pyang6641

The Thiel Fellowship application process is strangely obscure and secretive, so I made a video covering my experience from start to finish: from submitting the written application to having 20-minute interviews with 3 Thiel Fellows.

I didn't get accepted into the fellowship, but I gained a lot of insider knowledge, which I'm hoping to make public.

Hopefully they don't sue me haha...

I absolutely agree with you. At the end of the day, the only way I'll ever come to a definitive conclusion is through experimentation. That, after all, is the essence of The Lean Startup.

I'm glad you've found success working with remote teams, and I'd love to hear more about it. What do you say about connecting on LinkedIn? You can fine me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/pyang6641/. Best of luck!

Well, you certainly have strong opinions about remote work, e1g. In fact, that's why I'd love to stay in touch with you via LinkedIn. My profile is https://www.linkedin.com/in/pyang6641/. Your connection would be appreciated. :)

Hey, thanks for sharing!

A lot of people argue that hiring remote employees allows you to find more talented candidates (i.e., compared to in-house). Personally, I don't think that hiring remote implies higher or lower quality workers. My sentiment is: Going remote grants you access to a larger pool of equally-talented candidates for cheaper. And that in itself is a HUGE advantage.

On an unrelated note, I'd love to connect with you on LinkedIn. You can find me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/pyang6641/. Cheers!

You create a compelling argument that's hard to beat. All of your points have been duly noted. You've piqued my interest: What was it like bootstrapping a SaaS to $600k ARR with a fully remote team?

The problem with starting off in-house and then employing remote workers as an afterthought is that it creates a perception-based inequality between the two camps. Like the CEO of AngelList said, the primary reason remote workers at large companies decide to return back to their offices (as you've stated) is that the status quo there is to be at the office. You can read the article here if you're interested: https://angel.co/blog/why-naval-ravikant-thinks-remote-work-....

Hey, thanks for sharing! There was a lot to digest here. I think you might be a little too cynical about remote work. Like bwb mentioned, there are studies to suggest that working remotely leads to significantly higher levels of productivity. And if we assume that innovation is a byproduct of productivity, then remote teams are more innovative as well. In terms of culture, I really don't think there's much of a difference here. The example you provided wasn't the best, and if I wanted to meet with my remote team, I'm sure we could always arrange some in-person meetings (just not that often).

Yeah, I was thinking about hiring a growth hacking agency. Would you be willing to share the name of the agency you run? What's your experience with doing all of the marketing for a startup?

Hey, we're a UGC software specializing in product reviews. Basically, we create a system where customers are rewarded discount points for reviewing online purchases. A couple things:

1. Like most competitors, we send review requests via email. But unlike most competitors, we also use a personable Facebook chatbot to solicit reviews from customers.

2. Discount points can be spent at any store connected to our catalogue, creating a global points system no other software has.

I guess the problem, however, is that it's a large commitment/risk for the contractor to give up on their own business in favour of yours, right? Could you expand a little more on your experience with those CTO's, how you got them on board, etc.?

Agreed! I never signed an NDA with my current contractors, mostly because I felt that doing so was unnecessary. I still don't think there's any reason to since we have complete trust in each other. But what do you think—just to be safe?