Zapier is one of the best examples of a successful remote company. They were early pioneers of fully distributed teams and remain fully remote today, with roughly 800 employees and a strong internal culture.

Zapier documents everything, defaults to asynchronous communication, screens heavily for written clarity and time management, and measures performance through clear KPIs. Remote work succeeds when companies deliberately design operating systems that allow people to work independently.

Not everyone thrives in that environment. Remote work raises the bar on hiring because performance becomes visible quickly. Without the theater of office presence, productivity is harder to hide. Autonomous operators thrive. Weak hires surface faster.

For software companies, the upside is significant. Remote work unlocks access to global talent and reduces the coordination overhead of constant meetings. When communication is written and asynchronous, teams often move faster.

This matters especially for founders building outside major tech hubs. If you are a startup in Nebraska, convincing top engineers to relocate may be difficult. Hiring remotely removes that constraint and allows the company to compete for talent anywhere.

Many tech companies are developing strategies to hire from the Midwest. We recently met with an a16z Partner who expressed a desire to hire strategically in places like Missouri, an opportunity we are working to capitalize on. If you filter for Missouri on LinkedIn, you will see Google with >150 employees, Meta with >75, or NVIDIA with >50.

Leaders in AI can hire remotely, so why can’t startups? Many Seed+ teams also outsource development overseas. It’s easier than ever to be nimble and build remotely with advancements in AI – knowledge is portable, output is 10x, or maybe you just hire an AI employee. 

And the data speaks for itself: About 86% of employees like to work alone for maximum productivity. Employees are most engaged when they work 60% to 80% of their time off-site.

VC Keith Rabois said: “We have a view at Founders Fund that we will not fund a company that doesn’t work in person.” That’s pretty short-sighted.

That position reflects a long-standing belief that innovation happens best when people work side by side. In some industries that is true. Hardware companies, for example, often need physical proximity to prototype and build.

But most software companies do not require that constraint. For them, remote work expands the talent market dramatically.

For us at Redbud, there's a lot of opportunity to invest in remote teams, especially when other people are looking in the other direction.

If you’re building a company that works remote (or doesn’t), pitch us here.