Pros
- They've hired talented, capable people across the org - Very international team (though a clear lack of women in the Tech and Ops orgs) - The Research team is outstanding
Cons
I’ve had some time to reflect on my tenure at 21co since I left. Never in my career—and I’ve worked at a number of companies—have I experienced such a toxic and hostile work environment. There are a few reasons why: 1. The culture the founders created is rooted in fear. They fire high performing employees so frequently and without any context, that we should be desensitized to it by now but it still shocks us every time. To management, everyone is disposable. 2. The exec leadership exclusive club has total and full control over all business decisions. When things go wrong, instead of accepting responsibility for the decisions they've made, they scapegoat various teams (usually Engineering). 3. There is zero transparency in fundraising, layoffs, restructurings, firings, etc. It should really make you wonder why this company only has three board members (two of which are the founders), no advisors, no CFO, and a large majority of the company equity is owned by the founders' families.
