Pros
Acumen is the best place I have worked at so far in my career. It's not just about spreadsheets and termsheets. It makes the work that much more interesting.
So much love! How many companies take the time to compile farewell thoughts and photos to commemorate your time at the company when you leave? Acumen does. And those farewell notes brought tears to my eyes.
It starts from the top with a leadership team that deeply cares about the work that the company does and strives to create the best possible working conditions for the team.
It's driven by a culture that is based on values that are embedded in everything you do. In a pretty short time, you can recite them by heart and what they mean to the work you do (Accountability, Generosity, Humility, Audacity, Leadership, Listening, Integrity, Respect).
It's a company that encourages risk-taking founded on the wisdom that the work Acumen does seldom has many right or wrong answers.
The company is global with offices in North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa and South East Asia. This means a great opportunity to learn from peers in different parts of the world, collaborate on projects with colleagues from all over the globe and if your lucky, a visit to one of the company's offices around the world! Did someone say Delhi Belly?
Great funding partners that are supportive of the work that Acumen does.
Acumen's a great training ground especially if VC/PE is a career interest.
Cons
Salaries and benefits are comparable to market but not competitive to market. This is to be expected given the kind of funding that Acumen relies on. If money is your primary motivation, this may not be the company for you.
It is not your typical investment work. There are other things that you would be expected to do that aren't related to the investment work. It places some pressure to meet investment targets and continue to support the other facets of Acumen's work. If you can make it work, the other non-investment projects can be greatly edifying.
Opportunities for promotion and increased responsibility are harder to come by as you progress. The discussions around promotion are the most fraught ones to have during the performance evaluation process.
Acumen has gotten its 360 degree process down pat. The calendar works like clockwork. However, the process isn't achieving its objectives. For many employees, the feedback on areas to improve on hardly changes from year to year which is either an indictment of the process or of the employees (or both).
The company is going through lots of changes as the impact investment sector continues to evolve. Sometimes those changes can be jarring and may bring about disruption to your work but the leadership team strives to minimize the negative impact of change as best they can and will usually own up to their mistakes.
