Pros
All the benefits of an established, successful company:
- Industry-leading pay and great benefits
- Flexible work locations and support for reasonable relocation - no required office time or location, but there's support for working side by side with your teammates if you want it
- One-of-a-kind equity programs - they want employees to own the company and feel empowered to generate success
The transparency and agility of a startup:
- Focus on results - work isn't performative, you're encouraged to find the most valuable thing to build, regardless of 'team' or 'role'.
- Uncapped growth opportunity - leadership isn't limited to a fixed number of positions, all employees have access to lead whether at an individual project level, organizational level, or product level.
- Generalist focus - roles and needs evolve along with our product and the needs of the business. I'd have gotten bored as a pure specialist a long time ago if we weren't evolving and updating our focus.
- Still making big bets - there's still a lot of ambition and creativity in the team and I'm genuinely excited for our next evolution.
Cons
The challenges are really the flip side of the pros.
- An open structure requires you to make choices. You have to define a lot of your own goals and use the mentorship program and leadership support to work toward them.
- High rewards come with high expectations. Open access to product and people leadership tracks means everyone is actively leveling up and you're expected to do the same.
- Changing directions can be uncomfortable. Generalism requires an honest, consistent awareness of the value you're contributing and the focus/energy to change it as the task at hand changes.
