Pros
Company has grown a lot and has a great product, and some excellent staff who provide financial and accounting services. Working here gave me great experience in a pretty fast paced environment, and good product opportunities in the org where I was. Lots of potential for different strategies longer term. The CEO is deeply convicted in the long term mission to improve equity access, and this is the ultimate reason to believe in Carta - it can change the lives of individual employees if it really succeeds. Some of the best DEI minded HR folks I've worked with.
Cons
The long term potential of the business has been largely curtailed by a decision to ax the CartaX component (which was an unfortunate reaction the CEO got backed into because of a loud grumbling founder). If you imagine the EQ level of a 20 yr old college boy - that's representative of much of the culture. Average age at the company is 29... After the big round of layoffs in 2023 (I was part of it) only 3 people reached out to me to check if I was okay and offer support, and they weren't people I even worked with. The engineers mostly had a bro culture and are not the most mature 30 yr olds - they do not appreciate the value of being supportive to coworkers and maintaining relationships. Sadly. Complete contrast the previous company I was at after they did layoffs, which I wasn't part of, but there was massive emphasis on continued support for those who were. CEO is compelling at times, but needs some therapy honestly. He's transparent about his thought process and you can watch him grow as he's led the business, but he's trigger-happy and should be more growth oriented where people are concerned.