Pros
1. TRUST: I can honestly say that never in my career have I so inherently trusted my leadership team as much as I do here at Confluent. They're great people who work their tails off, are making smart, empathic and humble decisions and keep a sense of levity and joy about them that makes us all want to work harder for them. As, if not more importantly, they make us feel trusted, heard and empowered. 2. Speaking of values: So many companies throw meaningless words on a wall and hope they stick as values. Not here. Our values of empathy, humility, OneTeam and GSD (get sh$t done) are a few of my favorites and are authentic from the C-levels to the remote teams to the hiring decision, etc. What a HUGE difference this makes.
Cons
Less a Con, more a question as we continue to scale... Promotions are strong here (which is awesome news!) but without professional training & personal development, I've seen this cripple the engagement, retention and productivity within other high-growth startups and hope to see even more focus on and investment into education as we grow.