Pros
I tell this to every interviewee, and many of my colleagues and friends. The most important thing for me coming to Pachama was to find values alignment on integrity, transparency, and commitment to the environment. It is rewarding to work at Pachama precisely because none of this value speak is lip service. We see the financials of the company on a regular basis, we discuss our overall strategy and shifts as they happen. We are at 75 people right now, and while we could always be more diverse, the nature of remote work and an emphasis by many individuals on hiring diversity, does create space for a more diverse team. Our comp is indexed to the SF Bay Area, but folks live all over, which IMO leads to more equitable treatment as every contributor is paid their worth, not based on how much their cost of living is. I love this remote work environment, we have an emphasis on writing things down not just meeting for meeting’s sake. We respect each other’s off time but also know that we can flex our hours to fit our life. I never worry about going on PTO, and it better be an actual emergency if I’m ever going to reach out to a colleague on the weekend, at night, or on their holiday. I think the axiom “the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is today” sums up our ambition nicely. The climate and biodiversity crises are urgent and we are running on borrowed time, but the best way to move forward is to take deliberate and thoughtful steps, through collaboration and perseverance, to achieve what maybe seems impossible today.
Cons
There’s definitely a sense of drinking the kool-aid, which I’ve had at every mission oriented startup I’ve been at. So it will be important for us to hire for culture-add not just culture fit. While it’s fun to know you share like interests (climbing, meditation, camping, general nature-connectedness), this could create groupthink and an exclusive feeling over time that deters diverse thinkers/backgrounds.