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Comment by GraffitiTim | Hacker News Reader

I think people will be surprised how well this works.

There are a lot of great startups that will be born in these times. Many of them will be "remote native" -- operated remotely, remote YC, and potentially tackling problems that have arisen due to the remote world we're living in.

After this crisis is over, some things will go back to normal, but a lot of the changes will endure to varying degrees.

I think people are used to the power of in-person connection and physical reality, and most of us are craving it. But an incredible amount can happen in digital reality, and we are only just beginning to scratch that surface.

At minimum it is an interesting and necessary experiment.

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I'm watching it all with some amusement. I've worked remote my whole career, first because it was the only option where I lived, and then later by choice after I returned to the developed world.

I'm trying to start a company, and I wouldn't dream of doing it any other way than remote. There's advantages and disadvantages, but I don't want to be paying SF office rent, SF salaries, SF benefits, and competing with the unicorns and tech giants in the area. I'd rather draw from a global talent pool and focus on how to minimize the drawbacks and maximize the advantages of doing so.

Plus neither my wife or I want to live in SF. We much prefer Vancouver. I'd move if it were really necessary for the business, but I'm glad that doesn't seem to be true.

What are you working on?

Kind of a zapier thing, but aimed at developers ( so different power vs ease of use tradeoff). Will be at apimate.com when I launch it.

Interestingly zapier are a remote company.

But I'd just work at a company that pays SF salaries (or almost), but working remotely. Why doesn't everyone just do that? I think that will happen more because right now, SF people are all working remotely anyway.

I also think that some people are better able to get funding and make up for other inadequacies in their concept or implementation thereof by leveraging their in-person skillset.

Obviously, being good in-person and being able to convince a VC of your competence is a skill that likely correlates well to success with a startup, but I doubt that it is one to one.

Just like there are a lot of excellent engineers that get passed over frequently because they aren't good at white boarding, or interviews in general.

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