Pros
1. Culture & Environment - Very young, fun organization with a lot of enthusiasm. A lot of talk about the fun culture with Mariners games, beer Fridays and food at company quarterly meetings, and holiday events. The reality is these employee morale events are the bare bones at other companies. The company tries to sell itself as still having a startup type of environment, but it is far beyond the size and age of any normal startup. Company employees primarily are fresh recruits directly out of undergrad seeking their first role in sales and/or marketing. They start with very low pay and if successful on the inside sales team, then progress to the outside sales, marketing or research teams. Long term, most employees don't stick around as the opportunities aren't very exciting - while you can get promoted to new roles, you either continue to do tedious, super detailed research on companies or you continue to do sales and asked to push your quota further and further each year. Very high pressure on increasing sales at an unrealistic rate. Unless your long term goal is to work as a senior analyst with a financial services or brokerage firm, think twice about the career path options. 2. Middle Management Team - All of the team managers, directors and senior/managing directors are really cool, young employees who started or have most of their careers with the company. They know the company, the business and the industry and are sharp guys. That said, they are young for their levels and do lack management maturity that you would see in companies that focus on leadership development. Additionally, because their experience is limited in working at other companies as leaders, there is little diversity in their leadership qualities as they only know how to see things from the PitchBook perspective. This isn't their fault. Most of this stems from poor leadership coaching of the founder who lacks as effective teacher.
Cons
3. The CEO - While a smart person with a strong passion for the business, the biggest challenge PitchBook faces is the low emotional intelligence quotient of the CEO who has been known to cry in leadership meetings and has burned through a number of high level, outside hires as he doesn't know how to relinquish control as a founder CEO. Various excuses are given for this high turnover of senior leaders, but the common factor is always the CEO. Look at LinkedIn to see the high volume of former leaders who worked at the company that where hired to help grow the business, most of whom worked there less than a year as the CEO pushes them out. 4. The Pay - One of the lowest paying companies in Seattle area for roles in sales, marketing and research compared to what else is available in the market. If you want to make a decent living and quickly grow your salary, this isn't the place to make it happen. Long hours for some fun perks that result in little in your actual pocket and no stock options. Almost unheard of these days to see companies with no stock options. Most of the roles are very silo'd, giving you limited view into the company. Would be better to focus on one of the many hundreds of startups that offer stock options, bonuses and a more exciting culture. 5. Juiced Reviews on Glassdoor - It is well known within the company the CEO advocated employees to post positive reviews on Glassdoor as the company had received a lot of negative reviews in the past. If you go back before early 2014, you will see a majority of negative reviews and then a number of more positive reviews in 2014. Companies with practically no changes in leadership don't all of a sudden get that much better. Do your due diligence with former employees.
