I want to start this out with the top three reasons why you should not join CZI. As an early nonprofit startup, we do have our fair share of challenges. And the following items are the top ones that I observe:
1. Plenty of changes:
Being a startup, lots of things can be in flux.
Management can change due to the company or the project entering a different phase of cycle (e g., early stage to growth)
Projects are evaluated every 3 to 6 months to determine whether they are worth further investment. Some projects get put on hold and others move to the next phase of the product cycle. (Team members from on hold projects will work on other projects)
Silicon Valley turnover rate (median: one year) applies to CZI as well, but I'd argue our tenure is probably longer
Overall, it's a growing startup, so lots of things are constantly being worked out, while new challenges arise. If you are looking for a predictable and well structured establishment, CZI is not there yet
2. Salary:
CZI is a nonprofit organization and solely funded by Priscilla and Mark's personal fortune, so understandably there's no stock options for employees.
However, our base salary is 11% higher than the top paying FANG (checked today from levels.fyi) and we also have the most generous 401K matching (10% of gross salary), so that does help close the salary gap
Just make sure to invest a good portion of your salary in the stock market, and you should still be able to retire as a multimillionaire after working a few decades
3. Difficult to quantify impact:
CZI works on really really difficult and extremely long term projects (impacts to be seen in decades), so sometime it could feel that we're not moving the needles and question whether we're actually doing anything to help change the world in the short term.
But it is important to remember that CZI is designed and uniquely positioned to tackle this kind of critical and high impact projects, because we don’t have shareholders to report to nor concerns to make money. So the whole organization is focused on exploring projects where we can make the most impact. And currently that’s Justice & Opportunity, Education, and Science (we’re exploring Environment, but we need to deliver results for the first three initiatives first before taking on more responsibilities)
Another good news is, CZI recently beefed up the Data Science team with the goal to help track and quantify short term and long term CZI impacts, so in the near future we will have more indirect metrics that hold us accountable in the work we do.
Top three reasons to join CZI:
1. Best of both worlds:
Working at an early multi-billion startup means you get the stability and resources of a mega company, but the learning and impact opportunities of a startup.
Many nonprofit organizations suffer from being unable to attract top talents to round out their teams. Luckily, it’s not an issue at CZI. We get world class talents, equipment, community collaboration, and funding to execute on projects
2. Unique impact:
Serving industries where money can’t be made, but are highly critical to the future of our society and communities.
We serve Education, Science, and Justice & Opportunity, because by empowering these backbones of our society, we can build an equal and equitable world where every human gets to realize their full potential, which will also help us prevent, manage, and cure all diseases!
Personally I wish we were living in such a world today, but the next best thing is to be at CZI and actively collaborate with the communities to make this a reality tomorrow
3. Wonderful coworkers, Work/Life Balance, and Perks:
Every day, I feel exhilarated to tackle the unique challenges CZI faces and am grateful to be surrounded by talented coworkers who support and care about each other. Most importantly, I'm constantly inspired by how deeply my coworkers care about the people we serve.
We frequently cry at town hall meetings, learning how social injustice, unequitable education, and diseases are inflicting millions of people in the world. But we also get SUPER fired up knowing that CZI is in a unique position to have a real shot at solving these pressing problems for many generations to come.
As a bonus, CZI is serious about taking care of its employees. We are very family oriented, get generous PTOs, flexible work schedules, work from home Wednesdays, bosses that urge you to take time off, and probably the highest quality catered lunches I’ve seen in the Bay Area tech companies (FANG, Airbnb, LinkedIn, etc.)
So what’s the end game?
We all have limited time to work before we inevitably retire. We all have hopes and dreams we wish to accomplish before it’s too late. We all see where the world is heading to is not where we want it to be.
Since when did we settle for the next big thing to be another phone, another ad sell, or another merchandise purchase, and not another student's aha moment, another equitable opportunity, or another disease cured?
Nobody can tell you what to do with the most valuable currency you have, which is your time. But I hope this post helps you understand what CZI stands for and why we believe in what we do.
After all, the pressing issues call for immediate actions, and 400 of us asked ourselves, "if not us, who? If not now, when?"
I urge you to stand with us and unite our collective forces to change the world. Only this time, it's for real.
