Startup Culture Daniel Abebe

In this episode, I speak to Bob Saris, co-founder and CTO of User Interviews. 
Bob has been working with his co-founders for over nine years, and after their first company failed, they started to become more user-centric through research and that's how User Interviews was born. User Interviews is a platform for recruiting and selecting research participants. 
They are on a mission to change the way companies build products. They went from being in a small office in Cambridge to growing a company of over 100 employees. 
Listen as Bob breaks down some assumptions about what it means to work remotely, how the company's culture has been strengthened, and the value of having different Slack channels to encourage and share interests among employees.
Resources mentioned in this episode: 
User Interviews blog: Remote working tipsPutting Business Logic in Its Place: A History of the User Interviews Code Base, By Bob SarisShow Notes
00:38 About Bob Saris, co-founder and CTO of User Interviews 05:07 What does company culture mean to Bob Saris 10:00 Company values within User Interviews 13:28 Hiring developers and the dilemma of fitting into the company culture15:58 User Interviews journey of working remotely21:02  Bob breaks down assumptions about what it means to work remotely27:28 The flexibility of remote working as the biggest benefit28:47 Resources of inspiration for Bob29:29 What Bob wished he had known before leading and growing User Interviews31:08 End of the episodeSubscribe to our channel and get notified when new episodes of the Remote-Culture podcast are live!

In this episode, I speak to Kyle Richter, CEO of MartianCraft: a custom mobile software development agency. 
Before remote working was a thing, MartianCraft started building and creating remote teams almost two decades ago. Kyle talks about the soul and culture of the company and how it has evolved organically. 
He also shares how he has been able to create a virtual environment where team leaders and all new employees continue to grow.
Resources mentioned in the episode:
MartianCraft’s blog articles for working remotelyRemote crash course by MartianCraftBook: What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture, by Ben HorowitzAbout Kyle and MartianCraft:
Kyle's LinkedIn profileMartianCraftShow Notes
00:00 Episode begins00:24 About the Remote-Culture podcast00:42 About Kyle Richter and MartianCraft 01:15 What does company culture mean to Kyle02:31 About MartianCraft’s soul04:11 About MartianCraft and Kyle’s role as CEO05:46 How has Kyle managed to work remotely for almost two decades10:27 MartianCraft’s cultural evolution throughout the years 15:17 Leadership training within the company and dealing with change16:28 Hiring inside MartianCraft and what role does culture play 21:29 MartianCraft’s cultural fit with clients and projects23:24 Acquisitions and mergers inside MartianCraft and how it affects the culture26:00 How is MartianCraft bringing people together 29:06 Remote work and creating meaningful personal connections 30:53 A tool and learning that Kyle would choose at the beginning of his remote working journey34:15 Piece of advice for founders working remotely and building their culture37:14 End of the episodeSubscribe to our channel and get notified when new episodes of the Remote-Culture podcast are live!

In this episode, I speak to serial entrepreneur Andreas Brenner, former CEO of Avrios, who now leads Jua.ai: a platform that provides the world's first end-to-end machine learning model for weather forecasting. 
Andreas talks about his transition from the family business and moving into the energy sector to grow the business to 10 million in annual recurring revenue. 
Avrios was his first experience running a fully remote team until he met his co-founder to create Jua. Listen to Andreas' journey to becoming a better leader, and the importance of building trust and creating a culture of accountability for outcomes within the organization.


Resources mentioned in this episode: 
Andreas’ LinkedIn post about “How can a remote company work?”Book: Radical Candor: Be a kick-ass boss without losing your humanity, by Kim ScottBook: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick LencioniAbout Table Group OrganizationAbout the Entrepreneurs’ Organization in Zurich, Switzerland

Show Notes
00:00 Episode begins
00:36 About the Remote-Culture podcast
00:53 About Andreas Brenner and Jua.ai
05:06 Andrea’s LinkedIn post about how a remote company works 
06:18 Avrios and Jua remote companies 
08:15 Taking the decision to work remotely 
12:04 What does company culture mean to Andreas 
14:03 Tactical behaviors to work in a remote setup according to Andreas 
16:00 Outside and team-building activities at Jua  
16:33 Building trust within the company and employees 
20:42 Biggest learning from Avrios when it comes to company culture
21:53 Creating an atmosphere of accountability for outcomes  
26:26 Advice for founders who want to build remote teams and driven cultures
28:35 End of the episode


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In this episode, I speak to Natalie Kaminski, who is the CEO of JetRockets. JetRockets started as a small group of freelancers, and after a decade, they're a development company that helps clients transform their businesses with custom software solutions. 

They work primarily with non-technical startup founders to turn their ideas into high-quality, interactive digital products (from ideation to MVP to long-term support), improve operations and increase efficiency.

As a remote company, with employees in over 10 countries, Natalie's commitment to her employees has always been a priority. She feels responsible for their wellbeing, livelihoods and job satisfaction.

Natalie shares what it's like to create autonomous and independent teams, supported by the principles of a TEAL-self-managed organization, which has contributed to the work ethic and job satisfaction at JetRockets.


Mentioned on this episode:
Book: Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux
Show Notes
00:00 Episode begins
00:30 About the Remote-Culture podcast
00:50 About Natalie Kaminski and JetRockets
03:27 Natalies opinion about artificial intelligence
04:24 What does company culture mean to Natalie 
07:05 JetRockets growth throughout the years  
13:19 JetRockets discovers Teal organizations and their principles
15:35 What are Teal organizations and the book of Frederic Laloux
19:18 Self-manage teams and decision making
19:55 Remote teams and teal organizations
21:36 How to make sure that employees live by the Team principles 
23:32 Encouraging friendships within the organization
28:02 What would Natalie have done differently from the beginning as an entrepreneur 
28:40 Advice for founders and entrepreneurs who are creating remote teams
30:02 Leading by example
31:47 End of the episode


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In this episode, I spoke to Ty Crandall, the CEO of CreditSuite. CreditSuite helps entrepreneurs and business owners improve their fundability, build their US business credit, and access financing. 
After building his first company into a seven-figure business, Ty experienced firsthand what it meant to lose everything he had worked so hard for. Later, he discovered what business credit was, and he dove in to learn more about it. He started teaching business owners how it works and how to get it. 
They’ve helped 50’000 business owners as clients, and there are over one million people that they’ve helped with their free training and information. 
Listen to how CreditSuite has reshaped its values and behaviors from the ground up, and how important that has been to accomplishing the overall mission of the organization.
This episode is a little longer than the others, but we assure you that there are plenty of valuable insights throughout the whole conversation with Ty.  Enjoy it!


Resources mentioned in this episode: 
Book: “Culture by Design” by David J. FriedmanBook: “No rules rules” by Reed Hastings and Erin MeyerCredit Suite free guide: https://info.creditsuite.com/ein-ssn/ 

Show Notes
00:00 Episode begins
00:32 About the Remote-Culture podcast
00:51 About Ty Crandall and Credit Suite 
04:40 Credit Suite remote team members around the US
05:15 What does company culture mean for Ty Crandall
09:20 Examples of behaviors at Credit Suite
11:20 Hiring and firing at Credit Suite and the importance of values and behaviors 
14:50 Coaching employees and growing inside the company 
16:52 Credit Suite’s evolution of the company culture and values
20:32 Rituals around values and behaviors at Credit Suite
23:16 Overcoming employees’ loneliness as a fully remote-team 
27:40 Challenging story from embracing behaviors and core values 
33:40 Startups or entrepreneurs Ty Crandall looks up to
35:45 What does Ty wish to have known before becoming an entrepreneur
38:40 End of the episode


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In this episode, I talked to Cristian Grossmann, CEO of Beekeeper. Beekeeper is a mobile-first platform that helps companies connect their frontline workers with everything they need, to keep their business running smoothly. 
Cris talks about the growth of the company over the past 12 years, and how it is to work remotely while having offices in Switzerland, Germany, the United States, and Poland. 
Listen to how the so-called "Bees" (employees inside the company) are living and embracing the company values in all parts of the business. 


Mentioned on this episode:
Book: What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture, by Ben HorowitzMore about Ariel Luedi, board member of BeekeepeerMore about Niklas Osberg, CEO Delivery Hero
Show Notes
00:00 Episode begins
00:18 About the Remote-Culture podcast
01:03 What does company culture mean for Cristian Grossmann
01:15 About Beekeeper his role as CEO
01:45 Beekeeper’s growth and milestones over the years
06:23 How the company culture evolved within the company
09:05 How Beekeeper lives and embodies the values
10:50 Remote and hybrid environment and internal misalignments  
16:29 Hiring new employees at Beekeeper
20:30 Negative aspects of the remote-hybrid working environment
23:00 What is Cristian being proud of inside Beekeeper 
24:05 Entrepreneurs Cristian looks up to
25:20 One cultural mistake made as a CEO
26:40 Advice to founders and teams working remotely
28:10 End of the episode


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