Pros
The people are extraordinarily bright and highly motivated. Nobody gets hired at MetaCarta who isn't a self-starter capable of managing their own project from inception through release. The environment is very much like Google, people keep very strange hours but always get their jobs done, and done exceptionally well. It was an absolute pleasure to work with everybody at the company despite the managerial problems.
Cons
Several of the more academic types have this disillusion that they're the "old man on the mountain", can be very difficult to communicate with and not suited for a team environment. Collaboration is minimal, and when it does happen having too many bright folks on a project can turn a simple task into an insurmountable burden. Re-invention of the wheel is not unheard of here, but to their credit the folks doing the job are excellent at what they do. Management should put a tighter leash on this type of thing and focus on product releases and moving the company forward, rather than holding it back because Engineering can't get out of their own way. Don't expect performance reviews or raises anywhere close to on-schedule, in fact don't find it surprising to go for several years without an annual review (to be fair however, raises did tend to be retroactive to when the review should have been).