A company on to something big + Great people
Pros
- Good people: one thing I really enjoy at Flexport is being surrounded by a bunch of smart & international people. It's easy to connect with others and everyone make an effort to help one another. I can't wait to go back to the office and breath that atmosphere again, those ski trips, team outings, San Francisco trips. - Learning opportunities: I thought I was a great seller until I joined Flexport. Only then I realized how little did I know. It comes down to learning a methodology (value selling) and continuously refine it, rather than "go make some calls and build relationships". I'd say that if you become a successful AE at Flexport, you are easily within the top 5% most knowledgeable/effective sales people out there. Clients respect you because you are not begging for their business (at the opposite you are empowered to say "no, thanks"), but rather creating value for their organizations. - Ambition: I've always been attracted by ambitious companies with a clear plan to build something unique. The challenge Flexport is working on is so complex and unique (building the 1st system for global trade) that cracking it would mean becoming one of the most successful companies in history. That - to me - is very motivating.
Cons
- Work-life balance: this can be challenging at times. Sometimes it simply comes down to peer pressure, because everyone works very hard, and sometimes there is simply a lot to do. I must say, however, that management is open to talk about this and support when needed. - Scale-up pains: since the company has been growing very fast in a short period of time (which is great!), there is still a lot to figure out. This sometimes can lead to frustrations, e.g. you might spot a problem with a client/internal process, and you might not know how to go about getting it fixed, or you might have to push to create attention towards it. A lot has been done to improve this (hire people to look at processes, creating more transparency on priorities), but if you are searching for a company where things run by themselves, then you might find Flexport too fast-paced and chaotic at times.
