Pros
This is going to be long, folks. You never know what you're going to get with early-stage startups, and I feel I lucked out in a huge way here. Hands-down the biggest plus is that Spokn is growing so fast, and that translates into lots of opportunities. If you want to take on a big role and you show that you can handle it and are willing to put in the work, they're going to give you the chance to run with it.
There's also a big feeling of momentum. Since I joined, they went through YC, signed deals with a bunch of big customers and raised from top investors. With Clubhouse and podcasting booming you can just feel this huge energy building and it's really exciting to be a part of that while the team is still so small.
On the team: it's really different from other startups I looked at, and I think in a good way. The founders are pretty nontraditional as far as US tech goes and that carries through in how they run the company and the values of the recruits they bring on. People at Spokn are genuinely excited about the work they do. I think nearly everyone who was hired way before me is still around which says a lot about the how much trust there is in the CEO, especially since Spokn pivoted a bunch of times and that can be brutal on morale.
Cons
There are definitely growing pains - they really need more systems/processes and headcount. Definitely the typical startup 'building the boat while you sail it' feeling here. Because the company pivoted a bunch and then the rocket idea took off so fast, they're still playing catch up in parts of product and customer success. They need to get a lot more structured in how they're approaching virtually every part of the business. They're making a bunch of key hires and hopefully the extra bandwidth/experience will take care of a lot of this. Growing pains.