Pros
small-scale startup brings its benefits: fast decision-making process, enough space for creativity, the possibility of direct implementation of your ideas.
Cons
1) if you want to resign, be prepared that the company might not pay you your final salary and will bring a legal action against you (3 cases in 2017 in the company of fewer than 15 people in total). Quick maths - in 2017 the company: - threatened to bring a legal case against 3 of its former employees after resignation notice; - reported 1 of the ex-employees to the POLICE (after conducting an investigation, the police did not find any evidence of an alleged violation of any law whatsoever in ex-employee's actions); - refused to pay the last salary to 2 of the ex-employees after resignation notice. One case can be described in details. I gave my resignation notice 2 months in advance out of the good will. The CEO and COO invited me to a meeting 10 days before my last day at the office (last day of the month). They thanked me for a good work and said that because I've already finished all my projects and knowledge transfer to my successor, I should not come to the office anymore, as there's no work left for me to do, but I will be officially employed until the end of the month and get paid for the whole last month. It was a complete surprise for me, I tried to convince them that I still want and can work these 10 more days, but it was clear that I can't object to that decision. The CEO, Justin Tjoa, called it a "garden leave" and said that I may rest before moving overseas (I was resigning because of that). No written papers of emails were provided in this regard, but I trusted them, and we had a deal. They also immediately deleted all my work related accounts, including my work email, and restricted my access to all office software. 14 days later when my final salary hadn't arrived, I tried contacting management (3 people) , but they ignored me. Another week later after another my attempt of contact, they replied that they are not going to pay me anything for my past month (including the time when I was still at the office) because I left the company without notice, even though they expected me to come to work until the end of the month. They denied forcing me to leave earlier, denied "garden leave", and moreover threatened to bring a legal case against me, and report me to labor authority and court. To my knowledge, I'm the second person whom they denied in final pay after resignation notice. So in AlgoMerchant you give resignation notice, work as usual for a month or so, and in the end, your paycheck just doesn't arrive... So my advice to future employees - the word of CEO, Justin Tjoa, or any other person from the management, does not mean anything, always demand a written confirmation for anything related to your employment status. And if you decide to resign - give a 2 weeks notice maximum, at least that would be not that big time/money loss for you. 2) absolutely NO work and life balance. you will be working ridiculously long hours, including nigths , Saturdays and Sundays, public holidays, but will not be offered any compensation or 'leave-in-lieu' for that. 3) no stock options 4) one of the mandatory clauses in employment contract - if you decide to resign earlier than a contract period ends, you need to pay a fine to the company in the amount of half of the gross monthly salary multiplied by the number of "unserved" months plus one full monthly salary. For example, you have a 12 months contract, and you decide to leave after 6 months of work. You will owe the company ( 6 * monthly salary) / 2 + 1 monthly salary.
