perks · browse companies

Upstart

San Mateo, CA · founded 2012

Upstart is an AI-lending company whose fortunes ride the interest-rate cycle — and that macro exposure shapes everything about working there. When lending cooled, so did headcount (multiple rounds of layoffs), and reviewers tie job security and compensation directly to a volatile stock. The work itself gets praise: remote-first, smart colleagues, and meaty technical problems. The friction is leadership and stability — frequent reorgs, direction that shifts, and pointed complaints about an imported "ex-Amazon" intensity that a few teams found toxic, with work-life balance swinging hard by team. It's a good fit if you can stomach cyclicality and want remote autonomy; risky if you need stable ground under your feet.

Documented benefits (18)

Notable perks

• Fully stocked micro-kitchens in every office (Bay Area, Austin, Columbus, NYC)
• A financial concierge service for personal money questions, alongside financial planning tools
• Radical transparency: company metrics shown openly at cadenced all-company meetings
• Digital-first by default: most work is remote, with intentional in-person 'moments that matter' through the year
• Annual wellness & personal-development allowance you spend on whatever matters most to you
• Informal Slack communities alongside formal Employee Resource Groups

Every claim above is sourced and dated. See sources on the full page.

Work at Upstart and something here is wrong or out of date? Tell us at hello@perks.global and we will check it.