Pros
1A) The product, while not the market standard currently, definitely is trending towards that 1B) Really exciting product pipeline 2) Led by smart people, I have a lot of respect for the 3 founders (particularly the CEO - he's a beast/very smart) 3) The culture on the sales team is okay - not the best but not the worst - all in all, the team is supportive, but watch out for the groupthink that pervades (more on that in the cons) 4) Flexible working conditions for the most part 5) Stock options Despite the lengthy cons to come, I still think this is a good place to learn and grow. Shore up the cons (whether that's bringing in new more seasoned management, or taking a hard look and reflecting at yourselves) and the place goes from meh to good.
Cons
Buckle up here because if you're working on sales, this is for you: 1) Salary: they are not honest about earning potential (which ends up being below market in reality): you're told the average employee makes a certain amount in sales commission and they advertise the base + commission as what you'll make in a year. However, if you look at the averaged sales data, the expected commission you thought will make when you signed the contract is a lie - barely anyone on the sales team hits that monthly sales quota. If you do the math yourself and calculate salary with the average sales the team is actually doing per month, salary actuality is way below what they advertise - do the math because higher ups didn't (more on lack of proper data in point 3) 2) Nicoya "micro-manage" Lifescience: that's actually their middle name. The constant micromanagement is distressing. At it's core, I can understand why they felt theres a need for this - previous employees left management hurt/jaded, so they felt they needed to micromanage to ensure things don't go awry, BUT you need to be clear that this is who you are. When a company says: "we love entrepreneurial spirit, value innovative thinking, and independence' (paraphrasing) but then turn around to be the opposite of that, that's going to be a problem because you've set the wrong expectations 3) Data-driven: every small company/startup and their grandmothers likes to say they are "innovative" and "data-driven", it's the sexy thing to do nowadays. For sales I can safely say, Nicoya is not data-driven and sales management is not very scientific. Their understanding of data and how to gleam insight from it is shocking. What they collect is very surface level. 4A) Propensity to groupthink: if someone says, 2 + 2 = fish, people will nod along. Happened more often then you'd think in meetings. The notion here is, don't question, especially if the person is senior to you, because you'll make them look bad - at Nicoya, it's not about getting the right answer 4B) The Emperor’s New Clothes (read the short story, summarizes the core problem with strategy by sales management): They have literally zero idea what they are doing, since this is their first rodeo - which is fine, i'm actually very okay with this. To some degree everyone has no idea what they are doing, life is about learning and growing. The core problem here is that this is not acknowledged - that sales management is learning still. The culture is very "do it because management says so because management cant be wrong and nod along to the questionable decisions being made despite how you feel". If you do decide to question a decision someone higher up than you made, know that management sees this as you attacking the other human, and not as you proposing alternatives 5) Passive-aggressive communication: Some of management can be very passive aggressive over slack. 6) Shady behaviour: Team members will write fake negative glassdoor reviews to the company page using another employees language/writing style to undermine them/make them look bad
