Pros
Networked Insights was a rapidly growing start-up company with some of the top talent around in all areas of its business - client services, product, engineering, etc. The company didn't seem to settle for any particular "type" of individual. Employees came from all different backgrounds which was nice. The culture was loose and pretty flexible and there seemed to be room for people to move internally. People worked incredibly hard and were very dedicated to the organization as a whole. The energy was honest and individuals wanted the organization to succeed. People were friendly and wanted to help each other succeed in whatever position they were in.
Cons
Unfortunately, as Networked Insights grew in size, it didn't grow professionally. For being a relatively small organization, Networked Insights experienced many office politics, with groups of employees becoming too clingy or even ganging up in social office situations. Although the organization prided itself on its work-life balance and "fun" culture (providing a few snacks, beer, and ping pong), it didn't provide its employees with any type of growth opportunities, career development, tuition reimbursement, and training. In fact, analysts often asked about professional development both internally and externally, and this request was often ignored or put on the back burner. The leadership team is comprised of all men and even this group seems to "play favorites". There are nearly no women in leadership positions or with much authority and this subject has been handled somewhat poorly over the course of a few years. Additionally, there is no official HR department and most of the HR processes are handled by the folks in leadership, which doesn't provide a "safe zone" for its employees. Recently, the company ended up going through a somewhat massive lay-off for the size of the company, losing much of its top talent who were once highly dedicated to the organization. The lay-off was not handled too well and it might have been avoided if the company had planned ahead in terms of its client retention. The sales pipeline is very inconsistent right now and it seems like the organization placed "all its eggs in one basket" in terms of its clients in the past. They played up their big "win" with a former major client, but never learned to address the needs of its other clients on a need-by-need basis.
