Pros
On paper, Carta's the type of company you want to love. * The numbers are great from a SaaS perspective. * The headcount is growing, and the people are intelligent and show every day that they want to be here. * The product looks good, works well (generally), and everyone you know uses it, so you don't have to spend much time at social gatherings describing what your company does. * It's a technical product with a technical focus - and to be clear, it means that to do this job well you have to REALLY want to learn everything there is about equity. And if that sounds good to you, you're joining a great team. For the CEO: * Absolutely a mad genius, relatively intelligent, and will question you in the way that challenges you as a contributor and moves you forward, and you have to respect him for the community he's built. * I think he might have a good sense of humor but it's questionable, I think it just depends on the day.
Cons
What I have to say for the con's isn't meant to be directed at any of the employees who work endless hours and truly believe in the company's mission. It's just so unfortunate because, again, the people are motivating and inspiring and many of them are scared of questioning the behavior and decisions of others for fear of retaliation. If you're reading this in prep for an interview, I suggest asking to speak to several mid-level employees from other teams as part of the process on top of whoever they bring in. * It's an equity company that paints a picture of giving respectable amounts of stock options to their employee base. Yes, I've read all the blog posts, including the most recent from Nolan (the head of ppl) and understand option pools (thanks Carta). I'll leave it at that. * The bureaucracy is so thick that I don't think a steak knife could penetrate it. If you wanted to experience a real-life Game of Thrones, be prepared to come with popcorn. On this note, you can't trust anyone at the top, with the exception of a few like the CFO and head of marketing, and that's because they're just trying to claim as much land as possible. The worst comes straight out of the People and Legal teams for the most part, which is baffling and terrifying for a company moving in a regulated direction. * The SEC will come knocking, and it's going to be a day of reckoning for the whole operation when it does. * If you're doing a poor job, you're not actually going to get told that you've done or are doing something wrong. * They change your title, team, and manager so often that it gives you whiplash and doesn't actually support career trajectory once you leave the company. I've heard this from former employees, and it makes sense as to why. Now for the CEO. * On a Monday he says that the company is headed from Europe to America to break new ground, but then by Thursday he feels like taking a shortcut through Africa so you better be prepared to change the direction of the ship without much other than a "feeling" and it'll come with some sharp barking along the way. * He's such a volatile individual that I'm convinced that Silicon Valley has a fetish for sociopaths and the board is keeping him around for amusement and steady, growing numbers while he gets puppeted around by his strategy officer. Speaking of, that guy is a walking conflict of interest in himself and the whole company is skeptical because of it.