Pros
If you are capable of negotiating, it is possible to get a nice wage.
There are some nice people who are the only reason why it is worth trying to accept the not so healthy culture.
The product they are building is quite interesting in its core.
There is some space to learn new things because the product being built is quite complex and diverse.
Cons
“We are a startup” is an often heard sentence which describes why people overtime because of not so good management’s decisions.
The company lacks structure. It often felt like some people were trying to push their own agenda, while the people who were supposed to set the agenda were sidelined.
Over time, company‑wide meetings started to feel like a gimmick. There were lots of promises, exciting news, and new plans, but most of it turned out to be unrealistic, and after a while you stop paying attention to what is being said. Almost every piece of constructive criticism toward any department felt like it was taken personally, with visible eye‑rolling and grimacing from people who disagreed.
Although the product itself is interesting, execution felt rather poor, a lot of bad decisions were made, with the wrong focus and unrealistic expectations and deadlines.
It often seemed that the people who had to put in the least overtime were the most vocal about “pushing through the hard times.”
From my point of view, the best way to be successful in this company was to maintain good relationships with key people and to avoid letting them know when you disagreed with them.
Transparency is requested, but not received.