Pros
Trying to help women and families is the easy feel-good one-liner, but Ovia really is pushing the pace when it comes to actually helping families be happier and healthier. The research being done behind the scenes, with trying to figure out how to best predict complications during fertility and pregnancy, how to best serve at-risk individuals with relevant and customized information, is a step above what you see at a lot of other places in the women/family health space. You can see the passion people have for their work, and it shows in the work product they produce. And personally, I enjoy coming to work every day even on the "bad" days, which isn't something I would have said about other places I've worked . They've stayed true to the products that helped launch the company, which isn't something you can say about every growing company. The apps, and the focus they put on users and engaging them daily, remain the bulk of the company's offerings, and proper focus has been placed on keeping them up-to-date and relevant for the users. While Ovia is obviously trying to innovate, they haven't lost sight of what got them here, and personally I prefer a place that tries to be really good at it's core competencies versus chase new trends in the hopes of grabbing a quick buck. At the same time, there's also a company-wide understanding that you are at your best when you can separate from your work and have a home life, and so there is a clear focus on being, say, flexible for employees with young children. Every company will give lip service to culture and work-life balance, then grind you on a deadline or expect heavy workloads on nights and weekends, but Ovia really does recognize employees are humans and have lives outside the office. And it might be a bit cliche, but working here does feel if not like a family, at least familial, and the warmth and welcoming attitudes of everyone are genuine.
Cons
It'd like to preface all the cons with the understanding that these are all relatively trivial concerns; there's no malice or mistreatment I've seen. It's a growing company that has taken some risks, and sometimes those risks haven't paid off. I won't comment on others here who have voiced concerns about transparency and lack of support because I didn't experience what they did, but based on my experience working at start-ups both larger and smaller than Ovia, sadly sometimes people suffer because business decisions don't pan out. And that sucks for those involved, but I certainly haven't felt like there is any more or less transparency here than at other places I've worked. What does need to change, though, is that when problems or suggestions are brought up, they should be handled with more alacrity than I've seen recently. For example, people have complained about some of the remote worker technology (e.g. meeting room A/V that isn't someone's MacBook) for a year now, and yet the situation has only recently seen any traction toward being resolved. It may seem trivial, but when it keeps being brought up and sorta gets waved aside as something that will be dealt with in the future, it sends a signal that day-to-day concerns are not as important and makes people less likely to bring up other, perhaps more personal issues. And as with any mission-driven company, YMMV on how deeply you identify with particular elements of said mission. As the company has grown there has been a maturation of the vernacular surrounding what we do, and what that means for newer hires has clashed with some of the older guard at times.
