Question 1

What do you consider the biggest benefits of a remote workforce?

Accepted Answer

The implied foundation of trust. We give our team the autonomy to figure out how they can do their best work. This can only happen when you trust them to do that effectively. That foundation permeates everything as that trust is returned to the team and company where, as a CEO, I have zero concerns about motivation, politics, titles, etc.

Question 2

What were the main reasons to integrate remote work into your workforce?

Accepted Answer

My co-founder and I had previous experience collaborating remotely, so as we bootstrapped we never even considered a physical office. Knowing we were always going to be 100% remote forced us to develop all of our operations around working remotely.

Question 3

What traits do you look for in candidates for a remote job?

Accepted Answer

Written communication is an absolute must. This isn’t just about grammar, it’s about succinctly communicating your ideas and the ability to express your personality through writing.

Question 4

How do you conduct interviews for remote jobs?

Accepted Answer

They are all done over video hangouts, so we can immediately see how comfortable they are with this. I do an initial one-on-one, then we have a second group interview with the broader team.

Question 5

How do you conduct onboarding for remote workers?

Accepted Answer

Very deliberately. A big component is daily one-on-ones with a different team member to talk about the job, but more importantly, about the culture and how we work remotely.

Question 6

Do you have remote communication protocols for your remote workers?

Accepted Answer

We have an overlap policy where we expect everyone to be generally available for conversations and video chats. Remote does not by definition mean time independence. We still feel synchronous communication is important, and want to remove friction by simply having real-time conversations with each other.

Question 7

Do your remote team members meet in person?

Accepted Answer

Not only do we all meet twice a year in person, we live together in a giant house for a week to work and play. We’ve found these critical in cementing the bonds you form over chat and video.

Question 8

What elements are key to successful working relationships with remote teams?

Accepted Answer

Actually having one. A relationship doesn’t mean reading standups in a Slack channel. You have to put in the work to meet regularly with each worker. One-on-ones are vital to get insight into everything you’re missing.

Question 9

What is the hardest part about managing a remote workforce?

Accepted Answer

Always the communication. This is this the hardest part for any workforce; remote just amplifies the stakes.

Question 10

How do you keep remote employees engaged and feeling part of the bigger picture?

Accepted Answer

There are no tricks here—you engage with them and make them a part of the bigger picture. This means transparent communication, distributed decision-making, and simply treating them as human beings.

Question 11

How did you implement a remote work policy?

Accepted Answer

Early on it was very organic, but as we’ve scaled we’ve experimented with just enough formal policy to ensure we’re retaining the remote culture we value while still building a world-class product.

Question 12

What advice would you give to a team considering to go remote?

Accepted Answer

If you don’t trust your team, work on that first.

Question 13

What challenges have you encountered building a remote team?

Accepted Answer

We’re all still figuring out the best way to do this, so little has been codified on how to do it well. Every challenge is an experiment where you have to put in the time to figure it out and write most of the rules yourself.

Question 14

What are the most effective tools for remote team communication?

Accepted Answer

Video hangouts where you actually can see each other is still the most effective way to communicate around complex topics, establish human connections, and benefit from non-verbal communication.

Question 15

What is your personal remote work environment?

Accepted Answer

I specifically bought a property with a giant room of windows overlooking nature that I love working from each day.

Question 16

What are the biggest benefits of being a remote worker?

Accepted Answer

Not being bound by other’s definition of when I should be doing my best work or my best living.

Question 17

How do you personally manage work-life balance?

Accepted Answer

I have a wife, two kids, and live on an old farm. I love all three, so it’s never felt challenging to carve out time for life and give it my 100% focus.

Question 18

What is your favorite business book?

Accepted Answer

The OG: Andy Grove’s High Output Management

About Knack

Remote jobs at Knack

Join Remote.co to Unlock & Apply to Remote Jobs

Explore other companies hiring now

Explore remote jobs at leading companies across 105+ categories.