Lots of unrealized potential, disfunctional executive team, missed their shot at making it
Pros
Co-workers - really smart and nice. Would love to work with many of them again, and hope that I do. Culture used to be pretty fun.
Cons
CEO/ founder didn't know when to let go - not a great leader, really bad at managing. Makes it clear he thinks he's smarter than you. Paranoid, and thinks he can trick people. Lots of issues at the executive level - company is on its 5th engineering leader in 5 years. People get hired for one job, then told the job is changing majorly (sometimes this happens between when the sign the offer letter and when they start), then fired for not being able to do a job they never interviewed for, would never have wanted, and had never done before. CEO plays lots of favorites as well. Company keeps changing direction, reacting instead of planning. Competitors are beating it left and right. Commute is lousy, no matter where you're coming from, and it's not on an public transportation. Exec team is always screaming about "profits!", but refuses to accept that they'd make money if they were willing to invest some - in people, advertising, etc. CEO seems to hate marketers - hires and fires them at will, seems to feel the same way about PR, product managers, etc. Only likes sales people and engineers - the ones who bring him money, and the ones who build the things he can sell. I'm still in touch with friends there, and people are quitting left and right now that the job market's better. I deeply regret exercising my options here - money down the drain.
