Vantaggi
It's fun to be a part of a rocket ship, especially one that is viewed so positively by the public and the press.
Svantaggi
Two co-CEOs with too much ego to realize neither is qualified to run a company leads to the worst leadership team ever. The situation is so bad, in fact, that their investor (KPCB) forced on them another executive - so now they have two CEOs and a President. The culture is so bad that other than the original students (at Stanford) under Daphne and Andrew (in the CS department), most early employees leave as soon as they hit their one year vesting cliff. Since so many employees leave in disgust, the leadership has begun request they sign a Non-Disparagement Agreement. Although the company built its reputation on a veneer of social impact and the motto of "Do what's best for the student," they've done nothing to back it up and lacks any clear mission statement. Leadership has been brought in from YouTube and NetFlix, and even at 50+ people, there are only three educators on staff. Although classes remain free, no effort has been spent to improve - or even measure - student learning or outcomes, and Coursera ignores even the most basic fact of education - that students do not learn by watching videos and regurgitating facts. Then again, with a completion rate below 5% for most classes, it's not clear people even succeed in watching the videos.