Pros
The staff on the whole are very talented at what they do, passionate, welcoming and friendly. Which makes for great camaraderie and a chance to learn. It’s just a shame some of the more senior and longer serving staff have drunk the kool-aid from the founders that the rest of the team can clearly see through. Chance to build up your CV for your next role. Gets hands on experience of how not manage people and sink morale. Learn to recognise the tell tale signs or narcissism and the dangers of ego with venture capital funding.
Kontras
Prepare for what I would determine as systematic bullying to push people out, or trumped up charges to fire you, as appears to have happened to so many past employees. This is especially true if you try and point out the many apparently dodgy (appear to me at times out right illegal) ways in which business is done and people are treated/fired. Direction and strategy is haphazard and too much energy is spent on decisions and projects that bring questionable value. But be assured, make anything deemed a “mistake” and it’ll be used in your exit interview. “We’re a startup” is used as an excuse to over work people and to be phoned and messaged at any time of day/night and the weekend with things that can definitely wait until Monday morning. The founders seem to me to ooze entitlement while having zero real world experience or empathy towards their employees (which is evident pretty quickly in how they manage and treat staff). Egos are big and often overwhelm any rational in decision making. Pettiness is rife, expect retaliation if you disagree or dare confront on how things are done wether you have vastly more experience or not, this will be used as a reason to push you out. Some business practices are just dodgy and don’t feel right, so double and triple check anything you’re asked to do. Keep a paper trail. Communication is extremely poor. People are there one day and gone the next with no word of why, which is terrible for morale and trust in the leadership. The founders talk up a good story for the mission and pie in the sky goals which can whip up momentary enthusiasm and bring in new talent but the day to day operations are scatterbrain with things changing on a dime with little thought to implication on teams, resources and the overall "strategy". It’s also one rule for us, a different rule for you. Expect to be pulled up on things that are not being exhibited by management. No leading by example here. They like to market themselves as a very cool progressive company to work for with all the hall mark tech startup frills. But their day-to-day attitude to business and dealing with people is very conservative and old fashioned at times. Which I believe speaks a little to the founders lack of real world experience or having learnt from being managed by other great managers/founders/ceos. My advice is to work here only if you have a clear exit strategy and be prepared for the BS.