Operations

Leading under the current circumstances is an audition to lead for the coming years. Being able to step up as a leader amid the COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity to cement a strong future for your company and yourself. Last week, Scott Dorsey, Managing Director of High Alpha, joined us to chat about all things leadership and fundraising. Prior to High Alpha, Scott co-founded ExactTarget and led the company as CEO and Chairman from start-up to global marketing software leader. ExactTarget went public on the New York Stock Exchange in March of 2012 and was acquired by Salesforce in July of 2013 for $2.5 Billion. Post-acquisition, he led the Salesforce Marketing Cloud which encompassed 3,000 employees around the world. It is safe to say that Scott knows what it means to be a leader. Scott started ExactTarget during the Dot-com Bubble and successfully IPO’d shortly after the Great Recession. The webinar was full of stories and anecdotes from Scott’s time building ExactTarget. Check out our favorite takeaways below: Cash is King While cash has always been king, Scott mentions that it is even more important during a downturn. As a founder, you need to have a deep understanding of your cash flow and burn rate. It may be difficult to fundraise during a downturn but you need to be able to show your investors that you can (1) make it through a downturn and (2) thrive on the other side. If you can successfully display that you’re in a good cash position and ready to thrive after, you’ll improve your odds of raising capital. Closer than ever with Customers During uncertain times, it is more important than ever to be close to your customers. Your customers are going through the same things that you are going through. Establish and preserve your relationship so you can grow together on the other side of the downturn. In the early days, Scott suggests companies project confidence, show they’re stable, and are growing & innovative. One of the best ways to do this is by envisioning your 3, 5, and 10 year journey with potential customers. Where will you be in 10 years? What will the product and relationship look like? Clients want to lock-in on a long-term relationship. If you don’t have everything built in the immediate, that’s fine. Show that you can be all the way there in the future. The Friday Note During uncertain times most leaders communicate less. However, communication is one of the best ways to make it through a downturn. Scott has almost become synonymous with the “Friday Note.” Simply put, the Friday Note was an email Scott sent every Friday to everyone in the company letting them know what was happening with the business. During the Great Recession, Scott found himself communicating with employees less. From that point, Scott made it a point to send a note every Friday to the team so everyone always knew what was happening and there was a path to 1-on-1 communication. In fact, Scott turned all of his Friday Notes into a book when ExactTarget was acquired by Salesforce. Personal Board of Directors According to Jim Rohm, “You’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.” With that being said, it is important to surround yourself with a diverse mix of people who are smart, friendly, and can grow with. Scott himself has a personal board of directors made up of about 5-6 people. These are people that Scott can lean on for guidance, faith, personal balance, etc. This is your inner circle — don’t be afraid to approach people you admire to ask for help. We hope this is helpful as you work through these uncertain times. Scott is the definition of a leader and a reminder that great leaders and businesses can be built during downturns. As a reminder, you can check out the full webinar recording here.

Leading under the current circumstances is an audition to lead for the coming years. Being able to step up as a leader amid the COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity to cement a strong future for your company and yourself. In this webinar, you’ll learn: How to communicate with team members, investors, and customers during uncertain times How to be an effective leader through turbulent moments How Scott started ExactTarget during the dot com bust, managed The Great Recession, took a company public, and was eventually acquired by Salesforce for $2.5B How to raise capital amid COVID-19 and uncertainty

Seth Godin wrote “beware of experience asymmetry.” Reading his post, I thought about the time I got my first mortgage. I remember thinking, Am I getting a good rate? How much house should I buy versus how much house can I buy? It was stressful. I felt vulnerable. The internet and publicly available data helped me call around and shop rates. (I still would have paid handsome money for a local guide.) Seth calls out venture capital in his post. This is an important place to get a local guide. In my opinion, the best local guide is another venture firm. This may sound counterintuitive, let me explain. If you’re looking to make a deal, having more than one venture firm in the mix will help you get a truer understanding of your market value and secure the fairest terms. If you have more than one venture firm looking at your business, congrats. You are in rare air. Most are lucky to even get one interested. In those less-competitive cases, it’s still important to find a local guide. It could be a fellow founder, angel investor, trusted advisor, or a blog post from 2012. Regardless of your path, always surround yourself with local guides for the various stages of your business. When fundraising, run a process with multiple firms and always do your homework on potential investors. Call up the companies in their portfolio that weren’t home runs. You will learn a lot. It is hard to turn down money but sometimes you might want to because it is much easier to change your preferred airline than it is your cap table.

Last week, our CEO surveyed founders asking them, “How likely are you to refer your current lead investor(s) to fellow founders?” in his weekly note. The results from the survey are below: The Investor NPS An NPS score of 23 falls below the average for the airline industry. Not a great industry to be compared to in terms of customer satisfaction scores. Granted, there can be quite a bit of bias when surveying a founder asking their opinion of an investor (e.g. passed on a round). Nonetheless, founders are clearly looking for more out of their investors. Once a check is cashed, there is no turning back. With the average length of a founder + investor longer than the average marriage in the U.S. (8-10 years) it is important for both founders and investors to strive for a strong relationship. Founders will get out of their investor relations what they put into it. At the end of the day, the investor and founder relationship comes down to communication, starting from the first fundraising meeting to company exit. Before a fundraise, a founder should have a set of expectations from their investors outside of capital. It is the duty of the founder to communicate and gauge this during conversations and pitches. Easier said than done. Determining what investors to talk to, how to talk to them, and what to expect from them is a difficult process for founders. Fundraising is an Asymmetric Experience Fundraising is an asymmetric experience. Investors see hundreds of deals a year where founders may only talk to a handful of investors in a year. Investors are strapped with an abundance of data used during the decision-making process. As Seth Godin writes, “In these asymmetric situations, it’s unlikely that you’re going to outsmart the experienced folks who have seen it all before. It’s unlikely that you’ll outlast them either. When you have to walk into one of these events, it pays to hire a local guide.” Our goal is to uncover more data, advice, and resources to become a “local guide” for founders to lean on during the fundraising process. In order to do so, we’ve started laying the ground work with Visible Connect, our community-sourced investor database. We will be able to uncover things like investor NPS with Visible Connect and create more symmetry in the fundraising process. Find Investors with Visible Connect Interested in learning more? Check out the Visible Connect database here.

Our learnings and takeaways from 5 years of being a remote first startup. Remote work has been a core tenant of how Visible gets work done since 2015. It is crazy to believe that five years ago working remotely was not nearly as mainstream as it is today. In that time, we’ve learned a ton, mostly through experimentation and failure. The coronavirus and pandemic in 2020 accelerated the adaption of remote work as more companies are transitioning to a remote or hybrid workplace. Being a remote-first organization, we believe that team members do their best work when, how, and where they want. Below we share our guide to getting started with and implementing remote work at your organization. By no means are we perfect or do we know all of the answers. This guide is simply our learnings and takeaways from 5 years of being remote. Why We Became a Remote-First Startup Rewind to 2015 and Visible looks just like any early stage startup. We had some fresh capital, early team members, and were eager to get to market with a product. There was not necessarily a hard set reason for starting remote but naturally swayed that way as we added employees across the globe. Advantages of Remote Teams It was clear that everyone enjoyed the remote work setting. As the team at Buffer discovered in their State of Remote Work report, 97.6% of employees would like the option to work remotely for the rest of their careers. As we dove into remote work, the advantages were obvious: Team members do their best work when, how, and where they want. Working primarily asynchronously allows work to get done while communication becomes the lifeblood. Our hypothesis is that the #1 challenge for most in-person work environments is open communication whereas we believe this is the biggest strength of all remote-first organizations, Team members can prioritize their personal well-being to bring the best version of themselves to work (now one of our company values: inside out). The talent pool for hiring is worldwide. No physical office and being able to hire outside of major tech hubs means a lower burn rate (you don’t have to shell out for market SF salaries). Don’t forget the ruthless competition and recruiting dynamics. An opportunity to learn and be at the forefront of something which has the potential to be the future of work Since then, we have discovered many other pros and cons. Disadvantages of Remote Teams On the flip side, there were a few disadvantages spotted. Always on — When working from home, it can be difficult to shut down and feel like you are truly “off.” A routine and habits to start and end your day can help greatly when trying to manage your workday from home. Isolation — In an office you have countless interactions. When working from home, employees can feel isolated. A co-working spot or a visit to a local coffee shop can be a good way to combat this. Time Zones — Communicating across many time zones can be difficult. However, you can solve this when setting expectations and hiring within a given timezone range. You can check out a few of the struggles with remote work from the 2021 State of Remote Work below as well: Building a remote organization is certainly challenging, but the reward and pleasure of working remotely far outweigh the challenges (at least in our opinion). 16 Proven Strategies To Manage a Remote Team Over our 5 years building a remote-first organization, we have stumbled upon a few strategies that we have found to be beneficial. Our 16 strategies can be broken down into a few buckets — culture tips, communication, team-building activities, hiring, and more. Remote Work Culture Tips Inherently, building a company culture when all team members are dispersed is more difficult than when everyone is in the same building. For organizations exploring remote-first work, the ability and ideas behind remote work need to be rooted in the organization’s culture. At Visible, starting as a remote-first organization and having a team comfortable with remote work, our culture has naturally formed around these ideas. In the past, people have associated startup culture with ping pong tables and a fridge full of beer. However, startup culture is not built in an office; it is built on how individuals work, collaborate, and communicate. 1. Create a Remote Work Mission Statement If you Google “remote work culture” (or anything related) you’ll notice that most blogs mention the difficulties of building a strong culture as a remote organization. Our mission and values have naturally evolved over the course of time but our culture has always been rooted with remote work and a deep focus on each team member’s own well-being. We have a number of core values at Visible but the two that have stood the test of time and have enabled a strong remote culture are: “Inside Out” — We believe that team members should take care of themselves and their family first. Remote work enables this because they can focus on their own health then bring their entire self to work. “Harmony” — There is no such thing as “work/life balance”. There is just life. We strive to bring harmony to all aspects of our life. As it relates to work, this means some days may require staying on to 8pm as we work through a customer issue and some days you may cut out at 2pm to get on your longboard. Regardless of how your company culture takes form there is no denying the importance of communication, especially at a remote organization. 2. Set Clear Expectations Just because you are not in an office, it does not mean you should have working hours and expectations. It is important to have expectations well defined and documented. A couple of questions we suggest that you think about and answer when setting your work expectations and policies: What are work hours/time zone expectations? Can people work from anywhere? Which communication channels (email, Slack, Asana message, video) are used for what purpose? What work-from-home office equipment do employees have to buy? 3. Ensure Everyone Has the Tools They Need Tools and software are at the core of a productive remote-work environment. We’ll dig into the software tools and apps we use below but always suggest you have great internet, a comfortable desk and chair, and a quiet room to take calls and virtual meetings from. 4. Build Trust and Watch for Stress or Burnout As we mentioned previously, it can be difficult to shut off from work when working remotely. Leaders need to understand and keep an eye for stress and burnout from the team. In order to spot stress and burnout, there needs to be a level and trust and comfort between the team. Check out some of our tips for building trust and collaboration below: Remote Work Communication and Collaboration Tips If communicating as a remote team was easy, every organization would be remote. There are definitely challenges when communicating when you are a virtual team. Most people believe that communication is easier when you are all in the same building. However, with a set of expectations and a communication system in place, remote communication can easily be heightened to match the level of being a physical office. Trust, transparency and open communication is at the core of communication; remote or not. Trust is vital, especially to remote work, when it comes to hiring, team building, and individual growth. Many individuals may think that trust can only be built when sitting at a desk next to someone. We believe that trust is something that is built through communication, regardless of your location. Trust is just built differently when working remotely. 5. Don’t Just Mimic In-Person Meetings Communication will naturally force different methods. Do not try to mimic an office when working remotely/from home. As Jason Fried, CEO of Basecamp, writes, “This also isn’t a time to try to simulate the office. Working from home is not working from the office. Working remotely is not working locally. Don’t try to make one the other. If you have meetings all day at the office, don’t simply simulate those meetings via video. This is an opportunity not to have those meetings. Write it up instead, disseminate the information that way. Let people absorb it on their own time. Protect their time and attention.” Written communication has become one of the most important things that we do at Visible. Remote or note, written communication is vital to just about every company. Jeff Bezos often relies on his 1997 letter to shareholders to portray company values and vision. We are constantly tweaking our methods and finding ways to communicate using our suite of tools. At Visible, that has meant using Slack, Zoom, Notion, Jell, written notes, and our own product to facilitate communication and build trust (more on the tools we use in a later section). 6. Share Video Meeting Guidelines As we shared in our blog post, “How We Work: Zoom Calls,” we try our best to communicate in Slack but have a series of set meetings and one-off meetings that place over video. In order to make video meetings as productive as possible, we try to make sure everyone is in a quiet place without a distracting background. Depending on the type of call, we generally like everyone to have their audio unmuted and video on to mimic an in-person meeting as much as possible. 7. Schedule a Weekly All-Hands Meeting This gets us warmed up for the week. We’ll see how everyone’s weekend went and dig into the week ahead. Mike (our CEO) will start by giving a quick recap of our company-wide metrics, goals, news from the previous week, and priorities for the coming week. We will then review our current product & marketing boards to see if there are any obstacles, outstanding questions, etc. This is not a time to go in-depth but rather schedule a follow-up time to pair with your colleagues. Related Reading: How to Build Organizational Alignment Easily 8. Use Collaboration Calls for In-Depth Work Collaboration calls are a time for us to get together as a team and work on a larger project or idea. Generally, we will decide on our Monday kickoff call what we will discuss on a team collaboration call. Some ideas: Review a product cycle item — What is the status of a current product cycle item? What is needed from others here? Is there a mockup that someone would like to present? Etc. Play a game — Use this as a time to play a collaborative game as a team. Brainstorm — Working on a bigger product or marketing idea that you need input from others? Use this as a time to present and collaborate on bigger ideas that involve the entire company. Be prepared with activities to guide the brainstorm session! Other talking points: Give a shout-out to a team member and thank them. Tell them why! Tell us a story about something Visible related! Could be a customer story, a bug you found, something you designed, etc What did you learn last week? (Doesn’t have to be Visible related!) What is something you are proud about from last week? 9. Set up Recurring One-on-One Meetings One-on-one calls are to make sure we are identifying opportunities to serve one another better, a chance to deepen our relationship as well as uncover any challenges before they grow into something larger. The time should also be spent talking about near terms goals & priorities but also long-term development as well. Every one-on-one check-in is the employee’s time and the time can be used for whatever they deem most valuable (90% of the time for the employee). To make sure the time is used in a mutually beneficial way we want to make sure the employee is providing a quick update (before the call) with how everything is going, how they are feeling, and what challenges they are facing. 10. Use Show & Tells To Share and Connect Every Thursday a team member presents a show and tell. The topic does not have to be work related. It can range from your favorite tacos to how venture capital works to budgeting apps for personal finance! Remote Team-Building Tips Having different opportunities for casual conversations and team building is a surefire way to improve remote work for everyone. One of our favorite ways is by playing virtual games (Jackbox Games, CodeNames, etc.) to loosen up and have fun. We have also seen success when giving individuals the opportunity to connect and work with cross-functional teammates. 11. Create a Virtual Water Cooler The “virtual water cooler” in Slack has been a great way to connect with teammates outside of work. As we wrote in the post above, “We do not have hard-set guidelines for what should be posted in the #watercooler channel but it generally consists of the following: Food/what we ate — Pictures or recipes for what we are cooking at home/eating at restaurants. We all love to eat at Visible so this is big for us. Random videos/pictures/stories from our day-to-day lives — For example, a current event or something big that may be happening in someone’s respective city/neighborhood/etc. Travel and Hobbies — Being a remote company, a lot of us spend a good amount of time in different locations. We love to share pictures and stories from our time in new places. Work Inspiration — This is also where we share examples and inspiration of something cool we see a different company doing. Anything from a new product feature to an intriguing marketing email. Fun Stories — If someone runs into a fun story, stat, or fact they run into online, we tend to share it in #watercooler.” 12. Have Fun With Regular Non-Work Activities Bringing teammates together with non-work activities is a great way to build camaraderie and relationships. Check out our post, 34 Remote Team Building Ideas for Growing Startups, to learn about some of our favorite specific activities. 13. Plan Yearly Company Offsites To Get Together Nothing beats the energy from getting to meet with team members in person. We relentlessly prioritize getting together two times a year as a time. Offsites serve three purposes: To have fun To give us the chance to connect in person and collaborate on big, strategic initiatives. To see a more human side of your team. To see how tall your colleagues are ;). Offsites have become an integral part of our culture and how we work together. Over the course of a week we are able to break down big problems and initiatives then channel that into focused work when we depart back to our homes. Over the last few years, we’ve had offsites in the following locations: Copenhagen Indianapolis Montreal Chicago Dublin Amsterdam Lisbon Barcelona Tulum The term “offsite” gets thrown around a lot in the startup and corporate world but what does an offsite actually look like to a remote organization? Choose a Location and Date for the Offsite At Visible, we are spread out across the world. We have employees in North America, Europe, and Asia. With that being said, finding a location for our offsites can be tricky. A couple of things we look for in an offsite location: A location that everyone can get to in a reasonably timed and priced flight. We do not want someone to have to fly for 24 hours with 2+ layovers, etc. A location that is not too expensive once you are there. Breaking bread is a cornerstone of our offsites, so having a place where you can go out for a nice meal without breaking the bank is important to us. For example, a dollar went a long way in Lisbon compared to Copenhagen. A location that has a tech culture. It is fun to go somewhere with a strong tech/startup culture. In the past, we’ve been able to meet and work with our customers. Somewhere new. Being a small team, we are able to go to places that are new to each of us. Inevitably, this won’t always be the case but is a fun factor for now. Once we pick a location, we will book accommodations. Our goal is to give everyone their own bedroom, have a place to work as a group, and be in a central location that is within walking distance to restaurants, bars, and transportation. We’ve done everything from a high-end hostel, to single Airbnbs and even a houseboat on the canals of Amsterdam. Depending on the city, different options may make more or less sense. As we are all travelers ourselves, we have found Airbnbs to be the most practical for us as a group. In order to maximize our time, we generally have to include a weekend or a weekend day (which no one ever has an issue with). This allows us to wrap the offsite around a weekend and not miss an entire week of our usual day-to-day work. We send out a Doodle which makes it incredibly easy to coordinate everyone’s availability. Decide How You’ll Work During the Offsite Deciding when and how to work during an offsite is something that we are constantly tweaking. While offsites are intended to strengthen personal relationships we have accomplished some awesome work. The last few offsites we come with a big vision or theme for the week. From here, each individual (eventually may just be unit leaders/managers, etc.) is responsible for coming up with a group session related to their business unit. For example, we kept hearing from our customers about the pain points of fundraising. This became a focal point of our fall 2019 offsite and how the “fundraising” product was born. We came back with a beta version of the product, design for future versions, our Connect database (named at the offsite), and a marketing webpage for the new Fundraising product. Decide What Non-Work Activities You Will Do As mentioned, everyone is responsible for coming up with a work session for the offsite. In tandem, we pair up with a different co-worker (someone we may not always work directly with) and come up with a team activity that is unrelated to work. We are assigned a day with our partner and set out to find an activity. This has led to some of our best memories and is often what we look back on at future offsites. A couple of things we have found to work best: Boating/Sailing — A fan favorite has been sailing and boat cruises we’ve taken as a team. We have generally found these on Airbnb Experiences but are an awesome chance to check out a new city and relax with teammates. Cooking Classes — A chance to work directly with a teammate, plus eat great food. Will certainly be including more of these in the future. Escape Rooms — Fun way to work on team building. Sports/Hiking — Another chance to find a new skill and work as a team. We all learned how to longboard at our last offsite! Dinner — Believe it or not, coordinating dinner for a large group can be tough. We would highly encourage having reservations in advance to avoid long waiting times or eating at subpar restaurants. We learn something new about running an offsite at each one. By no means do they go off without a hitch, but they are invaluable to us and something we relish. Remote Hiring and Onboarding Tips Hiring for a remote organization is a double-edged sword. You have the world as a hiring pool but… you also have the world as a hiring pool. What we mean is that you have the ability to hire anyone in the world so you don’t have to compete with tech hubs and “hot” companies for top talent. However, this means that you are likely getting a huge number of applicants and need to have a dialed system to vet and hire candidates. 14. Post Jobs on the Right Remote Boards Leveraging job boards are a great way to get the word out about a new position. There have been countless job boards specific for remote workers as well as traditional options. Some popular options: AngelList Remote.co We Work Remotely 15. Simulate Remote Work During the Interview Process You likely do not have the opportunity to meet with them in person so being comfortable with video calls and evaluating work/writing is crucial. As we previously mentioned, building trust does not need to take place in a physical office. It takes place in evaluating communication and work. This same idea is relevant when hiring. At Visible, we are generally in search of “self-starters” and someone that is comfortable working alone/remote. Like most companies, our hiring process starts with short video calls with Visible team members. Once we have determined if they are a fit for Visible, we try to simulate remote work as much as possible. To start, we use a paid project for the candidate. From the second we start a paid project, we are building trust with the potential candidate. Generally, the project is related to a future Visible product, marketing plan, idea, etc. To best simulate remote work, we invite the candidate to a Slack channel where they can ask questions and interact with the team. Hiring for a remote position is challenging but rewarding. No matter how you approach hiring a remote employee, communication and trust should be front and center of the process. 16. Start Onboarding Remote Employees Before Day One Onboarding an employee across the country or globe can feel odd. In order to make sure a remote onboarding goes smoothly, we suggest a few of the following steps: Timeline — Set up an agenda and expectations for the first few days/weeks for a new hire. We use a Notion doc and create a day-by-day agenda for the first week so they know exactly what to expect and what needs to be completed. Introductions — Give new employees an opportunity to pair with different teams and teammates. It is a great way for new employees to get a lay of the land and build relationships. Software — Part of our timeline/onboarding document, is setting up the software and explaining what each one does. Merch — Send a shipment of your merch and team gear so they feel welcome! Technology — Make sure your new hires have the hardware they need to get the job done. Remote Work Tools To Level Up Your Team As we mentioned previously, Slack and Zoom have combined to essentially become our office but we have a number of other tools we use to help communicate and facilitate remote work. Slack for Messaging, Company Updates, and Fun Slack is the lifeblood of our business. 95% of our communication takes place in Slack. We break our channels into different business units and try to have as much automation as possible within Slack. For example, we have a channel where we can see when a new trial is started, a channel that funnels in our Intercom conversations, etc. We do try to keep most of our Slack conversations in public channels. As a note, we are a smaller team so most channels are not too noisy and anyone is welcome to mute a channel that they find irrelevant/distracting. Zoom for Video Conferencing As we mentioned earlier, we use Zoom for any necessary face-to-face meetings. As a distributed team, meetings are a crucial medium for our team to connect, share & collaborate. Here are some general guidelines for all meetings. Video should always be on by default (unless you have some serious connection issues). Your microphone should always be on and not muted. We want to feel like we are next to each other in a meeting. Visual and verbal queues & feedback are important ways we communicate. Try to find a quiet place with limited background noise. When applicable, send out an agenda, documents, etc prior to the meeting for the attendees to review. Jell for Daily Standups Jell — Jell is a tool we use to post personal standups on a daily basis. Each morning, every team member fills out a simple prompt that asks what they are working on that day. From here, the answers are sent to a channel in Slack where we can see where other team members may need help. Notion for Task Management and Internal Documentation Notion — We recently switch to Notion for (1) our task management and (2) our internal Wiki. We use Notion to monitor our current product cycle, current marketing tasks, and customer success tasks. Each team member has full access to all boards to see the status of different projects and tasks. We also use Notion as our internal Wiki. This is where we host everything and anything about Visible and how we work. If someone has a question about a company policy or workflow, they can check Notion. We are also diligent about documenting meetings so we this is where team members can find notes and discussions from past meetings. HIVEGEIST for Working Remotely The HIVEGEIST community consists of remote working professionals who share their vision of a decentralized life. With HIVEGEIST, you not only belong to the strong network of our members, you also immerse yourself in the local community. Use one-time code, VISIBLE20, for a 20% discount on the first month for your community. Visible for Aligning Our Team We use Visible to dogfood our own product and for our CEO to send out a weekly Update to the team. A weekly note from our CEO allows everyone to have a holistic view of what is happening with the business and where current metrics stand. Final Thoughts on Managing Remote Teams As technologies continue to advance so will the way we work. Remote work may not be a perfect fit for every company but we believe that it is here to stay. Each day we learn something new about working remote and the benefits that come with it. If you’re interested in getting started with remote work or want to learn more, shoot us a message to marketing@visible.vc Other Resources on Remote Work Below are the blog posts, guides, and other resources that we have looked to when implementing remote work at Visible: Our 9 Favorite Posts on Remote Work The 2021 State of Remote Work Why Everyone Loves Remote Work Remote Stories Why Naval Ravikant Thinks Remote Work Is The Future How to Lead a Remote-Friendly Startup How Remote Workers Make Work Friends Remote First Capital

Naturally, communicating when times are tough is intimidating. No one likes to share what is potentially bad news. However, when times are tough it is more important than ever for leaders to communicate with their stakeholders. Loads of VCs and founders have written about the importance of communication during a crisis over the past few weeks: “First [of six disciplines for challenging times], transparent communication… There is no better example than Winston Churchill. As you articulate communication plans, speak with transparency, candor, and gravity.” — Tomasz Tunguz in Six Startup Disciplines for Challenging Times “When people get Happy Talk instead of Hard Talk, it doesn’t reassure them. In fact, it does the opposite: It causes them to question the credibility of their leaders, which heightens their anxiety and makes them feel rudderless.” — David Sacks in Happy Talk Versus Hard Talk “Culture should be a priority. And today it is more important than ever. For the amount of time we spend working it should be positive, enjoyable, challenging in a good way and everyone there should feel connected to the company. Happy people make for happy atmospheres regardless of the hard work being done.” — Joanne Wilson in Culture is Important Now More Than Ever “Communicate, communicate, communicate. It is even more important in a remote environment.” — Seth Levine in Tips For Working from Home From The Foundry Network “Regardless of the times, entrepreneurs should send a weekly email update to their constituents — employees, advisors, mentors, and investors. People want to know what’s going on. People want to help. Regular email communication is the most repeatable, and scalable, method.” — David Cummings in Weekly Communication “Key learnings – a) understand and optimize your cash position b) increase communication with team, investors and customers. More the better. c) organize around your customer – shift resources to help them. d) look for opportunities that others won’t see e) stay optimistic!” — Scott Dorsey on Key Learnings from Leading Through 2008 Crisis Everyone can come out and say that now is the time to communicate but that does not mean everyone will do so. Communicating when times are tough is easier said than done. Considering our bread and butter is investor and stakeholder communications, we decided to take a look at our data and see if leaders are in fact stepping up during these tough times. The results? Startups and leaders and taking communication incredibly seriously. First, we took a look at Update recipients by month: This chart is simply the total number of Update recipients by month. Clearly March has been our best month to date. It is refreshing to see leaders and founders doubling down on communication. So how are the recipients receiving the Updates? Very well. The chart below is number of Update Reactions, our version of a thumbs up/like, by month: The result? Investors, team members, and other stakeholders are trying to be as supportive as possible. It is incredible to see leaders double down on communication and their stakeholders pass along support. Leaders who can step up now will ensure that their team, investors, and other stakeholders are at ease. Plus, they’ll position themselves for success when we get through the current crisis. As Naval Ravikant wrote, “Leadership in the coming months, at every level, is the audition to lead in the coming years.” If you are ready to get an Update out to your investors or team, start your Visible trial here.

As many companies are transitioning to remote work for the first time it is normal to feel overwhelmed. Getting used to the social norms of working from home can be odd for some individuals: no group lunches, desk visits, mid-day games, and “water cooler talk.” Remote Work at Visible Being remote for the last 5 years, we’ve missed the serendipitous moments and random conversations that take place at an office. We have done our best to fill the void with different Slack channels, games, Zoom calls, and offsites (more on that in a different post). Being able to have personal conversation outside of work is vital to any startup culture. Being able to translate that conversation when working from home is just as important. Out of the different strategies and ideas we have tried to mimic office communication, the one that has stood the test of time is the #watercooler Slack channel. Our #watercooler Slack channel is exactly what it sounds like — a chance to take a break from work-related tasks to discuss hobbies, interest, food, and current events. Our Favorite Slack Channels We all like to see our respective Slack channels light up, but there is an added excitement when the #watercooler channel lights up (especially later in the day). We do not have hard set guidelines for what should be posted in the #watercooler channel but it generally consists of the following: Food/what we ate — Pictures or recipes for what we are cooking at home/eating at restaurants. We all love to eat at Visible so this is big for us. Random videos/pictures/stories from our day to day lives — For example, a current event or something big that may be happening in someone’s respective city/neighborhood/etc. Travel and Hobbies — Being a remote company, a lot of us spend a good amount of time in different locations. We love to share pictures and stories from our time in new places. Work Inspiration — This is also where we share examples and inspiration of something cool we see a different company doing. Anything from a new product feature to an intriguing marketing email. Fun Stories — If someone runs into a fun story, stat, or fact they run into online, we tend to share it in #watercooler. While there is no substitute for in person conversation, being able to take a break and have casual conversation with co-workers is a must when working from home. Being fully remote ourselves, it has allowed us to get to know each other as if we were working in an office. For those working from home for the first time, give the #watercooler a try and let us know what you think!

Have you ever dealt with someone acting in bad faith? How did you handle it? This week I believe a partner of Visible’s is acting in bad faith. Nothing illegal but what I would consider bad business. I’ve sent them an email outlining my concerns and have yet to hear back. I could… Put them on blast online. This might feel good for a minute but will likely not solve the problem. I could also be seen as acting in bad faith. Go the legal route. That sounds expensive and likely will not solve my problem. Ignore it. I’d love to hear any of your experiences and outcomes that you feel comfortable sharing. I will definitely follow up when I feel more comfortable doing so as well.

All eyes are on leaders in a time of uncertainty. How a leader acts, presents themselves, and communicates echoes throughout the organization (and any outside stakeholders). Having a stakeholder management strategy in place is a surefire way to give a sense of unity and direction to all of your stakeholders; especially in a time of turmoil. A stakeholder management strategy generally relates to individual projects or campaigns. However, a founder can use a stakeholder management plan to oversee their communication. As the team at MindTools writes, “Stakeholder management is the process of maintaining good relationships with the people who have the most impact on your work. Communicating with each one in the right way can play a vital part in keeping them on board.” The goal of your startup stakeholder communication plan should be to give everyone the information they need to understand direction, goals, and to feel a sense of cohesiveness. For a startup, we can boil down a stakeholder management strategy into 5 unique groups: team, investors, board of directors, advisors/mentors, and customers. As a CEO or Founder it is your job to set the tone for communication and delegate or own different stakeholder groups as needed. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when setting a stakeholder management and communication strategy: Keep it Predictable When it comes to setting up a stakeholder management strategy one of the key components is to keep it as predictable as possible. Set a specific cadence with each stakeholder group so they can expect when they’ll be receiving an email update, phone call, report, etc. Not only will a predictable cadence help your stakeholders, it will help you as a founder as well. We have found that by committing to a schedule it will help hold you accountable and build good habits. If you’re looking for an easy way to get started with a team communication strategy, check out our “Friday Note” template. Apples to Apples We often preach that it is vital to keep things consistent from update to update, especially when communicating with your investors. The same can be said when developing your stakeholder management strategy. If you commit to sharing a certain metric or context, be sure to keep it consistent throughout. If you are sharing a certain metric, lay out how it is calculated in your first correspondence and stick to it. Questions and a lack of trust will start to form if the calculations or metrics you are sharing begin to change on a regular basis. Set the Tone As we mentioned earlier, a stakeholder management strategy is intended to help your different stakeholder groups understand direction, goals, and feel a sense of cohesiveness. In turn, this should also increase productivity and allow employees and stakeholders to build trust with their leaders. When a founder or leader takes an action, it often reverberates throughout the organization. Keep this in mind when setting up a management and communication strategy for different stakeholder groups. If you want to establish a certain value or action in your company, your stakeholder management strategy is a great place to start. A Note on Remote Work In the wake of recent turmoil, more companies are transitioning to remote work. When working remote for the first time, having a sound stakeholder management and communication strategy is more important than ever. There is not such thing as too much communication, especially when all of your stakeholders are feeling the stress and anxiety of our current situation. To learn more about remote work, check out our 9 favorite posts here. If you think you’re ready to implement a stakeholder communication and management strategy, head over to our Update Template Library to see examples for how to best communicate with your investors, team, board members, and more.

Ever have one of those days where everything is clicking? Customers are signing up, the team is excited and your vision is being executed. I had a day like this not too long ago. I was sharing the feeling with one of my mentors. He gave me some great advice, “Those are the days to work late… Call up leads that went cold. Write up a product spec. Do some strategic planning.” I call this the press. Doubling down when the going is good. What if it is the opposite? Customers are leaving. Partnership agreements are falling apart. You missed an important deadline. Call it a day early. Spend time with some loved ones, work out or get some sleep. Just last week I had a day when I was pressed. We had an awesome day and then saw a potential customer signed up last minute for a demo late in the evening (we love all of our Australia, New Zealand & Singapore customers :). If I was having a crap day I would have asked to rescheduled. I pressed, took the call, and fortunately converted a customer right there. What do you do when everything is clicking? Seems like it is falling apart? Have a great weekend all! -Mike

When times are tough (which they will be) being a founder can often feel like you are alone on an island. Having people to open up to and work your way through the troughs is key not only for your mental health, but your company’s health as well. Establishing a trusted circle of mentors, advisors, and peers, your personal board of directors, from day one is a great way to prepare for what lies ahead in your company building journey. What is a personal board of directors? A traditional board of directors is “ a group of people who jointly supervise the activities of an organization.” A personal board of directors is a group of individuals that can offer advice and direction for both personal and life decisions. Your personal board should be a trusted group you can lean on when making difficult decisions. Just as a board of directors holds an organization accountable, the same could be said for your personal board of directors. Who should be in my personal board of directors? Finding the right mix of individuals for your personal board of directors can be tricky. They should be a collection of individuals that are willing to give honest and candid feedback. Generally speaking, this means leaving family and close friends off of your board of directors. The team at Harvard Business Review suggests including a mixture of the following people: “First, you need fans — people who support you and will deliver tough feedback with kindness and good intent.” “Second, recruit potential sponsors — senior leaders who can advocate for you when it’s time for a promotion.” “Third, include at least one critic. These people may be the toughest to approach, but they can be the most valuable.” No one wants to face criticism; but it is an important aspect of personal and company growth. This mixture of individuals will be able to help with professional development, company strategy, and major life decisions. Assembling your personal board of directors Asking people to be on your personal board of directors can be an intimidating tasks. We suggest building a list of people you would find to be a good fit (using the criteria from above). Start with your top choices and make your way down the list. If you get no response or a simple “no,” don’t fret. Simply move on to the next person on your list. If you’ve done your research and built a proper list most of the people should be eager to help you. As we wrote in our post, “Startup Leaders Should Have Mentors. Here’s How to Find One,” we suggest when reaching out, “you should make sure to 1) explain why you’re reaching out to them specifically and 2) ask to meet with them once instead of asking them to commit right away. Those two things will make them much more likely to say yes.” Well a personal board of directors can’t guarantee success it can certainly help as you struggle through the inevitable tough times of building a startup. If you’re interested in learning more about approach mentors and advisors, be sure to check out our mentors post here.

I’ve been grappling with the idea of getting a CEO coach for a while. In particular, I’m always looking for ways to level up my leadership skills. Sidenote: I recently read Conscious Leadership based on a referral from one of our customers and loved it! I’m curious, do you have a CEO coach (or any type of coach)? What types of issues do you work through? If you have 2-3 minutes, I’d love for you to respond to this survey — I can’t promise your typical 10-20 seconds 😉 Transparently, we’re thinking through ways how we can offer coaching services to our customers. It appears that wellness and vulnerability are resonating based on responses to last week’s note. -Mike

We are 2 for 2 in the Weekly Note! For the longest time we’ve treated lack of sleep as a badge of honor. “Hustle Porn” on Twitter & the web has made it even worse. Personally, I always felt like I was doing a disservice to Visible by prioritizing a good night’s sleep…”Should I be working instead of sleeping?” was a common question I’d ask myself. Luckily, we’re starting to see more data, studies and efforts by entrepreneurs to show how sleep is critical to just about everything we do. From productivity increases to reducing the risk of cancer and heart disease, sleep is fundamental to just about every aspect of your life. I’ve recently gotten to know Jeff Kahn from Rise Science (they have worked with NFL, MLB, and NBA teams to Basecamp to Fortune 500 companies…yeah, they are legit). I love Rise’s simple yet insightful approach to helping you understand your sleep and sleep debt. In particular, they don’t require any sensors, gadgets or putting your phone on your bed. One of my favorite features is their “peaks & dips” insights (your natural circadian rhythms). I find it to be incredibly accurate and I now structure my day around it. I’ll workout during my dips and prioritize critical thinking in my peaks. You can see my screenshot here from Rise. I asked Jeff why their model is so accurate. They use 3 different models to power this “peaks & dips” feature. One of those models comes from the Department of Defense. Turns out, the DOD has completed some extensive studies that enable us to more effectively utilize our troops in times of war. You are welcome to check out the research here. How much sleep do you get as an operator & entrepreneur? Do you prioritize it? Any stories you’d want to share that I can highlight? Let me know and I’ll share them next week (anonymously).

I’m going to start writing a weekly note (at least try!). Inspired from my great friend Max Yoder — make sure to check out his weekly note if you want to do better work. I’ll focus on something that caught my eye in the startup space, an interesting data set and/or anything that I think can give founders a better chance of success. If you unsubscribe, I totally understand but my goal is to make this as valuable as possible. Have you seen the latest buzz about founders wishing they had retained more ownership? Sam Altman from YC tweeted it here. The takeaway is founders feel like they dilute too much early on. Sam also thinks that founders dilute themselves 2x more for the same level of progress they used to 10 years ago. Suhail (Mixpanel founder) has a great response in his tweet. In short, he encourages founders to raise less money at a lower valuation early on. Easier said than done! I do love his mention of thinking through the preference stack. I think it’s incredibly important to model out how the preference stack impacts outcomes and decision for founders. Speaking of doing more with less. Can you guess which companies financials these are before going public. If you guessed Google, you are correct. How much did they raise to get to this point? Only $25M. A little different than today’s climate. Curious, have you felt like you’ve given up too much of your business?

This is a guest blog post by Erika Rykun. Erika is a content strategist and producer who believes the power of networking and quality writing. She’s an avid reader, writer, and runner. Chances are, as you stand at the beginning of your startup journey, you’re not thinking about all the stuff everyone keeps telling you is essential to protect your new biz from a number of potential issues. After all, dotting all those “i”s and crossing all those “t”s is not exactly the most riveting of your initial concerns. But what if I tell you that about 90% of all startups fail? And one of the most popular reasons for failure is incompetence and failure to pay attention to particular aspects of your startup. As with any business, there are certain things you need to do and know to protect the future of your startup. For example, there are certain legal documents you need to have in place for your new venture. One way to get into the right mindset? Treat your startup today like the successful business you envision it becoming. With that in mind, here are six things you should be thinking about now to protect your startup. 1. You Don’t Have to Go It Alone Even if you’re doing everything all on your own at the start, you’ve got a great business idea and, chances are, your business will grow. So while you’re wearing your solopreneur hat in the beginning, plan on doing business now the way you expect to be doing business in the future. Whether a corporation or an LLC is the right business structure for your startup — or perhaps a partnership is the perfect way to go — be proactive and lay the foundation for your startup by registering the right business structure for your new company. It will save you many headaches down the road. 2. Secure Your Team With the Right Contracts It’s not just boring HR stuff: Having the right contracts in place for each of your team players, whether major or minor, will help ensure that everyone knows their roles and responsibilities. And that’s the kind of thing that’s important for any business’s success. While employment contracts are a priority for your permanent staff, if your team members include independent contractors or consultants, remember that it’s important to get those relationships down in writing, too. 3. Keep Your Trade Secrets Secret Most startups have their share of trade secrets, so, if there’s information about your business that you want to stay confidential, lock those secrets down with a nondisclosure agreement, or NDA. And be careful to look at every relationship your startup has, to see where an NDA might be appropriate. For example, while you’ve probably already thought about getting your independent contractors to sign a confidentiality agreement or NDA, if your business plan contains confidential information, a business plan nondisclosure agreement may be a necessary part of your legal toolkit. 4. Protect Your Intellectual Property Assets Whether your startup revolves around an important invention, unique software code or an emphasis on the brand you’re building, it’s important to protect your intellectual property assets now, rather than later. So, register that copyright, apply for that patent or trademark your brand name. While the potential pirating or infringement of your intellectual property is likely not high on your priority list right now, having the proper protection for these assets now makes battling any future infringement that much easier. Related Resource: A Complete Guide on Founders Agreements 5. Get Insured When you’re first starting out, business insurance premiums can feel like an unnecessary drain on your cash flow. After all, you’ve got a barely there client list. Wouldn’t it be better to wait until you actually have the volume of sales to justify the premiums? Well, no. Liability insurance, for example, can play an important role at any point in your startup’s journey to success, because a risk is a risk, no matter where you are in that journey. And, in many cases, your sole customer is just as likely to get into an accident as your 8,922nd customer. It’s probably not going to be an issue, of course, but having the right business insurance in place gives you the peace of mind that comes with knowing you’re covered for the worst. 6. Know When You Need an Expert’s Help No one wants to pay expert advisers’ fees, but sometimes you need to have the knowledge and experience that an expert can bring to the table. Whether it’s enlisting the services of an attorney to help you draft a particularly complicated agreement, or talking with a CPA to help you structure your business in the most tax-efficient way, it’s always a good idea to prioritize hiring an expert when you need one. You’re at the start of what could turn out to be a beautiful, successful journey. Secure that potential future today by being proactive and treating your fledgling startup like the successful business you know it will be. Related Resources: How to Write a Business Plan For Your Startup