Pros
You'll work with some really lovely and talented people if you're lucky enough to land on a team that isn't toxic.
Cons
I was so, so excited to start at Paper and actually be at somewhere a little more mission-driven. What an incredible disappointment this entire journey has been. I joined Paper in its hypergrowth phase back in 2022 when things were really looking up. And admittedly, I was onboarded onto what is still a really amazing team and department. But that wave didn’t last. Districts had spent the COVID money extended to them through the pandemic earlier on, but many had churned from Paper due to a variety of reasons, the big one being (at least from my perspective) that Paper really just isn’t a great product. Kids weren’t using it, and the ones who did often found it a waste of time. And then that COVID-era funding ran out, and things really began to unravel. Embarrassing press about the poor quality of our product mounted. Tutors were stretched so thin that they couldn’t do a good job. The product morphed WAY too quickly following two acquisitions. And then commenced the many rounds of layoffs. Talented, respected people began to disappear one by one. No warning, no nothing, just grey, deactivated Slack accounts. Paper even had a Twitter-style “opt-out” program asking people who weren’t aligned with the mission to leave, clearly to save money. Following that, we had two “official” rounds of layoffs. Through all of this, you never knew whether today was the day you’d lose your job, and the execs kept wanting to spend money on ridiculous projects with no clear benefit. If one thing is clear, it’s that senior leadership is ridiculously underqualified when it comes to running a company and simply doesn't care about the cultural ripple effects of their callous leadership style. Their lack of transparency, constant corporatisms and platitudes, and tangible disregard for people’s livelihoods and the districts they serve is something you’d only see from a group of white male tech bro C-suiters with a good dose of generational wealth behind them. Their only goal is an exit, and it’s a perfect example of the kinds of horrific impacts you can see when you privatize education irresponsibly and waste taxpayer money. If this wasn't clear before, stay far, far away from Paper. This ship has sailed.