Pros: I joined Upstart looking for a challenging startup environment with a healthy work/life balance and greater responsibility than I had at my previous company—a tall order for sure, but Upstart has come through in every way. The founding team and executive staff are incredible (CTO in particular gets a special shout out from me), benefits and compensation are great, and the work is in service of a product that helps normal people in a not-insignificant way. The environment is one where everyone is working as hard as they can to make good things happen—it's incredibly motivating. The company is small enough at this point that I can attest that literally nobody is a jerk, and everyone feels like a vital part of the success.

Cons: Office is a little far away from stuff (although there's a great cafe with a wide variety in the neighboring building).

Pros: 1. People - everyone is intelligent yet humble at the same time. Engineering, product, and data science teams have good sense of camaraderie 2. Business - growing rapidly! Path to IPO is much more apparent than in most startups as executive team puts an emphasis on growing the business economically/sensibly over wasteful endeavors 3. Mission - ultimately aiming to create a fairer system with respect to who can access credit and at what price.

Cons: I sometimes need to take a step back and ensure the foundations are in place to support it in, say, recruiting, managers, systems, and other areas.

Pros: There is good compensation and opportunities for career growth.

Cons: Plans are volatile and priorities can shift quickly. You will occasionally need to put in crazy hours.