If you want to join hyperexponential, you should have a good understanding of what "hard work" means to you, and how you feel about it. Lots has been written on this subject - it's an important life consideration, and potentially controversial subject. Both the words "hard" and "work" have different meanings to different people; you should seek a company whose interpretation aligns with yours. This section explains ours.
For us, hard work is an output; it's what happens when you combine the heady mix of interesting challenges, enthusiastic people and a work environment that supports and encourages "going hard at hard problems" together, in the context that the right type of stress helps us grow and improve.
With this in mind, we should be clear - while we aren't remotely at the extreme end of the spectrum for a Series A fintech, hyperexponential has never been a 9-5 company, and as our clients and team become increasingly multinational, a positive attitude to both intensity and flexibility is an essential quality in an hxer. Left to their own devices, successful hxers do more rather than less; most of the time it's because they really enjoy it, and occasionally it's because it needs to be done.
It's worth unpacking our meaning of "work" however: for hxers who take on our biggest challenges, the balance of work is generally favourably skewed away from grunt work, towards interesting problems that are as fun to go at and developmental as they are taxing. One of our team members describes it nicely as "being given the keys to the chemistry lab after school". hyperexponential isn't an "60 hours of sprint points" place!
This, combined with the enthusiasm that characterises hxers means that we spend a lot of time exploring, learning and experimenting in our chosen domains. Meetups, hackathons, podcast/book groups, or helping out at code clubs are part of daily life at hyperexponential. Lots of this is done in work time; lots is also done outside! We often do this together. If you want to thrive and have fun at hyperexponential, this needs to come naturally to you.
However, no-one at hyperexponential is one-dimensional. In fact, you'll find that the "hyperexponential passion" also manifests in an impressive density of semi-professional extra-curricular skills from chess to shooting in the team! Our attitude to flexibility has made it easier for hxers to grow and thrive in all parts of their lives - personal, professional, and in the overlap between both.
We want to keep the team as small as possible (but no smaller!)
We like working in a relatively small team here. This is partly a function of our bootstrapped roots - we've experienced first-hand how a small group of tight-knit, high-performing, transparent communicators can create improbably outsized achievements, while affording hyperexponential independence and autonomy that's rare in our space. This is something we are keen to preserve.
This doesn't mean that we don't want to grow fast. We have a lot to do; far more than we have capacity for at the moment, and we are scaling all parts of hyperexponential in response to demand. However, we are always thoughtful about how we grow, so we can do so as efficiently and effectively as possible.
By choosing to keep the team size low relative to our peers, we make some conscious trade-offs in our approach to Work-Life fit at hyperexponential. They aren't right for everyone, which we completely respect; it's worth thinking deeply about whether they are right for you.
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Do you enjoy working in high-trust, high-expectation environments where you have a broader remit, more flexibility and a "tighter coupling" to your teammates than average, even if it means a higher level of intensity and visibility?