Pros
For me, the most important things to find in a company are tough problems to solve, inspiring co-workers, and collaboration. Over the past few years at Eventbrite, I can say without a doubt that I am having the most fulfilling and challenging professional experience I've had to date. We're at a really interesting point in the Eventbrite's journey, where we are big enough that have resources to go after crazy challenges, but small enough that not everything is figured out yet. After about 6 months of establishing that I was competent at my job, I have felt continuously pushed to raise my hand and solve tough problems. I've gotten to take on responsibilities that are usually reserved for high level management, and I get to work strategically while also getting my hands dirty. I can honestly say I've learned more in my few years here than I had in my whole career prior, and I think the experience I've gotten here sets me up well for the rest of my career. I've always felt encouraged to seek that career growth within Eventbrite. Solving tough problems is more fun when you work with impressive people, and I feel lucky to be surrounded by some really brilliant individual contributors and inspirational leaders. Even as Eventbrite grows, there is a feeling of a family that Julia has found a way to keep around. What continues to inspire me about Eventbrite is the spirit of collaboration. Over the past year, and definitely for the next few years to come, we will be figuring out how to work together as a large global company. While these growing pains are really hard to go through for any company, I feel strongly that we will excel - simply due to our dedication to collaboration. I've seen many cross-functional projects exceed expectations, and I've seen us gracefully move through large acquisitions - and it all comes down to collaboration. At the end of the day, we get to solve tough problems, with smart colleagues, and we are dedicated to working together to make it happen. After a few years, that still gets me excited to come to work every day.
Kontras
Over the past 2.5 years, we expanded globally very aggressively. We added offices in new countries and added a lot of new Britelings - both organically and via acquisition. This was not an easy expansion to go through. For me, the biggest downfall of the expansion we've gone through was the fear that our culture could be diluted. There were times when it felt like we were making decisions based 100% on what was good for the bottom line, and losing our focus on growing a people-first, "best company to work for." While I would say there were a handful of cons that came with this growth (RIFs, lack of focus on global competitive total compensation, feelings of distrust and lack of a clear path forward), I have started to see a clear shift back to our goal of becoming the best ticketing technology company AND the best company to work for - in tandem. This shift is noticeable, especially with the hiring of Omer Cohen, our new Chief People officer, and that prompted me to write this review.
