Pros
This company is going nowhere. The only advantage of working here is that you learn what you don't want from a serious company and its leadership. It's deeply troubling when you learn that Gary Read, the current CEO, have no clue what he's doing. From investors and advisors to customers and new hires, beware. This is a culture thing. He's the kind of person who enjoy spreading negative attitude all over and blames everything and everyone for his failures to achieve results. You just need to read his responses. Defensive mode activated! I’m not interested in dignifying his idiocy, but mediocre leaders like him make excuses for poor company performance, are triggered to act defensively, lose control, and hide their heads in the sand. The results: a terrible company with a crappy product.
Cons
Please, be cautious if you are considering to work for this startup. They may pay you a million compliments during interviews, and make a thousand promises about your bright future in the company, but this startup is just a bad experiment that can't get off the ground with current leadership. You will become just a number in a spreadsheet that will be replaced without warning when they don't need you anymore, even if they incur in a wrongful termination. Forget about work-life balance, this is not a priority here. If you do a research you will learn that they are short on cash and they don't have the money to pay for the people they really want, so they lowball the offer in the salary negotiation, at least that was my experience. The whole "vision thing" about what they are doing is just part of the pitch that is used to convince young designers and engineers to work for 65 percent of what they'd earn at a more established company, plus some laughable token equity offering that's worth nothing. Career development? They are too busy marketing themselves and raising new rounds of capital to have time to worry about whether their employees are learning. The CEO is disrespectful, and doesn't have the personality, character, drive, and spirit of a true leader. Big ego, yes, but not self confidence for sure and a laughable understanding of the business. Just another CEO wannabe on a power trip that likes to rule a team by fear, sending disrespectful emails and threatening employees with reprisals if they don't clean dishes or the bathroom. I received one of those memos. Totally out of line. I understand this is a tiny startup with very limited funds, but if you can't afford a cleaning service then at least have some respect for your employees. Shameful and disgusting behavior. One advice: treat others they way you want them to treat you. Time will tell more about the future of this scrappy startup that has been off the rails many times since it was founded, and seems to continue in the same destructive spirit every time it falls into the wrong hands. Don't sell yourself short for a shot at the "startup experience" - you will never get the credit and respect you deserve working for this company. And you are not going to "make the world a better place" here, this startup will not live long enough to become a big company. Take another job.
