent the Runway for comment, but have not heard back. Hyman addressed many of the accusations in Fortune, though.

Hyman attributes some of the turnover to corporate strategy. She told Fortune, "I looked around at the team that I had and thought that we needed a very different team to scale us." She says Rent The Runway needs a mix of people who have lived and breathed the company's mission for years, as well as seasoned executives to take it to the next level.

As for criticism of corporate culture, Hyman says it stings and isn't true.

"It's extremely disappointing to hear because I care so much about the culture and about every single person who I've ever hired," Hyman told Fortune, adding that 2015 has been the most "emotional, difficult year of my career."