Pros
The only genuine thing is the people talented, committed, showing up for each other despite it all. Which is exactly why they don't last. Their best qualities are what the system depletes.
Cons
The pitch is always the same, independent, creative-first, built differently than the usual agency machinery. The reality is a well-oiled extraction model. Four ECDs in recent years (possibly more), an MD, multiple CDs, various department heads, all cycled through without real resources or runway to build anything sustainable. Weekend work is baseline, chronic understaffing is standard, and people vanish without explanation. The internal experience is structural dysfunction systematically reframed as individual failure. Unmanageable workload? Time management issue. Client relationships deteriorating across too many accounts? Performance problem. Question any of it and you're labeled a culture misfit, which just accelerates the exit. What's actually optimized here is profit for ownership. The independent positioning and craft messaging are branding, not operating principles. What gets built from the top down is an environment where gaslighting and toxicity function as standard management practice.