Pros
New CEO is fearless and smart, joined six months ago and made all of the overdue hard decisions to set the company on an accelerated path. He had to send off some of the early-stage people who are great for the first chapter, but who choke on scale and planning. This will be his third IPO, and he has a calm, cool demeanor with an intense smarts, easy laugh, "carpe diem" tattoo, and drive to win. The company is packed with much-higher-than-average IQs who wear flip flops and fill coffee cups with beer from the in-house pub at the end of the day. If you're not smart, you won't make it. The culture can be shrewd and rejects those with underdeveloped intellect. And, if you're not at least a little bit interesting, you probably won't make friends. One guy can lick his elbow, lots of musicians, Olympic calibre athletes, and an endless variety of team sports. Volleyball, soccer, basketball, kickball, softball, frisbee, surfing, triathlons, and of course ping pong. Very competitive. Very "team." Lots of career opportunities and internal promotions.
Cons
The culture really does reject average intelligence and boring people. You're expected to solve a lot of problems independently and to teach and learn from those around you, quickly. If you can't hold a complex conversation without preparation, this probably won't work. And, if you get bummed out when an incompetent person is terminated, then you're going to be miserable. It's not the managers who do the firing so much, it's the culture that is inclusive of only high performers and drivers. Invoca's product is complex and I think that's why you have to be smart and self-driven to make the cut.
