Pros
- Passion and innovation are heavily rewarded - if you demonstrate these regularly there’s pretty much no ceiling to what you can achieve, and the company will actively work to support your ideas. - Easily the most autonomy I’ve ever had in a job. Leadership actively encourages people to self manage, and they’ll work with you to help figure out your career trajectory. - Upward mobility can happen quickly - if you demonstrate your proficiency, you’ll not only be given more responsibilities and opportunities to lead but can also grow into other roles and disciplines. I probably gained what would’ve amounted to 6+ years of experience in about 2 years because of the opportunities I worked on and the incredibly smart people around me. - People are smart and want to learn, which fosters an environment where mistakes aren’t so much punished but instead analyzed to help learn and grow. - Everyone who works there is comfortable with rolling their sleeves up and helping where and when they can, including upper management. I have never worked with a harder-working team, and I would still rely on any of them for just about anything. - Upper management works hard to be as transparent with decision-making as possible, and actively seeks feedback. I had regular 1:1 meetings with the CEO as an open forum to discuss anything I wanted to talk about. - CEO truly wants to empower employees and help them grow, and went above and beyond to help me transform both in my job and as a leader in general. Easily the most impactful CEO and boss I have ever had. - You can have a direct impact on company process and procedures. If you find a better way of doing things, the team and company as a whole is open if you make a compelling case.
Cons
There aren’t really cons outside of what's expected at a startup/new business, so knowing that going in is important. There’s always a healthy amount of work to do and everyone has a good amount on their plate. Here are some things I saw cause issues for some (and very few) people during my time there: - As a smaller company, it isn’t a place you go and just do “your job", and you can’t rely on others to pick up your slack. You carry your own weight and are expected to self-manage, no matter what level you hold in the company. Being a team player is important to everyone there, without exception. - With the expectation of self-management comes the expectation of setting boundaries for yourself. There’s always something else to work on or make better, so it’s on you to communicate to the team your level of bandwidth. If you can’t raise your hand or ask for help, you can find yourself overwhelmed quickly. - You’re expected to want to learn and it’s a really important part of the culture. Obviously, everyone there is happy to help and provide you with what you need to succeed when tackling something new. That being said, if you don’t know how to do something, you should research what you can about it and come to the table with what you were able to figure out on your own, having the team help to clarify and fill in the blanks. Not investing time into understanding something on your own and expecting someone to hold your hand can result in you lagging behind others and burdening the team. - People are very passionate and very direct. Everyone is focused on growth and people don’t like to dance around an issue.