to be completely honest with you, i am worried about leakage. from my experience, there are definitely some inefficiencies with working in a completely different time zones and having to skype all the time. also for a consumer facing / lifstyle type site, iterations have to be fast and constant. they are worried that even though he may be good enough from skill set standpoint on the backend, managing the product on a day to day basis, cultural differences, and being with the team as we gear up for mobile development would be crucial to have someone in the states, preferably working together, instead of overseas.
i think my current cto and i would both agree with them on that. i do wonder how much faster development would be if he was here.