The company lures employees in with the promise of a 'cool' start up and promises a positive, forward thinking ethos. Unfortunately this is so forced by the management that it grinds employees down. The managers also do not practice what they preach as they are often arguing in the open for everyone to see, only adding to the negative mood.
It is also never clear what is expected of you as the goalposts keep moving; you can be told you're doing great one day and walk in the next day to a disciplinary hearing. That being said, the company has no real sense of a disciplinary procedure and I would argue that their methods are not in line with statutory guidelines.
People doing the same job are also on differing salaries and the managers offer no logical reason for this. There are also very few paths to progression unless you are one of the favourites of the CEO - and even these are getting fewer and further between.
Above all, the management expect you to give 110% every single day while offering little in return. The benefits are some of the worst I've seen at a start up - let's be realistic, a bottle of beer on a Thursday afternoon doesn't make up for the lack of secure benefits like a good pension and sick pay.