Vantaggi
You'll work with some really highly capable people. The original product vision was great. You'll be quite well compensated for what you do, and there are some good perks like workations and unlimited time off.
Svantaggi
(It may be that some of this has changed since the redundancies, but do your due diligence) There is very little strategic direction that is given by leadership. Instead what is offered is a set of demands that change frequently, creating chaos, confusion and stress. The current leadership style entails very high involvement from the founders to the point of micromanagement, and the same is expected of other managers. This leads to a very high level of required context, resulting in highly stressed managers. High involvement can work in an organisation, however, this is problematic when coupled with the communication style of one of the founders, who is belligerent and inconsistent. It is claimed that there is an "open feedback" culture within Primer, however, this does not function in practice as there is not sufficient psychological safety. Problems start from the founders, with this lack of psychological safety being perpetuated by: 1) immediately contesting feedback as invalid 2) questioning whether someone is doing their job properly because they have vocalised an issue 3) giving unconstructive feedback without empathy in a public forum e.g. "this is bad" 4) dominating meetings by talking for the majority of the call, without space for others 5) saying that everyone who leaves is a benefit for Primer, as they were not a cultural fit This lack of psychological safety is absolutely crippling to the organisation. It creates a cycle of discontent, as feedback is not offered as a result. This is negative for the founders, as they are not made aware of issues, but they haven't yet seemed to realise that they are the anti-heroes. Primer is not an awful company to work for - you will work with really talented people, on an exciting product. However, there are fundamental issues that need to be resolved. I believe the founders need external support or to make way for more experienced leaders if the company is to be successful.
