Pros
- Well funded. The CEO is well connected and is a great sales person. Is able to convince investors to jump in. - Really smart, capable ICs. Building a good product with some very distinct features. - If you want to, there are opportunities to work on a number of different things at WorkOS given the size of the team. - Competitive salary (if you're not in SF/NY). - Good work/life balance. Rarely asked to work over time. Generally very flexible to things that come up day to day. Pretty good benefits for a startup of its size: - Fully remote - Monthly stipend for food - Health and wellness benefits
Cons
The CEO is a strong sales leader, has a great network, and can secure financing very well. As a leader of people, he is sorely lacking. More concerned with image externally than internally. Virtue signaling on Twitter, but actions internally do not match the Tweets. For a company of its size and age (< 20 employees, < 2 years old), more employees have left than there are currently at the company. No accountability or recognition of any problem with regards to employee morale, at least while I was there. I don't want to say the CEO or company is sexist, but there was a troubling pattern of at least three women who were hired on only to be told they were not a good fit within three months. It is also troubling that the CEO spends a considerable amount of time going after former employees for alleged (and unfounded) violations of non-competes and non-poaching agreements rather than focusing inwardly at the company and how to improve its people problem. Beyond the people aspect, he is also fairly impulsive when it comes to product direction and feature work and it is not uncommon for you to think you are working on something one day only to have to shift gears and work on something completely different the next. We did not stick well to the roadmaps we were asked to come up with at all. Product / team meetings turn into "what would CEO want?" instead of "what is good for the customer?"