Pros
The team consists of some of the most driven and intelligent people I’ve ever met. The combination of smarts and drive is rare and seeing a group of these individuals driving towards the same goal is an amazing sight. It was nice to be dedicated to such a mission-driven organization, especially a mission that you can actually live with. Trying to change an opaque and inefficient industry which almost brought the world to its knees in 2008, versus building another photo messaging app. Which would you prefer to dedicate your life to? Indeed, I drank the Kool-Aid and loved every moment of it from day one. The office was a very intense environment, but having respect and actually caring about the people you work with definitely made for better communication. Meetings would get intense and though you may not agree with every decision made, things were always fine minutes later. Especially when you realize opposing ideas were generated by individuals just as dedicated to the mission / team as you. People produced. All the time. 3:30am on a Saturday morning? Data reconciliation going on, engineers hopped-up on Red Bull still going at it. There were always people in the office no matter the hour or day. I was constantly surrounded by my teammates, whether in the office, or the numerous off-hour activities. Just couldn't get enough of the people there. Hikes, bike rides, bars, etc. There's always something going on, or another teammate with some unique hobby pitching it to you. Typical start-up perks. Anything that's needed to help you focus on your core work, will be provided. Food, laundry, living stipend, etc.
Cons
Typical start-up hours. It can consume your life if you don't have the discipline to lead a life away from work. In the past, there were lots of issues with communication. People were running so fast with their projects, not enough time was spent communicating or taking a step back for a higher-level overview. So in a sense, wheels spun. There were also cultural and communication break downs between the build-side of the organization and the sales-side. The few corporate reshuffles have addressed it in some way. Eric, the CEO, is an AMAZING addition. Top notch leadership on both a professional and personal level. You can't help but love the guy and go marching for him. Unfortunately the same can't be said for the COO / President. While the company did need to grow up, we didn't need any Oracle culture injected into it overnight. And that was the feeling whenever I had to work with her. But it's not all bad. On many if not all of the projects overseen by the COO, she did produce but at the expense of professional relationships and sometimes cultural damage. She's results-oriented as she should be, and has proven herself in the past. Hopefully she does the same at Addepar without ruining too much of the culture. Base compensation doesn't compare with most other companies in the area. The expectation is that equity makes up for it.