- Talk of the double bottom line and energy saving and saving the world is part of the PR story. If you're a do gooder who wants to work at Opower to believe that the founders are dedicating their lives to this vision, then you will realize that their goal is to make money for the company and the subsequent payout when they cash out. And utilities sign up for good PR and because of government subsidies. Yes it's a win for the environment but not for the faint of heart if you're a big idealist.
-If you accept, you will trade your current salary for lower compensation in exchange for stock options and all the promise of working for a cool company based near DC (but in Virginia - see the capitalist streak yet?). Look closely at the vesting. I accepted a job with a 30% pay increase when I left and invest in the stock market myself. Factor the benefits into your compensation as well - I took a ~$5k hit on that when I did the comparision/negotiation with my next job.
- You're excited to work with other smart people with ivy league degrees until you realize everyone is so hyperfocused on themselves and their own careers that few are collaborating and managers just aren't looking out for you. They are dodging political bullets to keep their own jobs. They need to hire middle managers with experience over big name degrees.
- Note the turnover in HR and Recruiting on LinkedIn. This is an area they need to pay more attention to. It's not just about amazing benefits, it's about career development, training, mobility (and that doesn't mean "Do you want to work in our SF office one day?") and advancement. Right now, they are overloaded with applications so they can be choosy but look at how long people stay in their roles and balance that with how long they can wear the golden handcuffs to wait out the IPO.
- When I started, someone told me that bonuses are never clarified and never paid out, and I completely discounted his advice. I was wrong. I negotiated a higher bonus to make up for my salary and didn't get paid out. Pay attention to this in your offer letter and track your performance/achievement. Note what is expected of you and how you are tracking against this. Odds are your manager is not going to put in the time to help you do this, so do it yourself.
- You can't have a meeting without having to put together a PowerPoint deck. It's more BS forecasts and visualizing one's vision than solid, actionable plans. If you like this, then you'll do fine. If you actually want to talk during a meeting instead of watching one person present the slides they spent half their day doing while execs look at their iphones and make you skip to your summary slide, then you may want to slit your wrists.
-People are hanging on until the IPO. Once that happens (like many other companies), there will be a mass exodus. This is obvious of course, but the people that I like will all leave by then unless they are unaffected by the politics. (who does that actually leave?) So you'll have the doers and the egos and that just sounds terrible.
-Some of the business decisions and practices made by VP and Director-level management conflicted with my personal and professional ethics which is why I have not recommended Opower to others despite its public hype and much to my friends' dismay.
