Pros
During my employement, the company was filled with the most amazing co-workers who all aspire to grow the company to become something bigger. Almost everyone at the company was open for criticism, willing to grow (with some exception), and passionately hardworking. Every single person in the team wasn't just satisfied with the bare minimum, they wanted to go beyond. So it was the perfect place to gain experience, sharpen your skill, and become better.
Cons
The management are untrained to contain such people. While every person in the company was willing to grow, none actually have management experience, including the CEO. Once the employee started to become independent and are actually skillful in their job, it feels like the upper management panic and try their best to surpress this growth. From a personal standpoint, there is a serious power struggle between the CEO who wants to be very much hands-on, and employees who are trying to do their job to the best of their ability. Especially when the company structure was finally established and the CEO himself have to go through middle management to address low-level tasks. There is also the matter of time management and perspective on priority problem. While the employees does have a tendency to go beyond, the reaction from upper management was not appreciation, but expectation. There is a paycut when employees are late, and no overtime fee. Most days, the team goes home at 10PM. And if there's a personal project from the CEO that has somehow slither their way to the timeslot, then don't expect to go home before 1AM. All of these were EXPECTED, and continued to become the standard operational procedure for the employees. I urge all upper level management people to practice having a life beyond work, so that they understand the value of such time. The lack of experience, and control issues prevents the company to grow to its full potential. And as long these issues are not addressed, I believe that the company has no chance to become bigger.