Pros
(Almost) all of Anvato’s employees seemed like fantastic people--people I respected, people who were really talented, people whom I would have loved to hang out with and get to know better, people I would gladly recommend to a future employer. Perhaps the most exciting perk at Anvato is the seeming inevitability of the company's success in the video industry. Anvato has some very big-wig clients (Fox, NBC, Univision, etc.). You get to be certain that the work you do at this small startup will be seen and used by millions. It was Anvato's technology that made the 2014 Super Bowl the "most-viewed single sports event delivered online." Anvato works with a dazzling array of technologies and platforms and it is certain that you will learn something new and eye-opening here. The company has been around for a while, but they are still pretty small. There is tons of room for upward growth. Anvato keeps a well-stocked, delicious pantry, and the company will pay for lunch on Fridays.
Cons
Anvato’s employees tend to quickly become “burnt out”. It seems that Anvato’s management often over-promises with their agreements with clients. This makes the engineers start out already behind and feel ignored and unappreciated. Furthermore, it becomes the employee's responsibility to work extra hours in order to meet unreasonable expectations. Anvato has a very high rate of turnover. Few employees stay for more than a year. Anvato claims to be expanding, but during my tenure, many more employees left than were hired. There is not enough communication. Few employees seem to have any idea of what’s happening with other employees or other projects. In fact, it is not uncommon for an employee to have very little knowledge of what is happening with her own project. Anvato does not have a team of engineers; Anvato instead has a group of individuals struggling accomplish similar goals, but with no sense of organization or guidance. Some of the disorganization can be attributed to Anvato still being a startup. They are small, and things change frequently. But the management is especially bad at keeping the lower employees in the loop. Furthermore, it is not uncommon for important issues to be deliberately kept secret from employees (and clients). Even though my coworkers and I all worked in the same office every day from nine to five (or more like ten thirty to six thirty), there was little social interaction. There were no get-togethers or retreats. No team-building events. Any sense of camaraderie was more of a sense of mutual commiseration. Perhaps one or two of my coworkers seemed to care about their work or to be interested in what they were doing, but most of Anvato’s engineers seemed to regret being there. One last word of advice: if you are considering working for Anvato, be very careful when reading the terms of your contract.