Pros
Very dynamic, fast paced environment. We basically worked on cutting-edge tech, years ahead of competitors. Lots of customer and partner engagements. Did many cool demos at CES and other events. Luminar was generally very generous with tools and services, i.e. you could request pretty much anything and get it approved.
Cons
Senior management (CEO specifically) was inexperienced with capital management, they were spending money like drunken sailors. Fat compensation packages to some executives, lavish parties where people were flown across the continent and stayed in expensive hotels, etc. May 2024 layoffs made very little business sense, e.g. they could have split the sw division into a subsidiary and sold a stake in it to get money they needed. Instead they fired a lot of very talented and experienced people, essentially in one day destroying years and years of progress. This was an extremely bad business decision. The execution of Iris sensor roadmap was an example of incompetence and inexperience. CEO was pretty much absent from day-to-day processes and decisions, only showed up for a quarterly update meeting.