Since joining forces in 2019 to tackle the complexities of global employment, founders Marcelo Lebre and Job van der Voort navigated their startup, Remote, and its customers through a series of challenges: a global pandemic, the rapid emergence of distributed workforces, and subsequent economic volatility. In this episode of Spotlight On, Marcelo and Accel’s Miles Clements discuss the effectiveness of global remote team structures despite obstacles.

Marcelo has taken no shortcuts in understanding the nuances that come with operating a distributed workforce himself, operating Remote’s $3B business with a team in 75+ countries worldwide. This episode provides essential insights for founders on the importance of deeply understanding the problems they aim to solve and, of course, presents a convincing argument for the sustainability of remote work. As debates continue around the effectiveness of remote work, and its pros and cons, Marcelo and his team focus on helping others consider the benefits of a well-considered, long-term strategy for supporting durable, globally distributed teams.

Conversation Highlights: 

00:00 - Introduction to Marcelo Lebre and Remote

02:46 - Discovering early challenges in hiring global, distributed teams

07:09 - Lessons from scaling a startup like Remote during the uncertainty of COVID-19

12:29 - Data that supports the enduring trend of a global, distributed workforce

15:26 - Economic advantages of hiring talent globally

18:13 - Advantages of building a full-stack product in a competitive market

24:10 - Remote’s thoughtful, methodical approach to understanding global markets 

Featured: Marcelo Lebre, Co-Founder at Remote, and Miles Clements, Partner at Accel