Pros
If you can be in a lower level standard BAU position that the top doesn’t care about, then you’ll be okay. A lot of great peers, decent hours, flexibility on location, team events, okay pay. Interesting industry. Some roles get to travel.
Cons
If you google the founder Ralph Bartel, it says (1) he is recently investigated/charged by the SEC, (2) allegedly worth over $500 million, & (3) resigned as a director of the company. Yet won’t remove his chokehold on the day to day, or stop being cheap about things. (Googling the CEO brother Holger is a whole other set of questionable things.) Things could vary based on your team/level, but essentially they have no actual strategy or business plan at much of this company. Managers are held accountable for managing up, not managing down as an actual leader or mentor. They make major decisions on the whims of an arrogant exec that tends to retain obedient self-sacrificing women to work for him. It’s sad to see & the complete opposite of progressive. God forbid you go to the bathroom, meet a colleague for coffee, or have plans on the weekend when he unexpectedly needs you to jump! They also expect you to accomplish major deliverables without providing the most basic resources or product to even be able to feasibly do that… which is their handy tactic of being able to blame you for not delivering the impossible. They push out good, talented people (or they flee for their own sanity). It’s unfortunate because this could be a cool, fun place to work. Some of their growth ideas seem incredibly questionable and bad for the brand, so even if you come, don’t plan for a very longterm career here… just consider it a volatile stepping stone. Also… health insurance cost & 401K is worse than bigger companies I’ve worked at.
