Solid foundation, company is headed up
Pros
1. Growth I’ve never had a manager invest in my career the way I’ve experienced here. The stretch work is real, and it’s the kind that actually grows you. And I’m not an exception — I’ve seen capable, people-first folks promoted consistently. 2. The Work The work is interesting, challenging, and substantial. I’m not recycling the same solutions from past roles. When you do strong work here, you’re trusted with bigger, better problems. That part matters. 3. The People The people I get to work with are talented, sharp, hardworking, funny, and thoughtful. I genuinely enjoy seeing the team each week. It doesn’t feel like a place that hires or tolerates ego. I can mainly speak for my own department and cross-functional partners, but that’s been consistent for me. 4. The Business The business feels healthy again — solid growth, profitability, and a strategy that’s clearer than it’s been in a while. We’ve refocused on customers and hosts first, with the understanding that if they succeed, the company succeeds. It feels good to work somewhere that recognizes the people powering the marketplace instead of extracting from them. Not every platform operates that way. 5. The Reset Last year’s reorg was tough, but it was necessary. The restructuring — especially at the leadership level — is paying off. Some “rest and vest” energy cleared out, leadership shifted, and engineering feels more aligned now. Teams have the clarity and support to ship ambitious work again instead of just reacting. 6. Quality Leadership has been explicit about raising the bar on customer experience. It’s not just metrics dashboards. There’s real emphasis on thoughtful detail and craft. It feels good to ship work you’re proud to put your name on.
Cons
Benefits could be stronger. My PPO is I’d probably swap the monthly office lunch for another $500 in 401k match, if we’re being real. That said, the PPO plan is genuinely strong — strong enough that my partner and I are both on the Turo plan because it’s meaningfully better than what they were offered at their company. Compensation is solid, but it’s not top-of-market. If your primary goal is to maximize cash comp relative to big public tech, you can likely find higher numbers elsewhere. That said, the tradeoff here is scope, ownership, and access to meaningful problems. It depends what you optimize for. Last year was… a moment. The business was struggling, and morale took a hit. You could feel it. A lot of long-timers were frustrated, and for a stretch there, things just felt heavy — operationally and culturally. There were definitely folks doing the minimum while waiting out the IPO timeline because of the double trigger. Once the S1 got pulled and that structure changed, some of that energy dissipated. We saw a wave of departures — some expected, some genuinely tough. Several strong people landed at Uber, Airbnb, Google, Meta, Figma, OpenAI, etc., which says a lot about the talent bench here. At the leadership level, there were a few C-suite hires who weren’t quite right for a company at this stage. Those changes have happened. In hindsight, they probably fit better at earlier-stage orgs. There were also people deeply attached to the “old Turo.” When the company made it clear we had to evolve, not everyone wanted to come along. That friction showed up, and eventually sorted itself out. This year feels different. Execution is tighter. The growth metrics look like what you’d want to see from a private company aiming for IPO. The overall energy is lighter. Teams seem more focused, and there’s momentum again. I’m genuinely glad I stayed. Feels like we’re building from a healthier foundation now. And yes — hoping that translates into meaningful raises this year. Fair’s fair. 🙂