Pros
There are opportunities to get valuable work experience at Balto. The experience I got and the work I did were very helpful in advancing my career. If you can keep your head down and manage the volatility, Balto could be a good opportunity. The people doing the actual work to build the product are generally great and a pleasure to work with. Which is good because working is pretty much the only thing you will do at Balto.
Cons
You are not valued beyond being a cog in the machine to build the Balto product. This was demonstrated most clearly in summer 2022, when the CEO said in company-wide meeting there would not be layoffs, less than a week later 20% of the company was laid off with no warning. Don't expect good work/life balance. You will be expected to work as much as possible. You will likely be underpaid at Balto. I was underpaid by more than 15% in my final role at Balto and know there are people across departments and roles who have reported a similar disparity in their pay compared to market rates.