fast and no nonsense. quick feedback.
everyone cared, minimal politics, almost none, and the goal for everyone of company focused, not just personal growth.
They are all very strong at what they do and they don't pull punches, which I appreciated. It gave me confidence that what I was doing was the right thing for the company and I was doing my part to help it grow.
We never wasted time in huge meeting, it was all about getting stuff done. We had the right to just go stuff and deliver, no need for layers of approvals. Communication over slack was fast and we didn't have wait for answers for very long.
The equity was more than enough to make up for the several years of slightly above market rate pay. At exit when PayPal bought us, I know of many many early employees, like myself, that walked away with over a million in equity and ended up getting solid pay raises as well.