Pros
Very small US based dev team, so hands on with lots of technology Unlimited vacation * Casual atmosphere Nice co-workers Excellent health insurance Sometimes they take you out to a nice lake house
Cons
CTO is erratic, workaholic, prone to moods, and emotionally abusive. He will forget what he has assigned the team to do, blame them for working on it, and then come up with an entirely new methodology. Entire US based dev team is isolated under CTO, all other teams work in different locations Work life balance is non-existent, making it impossible to plan on anything unless it's warranted to be "important enough" CTO plays favorites heavily and is impossible to satisfy CTO wants independent thinkers that don't contradict him, people that agree constantly but stand up when they think something is wrong. Vacation is unlimited in name only. If you are not a favorite of the boss, its use may be severely restricted. Ability to do interesting and new things is conditional if CTO feels you are contributing enough and fast enough. Expected to work nights and weekends Very very low pay Work that is judged sufficient may later be brought back up as incorrect months after completed Socializing is frowned upon, unless CTO favors you If you do end up on the CTO's bad side, expect to stay there forever. His common tactic then is 1 or more meetings a week that can last anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours, about your particular failures, what parts of your personality he dislikes, his own personal definition of what healthy work/life balance is, and his sudden urgent need for you to explain the exact thought process behind a work decision you made weeks or months ago, and then explaining why that is wrong and you are personally dumb/bad to do it. He will blame all the company failures on you.