Nanosys Reviews

Pros

Fascinating technology. Very smart scientists.

Cons

Volatile company direction and Sr. management - very high turnover.

Pros

In short: excellent technology, diversity of projects, intelligent colleagues, company's exciting future possibilites.

A major reason why I turned down other job offers to work at Nanosys was its array of technology initiatives. A typical startup may have one main product in the pipeline, but Nanosys is no typical startup: it has at 3-4 major unrelated programs with others that only a select few contribute to. Each program has a lot of potential in the marketplace, so the risk is diversified. If that is not enticing for a startup, then I don't know what is. Another important factor is the high quality of scientists (mostly PhD-level) that work at Nanosys; although 'dead wood' exists in most organizations, the exceptional talent of the remainding employees makes up for it.

Cons

High turnover of talented employees, understaffed projects/programs, significant business promises and deadlines sometimes unrealistic, highly male-dominated upper management.

Advice to Senior Management

Improve employee retention, hire more scientists for each program