Is startup with remote founders possible?
Hey, guys, do you think is it possible to build a successful company with a remote co-founder?
Some people say that startup founders must "work, eat and sleep together." Remember the characters of Silicon Valley television series - they worked behind the same table all the time
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Check out Aha. They're totally bootstrapped, totally remote, and their CEO is very public about how they built their company. His writing on their blog here: https://blog.aha.io/author/brian-de-haaff/
Thanks Andrew, I'll check it out!
Yes, I will most likely always be partners with remote founders because the best people aren't located near me. It definitely makes communication more difficult though.
Thank you for your thoughts! The biggest issue for me personally is how to develop a sense of camaraderie with the co-founder when you are pretty much disconnected? My common sense tells me that you have to be continuously connected to him to achieve that. This way you can talk spontaneously, have fun and get to know each other better.
Developing that camaraderie is definitely harder. You have to stay in constant communication and be transparent with your partners.
We have regular calls, we talk everyday through chat, we document, make lists, and in general go above and beyond writing everything down for each other.
Other things we've done are go on vacations together to have some team building and work in the same physical location.
At the end of the day, you still have to do your homework to vet whether or not you are compatible as partners. If you come in with the mutual agreement that you're going to do what it takes to make a remote partnership work, then you'll both be on the same page and make it work as best as possible.
Wow, you do a lot of things to stay connected with remote teammates and that's awesome! But, isn't it too difficult? I mean, today's remote company has to constantly do a lot of different things to support camaraderie.
Isn't it easier to have a continuous live video connection and communicate naturally? As if everyone is sitting behind the same large table?
I think such a necessity to constantly do a lot of things to support the team's unity makes running a remote team difficult for many companies.
If your team needs a continuous live feed to make things work, then do that. But in my experience, periodic quick live chats work fine.
Sure, thanks! Well, in my experience, the necessity to make video-calls for live chats slowly downgrades communication towards being mostly text-based. Especially with people who are introverts.