Pros
- People know how to come together and get things done. Having worked at plenty of companies that have no idea how to do this and suffered as a result, it's refreshing to see the entire R&D group come up with a semi-realistic plan and then actually achieve most of it. There's a definite sense of "we're in this together" and disruption is planned for (to the best that it can be) and rolled with in a flexible and controlled way. - Great middle management. Every TL, manager, or director I've met is 100% engaged in helping their team(s) succeed. I haven't seen a single instance of shaming, under-bus throwing, or any of the other petty politics middle management seems to revel in. It's also a pretty flat org structure, so there isn't much opportunity for silo-ing, in-fighting, or fief-building. - They work hard to foster a good corporate culture that works both for the remote people and in the office. There's a lot of positive reinforcement and encouragement to participate, almost to a fault (see below for more on this). - Both the CEO and CTO are new, but so far are saying and doing the right things. They definitely are relying on their own experience and knowledge, but make a point of being accessible to anyone and seem to be listening and adapting based on that feedback. - The org is scaling fast, and so a lot of things are still being worked out. In short, this is a company going through that metamorphosis from 'start up' to 'grown up' and seems to be navigating that pretty well.
Cons
- There's still a vocal contingent of pre-acquisition "old guard" who use the organization's commitment to openness to express their frustration at the loss of the "good old days". Not saying that change isn't hard or that there isn't occasionally some good feedback here, and I do sympathize with people who have had the start-up environment they knew and preferred change underneath their feet. However it is frustrating to see people who frankly have it quite good try to move backwards in time. - The org is scaling fast, and so a lot of things are still being worked out. - Most of the food options around the NY office are either somewhat expensive, chain, or just bad.