Pros
Base compensation fair for market, despite minimal benefits Desirable downtown Raleigh office/co-working location It's possible these people mean well
Cons
Admittedly, I should have been a little more critical from day one of the interview process, but I was so excited for the 'vision', the 'culture' and the job itself that I chose to fall for the idea rather than listen to my gut. Promises vs. Reality based on my experience below, in hopes it will allow future candidates to more honestly evaluate the opportunity at hand. Promise: Empowerment to contribute and succeed at a lean but professional agency poised for significant growth. Traction-based, relatively flat organization with an opportunity for a seat at the leadership table and clear track for personal and professional development. Reality: Family-run startup. Ineffective executive team that relies on an incomplete interpretation of Traction EOS with no follow through. Very limited capacity and desire to effectively mentor/manage, not only defaulting to but laughing about a 'ready, fire, aim' approach. Feedback was sporadic at best, understandably so given everyone's need to chase the erratic demands from the top down. Promise: Radical candor. Clarity on role/responsibilities. Autonomy. Reality: No actual candor. Goals dictated by daily mood of CEO and executive team's resulting ineffective attempts at mediating. Constant interference in role/responsibilities across teams based on the CEO's need to be over-involved; followed by criticism for deferring to his direction. Very confusing. Autonomy cannot exist in this chaos. Promise: A 'curated’ (not 'hired') team of incredibly talented 'misfits.’ A supportive environment where other leaders can gradually take the reins, so the CEO can rise to his true calling as 'visionary' at the agency. An executive team that understands the challenges, listens to feedback from staff, and is committed to continual improvement. Reality: Truly talented team of hires (and fires, unfortunately)! Individual contributors all know their craft and could undoubtedly produce great work. Unfortunately, leadership doesn’t actually want constructive criticism and feedback as promised. Instead, confrontation with internal team as well as clients is prioritized from top down. Ultimately, it's a repeat production that, on a regular basis, disrupts meaningful workflow and ability to execute. Promise: 'Process' is a work in progress and your collective input/expertise is invaluable. We're a busy, lean startup and former contributors made a mess of things. With everyone's help, we'll get it right. Reality: Enormous investment of hours to build 6-7+ half-baked versions of 'the process', none of which have ever successfully been rolled out. Contributions to process are moot, despite merit. Process is secondary to and simply not compatible with the whims of executive team. Promise: Defiant, 'maverick' agency. No 'order takers' and no 'yes men.' National advertising campaigns and exciting, big budget clients. The agency we've all always wanted to be a part of building with leadership that has successfully built/sold multiple, top tier partnerships and agencies. Reality: So close because the vision SHOULD exist. It's a really good one! Unfortunately, it's a vision spearheaded by capricious executive team and a CEO that really does thoroughly enjoy saying 'no' but with unfortunate disregard for whether or not the 'no' has value or aligns with what has previously been promised to the client (by him or anyone else, for that matter.) Very little work of substance actually produced from the agency despite incredibly talented individuals across teams. Proceed with caution.
