Pros
The Engineering team thankfully was more insulated from the CEO's direct involvement (I would have quit sooner if that were not the case). The mission on paper seems good.
Cons
The CEO is the biggest con and he also happens to be a dishonest conman! Why I call him unethical - NOBODY beyond the first few got any equity even though we worked beyond the cliff period. In typical startup fashion, employees continue to work assuming this will be taken care of. If you ask the CEO about why no documents have been filed for equity post cliff period (even though you have equity mentioned in offer letter), the CEO mentions a vague response about checking with lawyers. REALLY? It is taking you 1+ year for every employee to get equity vesting documents? Typically newer employees have churned before 4 years thanks to his overall bad leadership (see below) and at that point we just let it go and put more focus on the next job. In the end, the CEO wins because he got work for sub-par salary under the promise of equity that he never had to deliver. Why I call him low intellect with zero self awareness - He will keep saying “this is our company”, and I think that is from a training module either from Y-Combinator or SV Angels for founders - originally mentioned there with best intentions. Do not be fooled, it is HIS company and on the inside he will act that way. Every decision (design/color specs, code reviews, sales scripts, product, marketing campaigns) - everything will be micromanaged and needs to be approved by him and you will have no independence. The stuff he says is sometimes ludicrous but nobody dare oppose him of course. Some of us employees would vent it out among ourselves but we dare not say anything to him. So, he either thinks he is an expert in everything or he thinks others’ opinions do not matter. I have come home depressed and border line teared up on many days thanks to the CEO. You know a company is doomed once a CEO thinks he/she is smarter and better than everyone else. He is in no way smarter than the average person and to make it worse he is also very unethical. Even if you are at the caliber of Steve Jobs, the moment you are dishonest - nothing matters anymore. To make it worse he also has no self awareness. Someone needs to tell him that. DO NOT BE FOOLED BY POSITIVE REVIEWS. Those are typed in by vested employees who have a sunk cost of having been there long enough. Want some proof? - Search Linkedin for past employees of this company and you can see how many people have been through this meat grinder in such a short time. That by itself should be a red flag for any aspiring applicant.