Pros
Uncharted Play has an ambitious idea which could have a positive impact on the world if it is thoughtfully and seriously built on. Many entry to mid-level employees are smart, hard working and genuinely want to do good work. Many of the employees are good people with good hearts who will soon become friends if you work here.
Cons
As the title says I would give this place a negative star rating if I could. This is a terribly run company- by far the most toxic and unprofessional work environment I have ever experienced. The executive leadership is highly unprofessional and will outright lie to employees, investors and clients if there is a personal or business gain. The CEO determines the activities of this small company. Her attitudes and actions very much determine the work environment at Uncharted Play. Uncharted Play has a cleverly marketed story. Unfortunately, this is as far as it goes. Everything is surface level with little going on underneath, driven by regurgitating the same narrative over and over again using themes that are currently trending. While marketed as an energy technology company doing social good, the company is nowhere close to being experts on energy or technology or genuine social good. Startups can be messy, unorganized, fluid, and risky but rewarding. All part of starting and building something new and exciting. However, not everything can be excused because "this is how startup culture works". Some executive leaders are verbally abusive to staff. I saw many employees emotionally break down, leave or actively look for other jobs as a direct result. Threatening employees outright for no reason or under the guise of "self-actualization" is common. Many employees live in fear or exhaustion. This results in high turnover in several departments. Senior management is highly incompetent and treats many employees like their personal assistants instead of respected employees. They bark orders, do very little work themselves, and make little effort to understand the work that has been done by employees. There is a lot of gossip perpetrated by the leadership. They love drama and negativity. Any failures will never be the leadership's fault, despite their complete and total lack of awareness or guidance .Emotional intelligence is severely lacking among executive leadership. The leadership team is driven very much by egos. The leadership team uses eloquence and borrows popular phrases from people like Oprah, Beyonce, and Steve Jobs to be "good leaders". Unfortunately, as pointed out in previous reviews, the leadership teamstill has a lot to learn about treating other people, including her employees, as human beings. The leadership team aspires to be inspirational leaders in the public eye, but behind closed doors leadership is directed through fear and manipulation. The company chooses to follow the "next big thing" instead of taking what is actually applicable to the business. This ends up in constantly changing tasks and strategies - leaving engineers and others frustrated with projects that start but rarely end up resulting in anything productive. Which, unsurprisingly, is blamed on the staff and anyone else but the leadership team. The company is built on lofty goals, which can be inspirational. However, there is little follow through in creating actual business value and social impact or being a disruptive tech leader. Pay is hit or miss. Intern pay is terrible. Benefits are promised but not a always delivered, or are severely delayed. A lot of effort is put into being "cool", looking socially aware, supporting the underdog, etc - trends that attract smart, young, socially-minded professionals. They often hire young kids in or straight out of college and take advantage of their lack of work experience. Many employees are underpaid and made to work extremely long hours. Sometimes employees are asked to stay late without any real work or reason, to test their loyalty or feed into the management's power trip. Recruiters and HR have lied to get people on board and while negotiating pay and benefits once you are already an employee. While the leadership team talk about diversity and inclusion, and while leadership is from minority communities - their understanding of the struggles of minority communities is out of touch with reality. Perhaps due to their wealth, privileged status, and connections. Don't fall for it. A shame that they are using their own backgrounds to take advantage of those that truly care about diversity issues and using Harlem's rich history and culture for the sole purpose of branding the company and looking cool now that new money is flowing into Harlem. This is typical Uncharted Play leadership behavior - manipulating stories and figures to gain business and publicity with little regard to business ethics, personal integrity, or damage their actions cause to the larger, authentic diversity and inclusion movement. Highly unprofessional behavior from the C-suite included use of discriminatory language and cursing to talk about people they didn't like - e.g. making fun of someone's accent, threatening based on someone's national origin and immigration status, making fun of how people look and excluding them from professional opportunities, using curse words to speak badly of someone because of the non-Ivy League or non-Harvard school they attended, disrespect and violation of religious and faith-based sensitivities in the work place, etc. I could go on and on about workplace violations. All in all, a highly, highly toxic environment which no person or employee should have to experience. I would not recommend working with the executive leadership of this company. If you really need a job, I suggest you keep looking, if that's an option. If you still end up working here for whatever reason, keep these things in mind to remain sane while working there and get out at the next possible opportunity.