Pros
1) Actually saving lives: Every minute of work you put in has direct impact on the lives of people suffering from type 2 diabetes. You can literally measure the number of people you've helped by reversing their diabetes! 2) Fast career growth: If you are hungry and willing to pitch ideas and get scrappy to make it happen, your career can grow incredibly fast at Virta. 3) Patients over profits: We are one of the few healthcare companies that actually prioritize patient care over profits. This is because our model is value-based, meaning we don't get paid if the patient doesn't see significant decreases in A1c, diabetes medications, and weight. We also have a new patient join our company all-hands meeting every Monday morning to talk about their time on Virta, and we usually all tear up just hearing about the significance of their experience. 4) Low levels of bureaucracy: There isn't a heavy approval process at Virta for most things - it's relatively easy to move quickly and get work done without a lot of blockers! 5) Great benefits: Virta pay 99% of our healthcare premiums and we have unlimited time off, free Audible subscription, and all sorts of other fully-covered benefits. 6) Incredible coworkers: Getting to work with highly intelligent, genuine, and motivated people who are willing to work hard towards the mission is such a blessing. Many of my best friends are now people I've worked with at Virta. Plus, some of our leaders are truly "the expert" in their field, which allows us all to learn so much from their expertise.
Cons
1) Sometimes difficult to balance growth versus work life balance: Virta has been growing so fast, and at times has underperformed on unlocking new hires fast enough as well as ruthless global prioritization of company-wide projects. While it's getting better and there is a concerted effort to improve this, we still have a ways to go. As a growth-stage startup, this will never be a 9-5 job, but we need to make more progress in this area (and we will). We do have unlimited time off, but sometimes it's hard to really take advantage of it based on the sheer number of prioritized projects and their designated timelines.