Remote work has its origins in tech (you could argue).
Jack Nilles, while working as a physicist in the early 1970s, coined the phrase “telecommuting.” In 1979, IBM became the first corporate experimenter with remote work. And, steadily over time, remote work has gained steam in terms of popularity, mindshare, and controversy. The COVID-19 pandemic facilitated a massive shift towards remote work that’s been a snarled knot ever since. Tech companies, ranging from Amazon to Grindr, have found themselves tied up in standoffs with employees who want to stay home. This week, that battle materialized at the White House, where President Trump ordered federal employees to return to their offices.
Remote work is instantly personal. No one talks about remote work without gravitating, at some point, to what it means not only for them but the employees they look after. It’s why I was curious when early stage-focused VC firm CRV suggested a roundtable chat with three founders and executives from their portfolio about remote work, where I got to ask: How does remote work make you feel?
“You go to the office for calibration,” said Ulrik Stig Hansen, cofounder and president at AI data development startup Encord. “It’s for that tapping of the shoulder: What should we do about this? Go-to-market strategy, app campaign, whatever it is—iterating on that when you’re sitting at home can be very difficult. I don’t think we’ve found a good alternative for having an in-person presence that allows you to quickly iterate on something. That’s what works for me, at least.”
His take is nuanced, and one that refracts through the conversation. As we talk, it’s clear this is a process, a long experiment that requires sensitivity, adaptability, and, well, iteration. Encord, which has nearly 100 employees split between London and San Francisco, has for now landed at in-office, with work-from-home flexibility one or two days each week.
“One of the things we’re trying to figure out is how ‘strict’ we should be coming to the office,” said Hansen. “I think we land on the side of providing more flexibility.”
The impression I get from the group—which also includes Vercel vice president of people Jenny Molyneaux, and Andrew Boni, the CEO and cofounder of Iterable—is that they’re all interested in giving employees what they want (whatever that may be). But they simultaneously want to maximize in-person time as much as possible, so that Hansen’s “shoulder-taps” can happen.
Vercel, which currently has 550 employees and is valued at $3.25 billion, has been expanding its office footprint and increasing offsite budgets, trying to physically bring together teams usually separated by screens. (Vercel has offices in San Francisco, New York City, London, and will soon open one in Berlin.)
“We’re all kind of getting at the same thing, which is: How do you meet the person behind Slack?” said Molyneaux. “For me, it mostly comes back to finding as many ways as possible to let people connect in-person. I do also think when it comes to culture-building, it’s having your marquee moments, where the whole company gets together remotely. For us, it’s all-hands, which we do once a month.”
Boni, who cofounded marketing tech unicorn Iterable in 2013, in a lot of ways embodies a classic tech remote work contradiction—his company has around 600 employees, about 400 working remotely and 200 working hybrid. But he’s also very invested in San Francisco, praising the Bay Area as having an “energy, an enthusiasm and a culture of wanting to build,” he told Fortune.
“No one has all the answers,” said Boni, noting that the situation is evolving and depends on the particular needs and plans of a business. “We’re still kind of figuring things out,” he said.
If you’re an aspiring founder, you may wonder: OK, but what do VCs prefer? I asked one, CRV general partner Murat Bicer, who has definitely observed a shift towards in-office work for startups.
“With founders in the early days, there’s certainly a lot of advantage to being all together,” said Bicer.
While it’s all too tempting for startups to make exceptions to their policies—the perfect candidate for a job happens to live in another region, for example—there’s a benefit to not making those exceptions.
“I like seeing discipline around whatever you’ve decided, building the team around that and being very intentional about it,” Bicer told Fortune.
But, he adds, “ultimately and most importantly, as investors, we’re always trying to pick the right founders, who are building the right business. Then, whatever they believe is right for their business, their market, their opportunity, we’ll just support them. I happen to feel that way at this point in time. It might change in another year, but I would never, for example, base my decision on that.”
It was clear talking to the group that negotiating remote work (or, indeed, in-office work) is essentially one long conversation—and like any conversation, it requires listening.
“It’s been important to listen to what our employees want to do, and to be ready to iterate on style,” said Molyneaux. “The pandemic was a forcing function to run a bunch of experiments.”
In the aftermath of the pandemic, we’re now stuck running those experiments in a changed world. But then again, it seems balancing remote-hybrid-office work has always been an experiment. You try something, see if it works, listen to the customer, keep it or toss it. And who’s better equipped to handle that process than tech?
See you Monday,
Allie Garfinkle
X:@agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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VENTURE DEALS
- Neko Health, a Stockholm-based medical body scanning technology developer, raised $260 million in Series B funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round and was joined by General Catalyst, O.G. Venture Partners, Rosello, and others.
- Method Financial, an Austin-based financial connectivity platform for lenders, raised $41.5 million in Series B funding. Emergence Capital led the round and was joined by avra, Samsung Next, and existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Y-Combinator, and Ardent Venture Partners.
- Baya Systems, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based semiconductor systems technology developer, raised $36 million in Series B funding. Maverick Silicon led the round and was joined by Synopsys and existing investors Matrix Partners and Intel Capital.
- StormHarvester, a Belfast, Northern Ireland-based AI-powered analytics and management platform for wastewater utilities, raised £8.4 million ($10.4 million) in Series A funding. YFM Equity Partners led the round and was joined by Emerald Technology Ventures.
- Passbolt, a Luxembourg-based password and access management platform, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Airbridge Equity Partners led the round and was joined by existing investors Expon Capital, ScaleFund, Seeder, and others.
- Spaceium, a San Francisco-based in-space refueling stations developer, raised $6.3 million in seed funding. Initialized Capital led the round and was joined by Zeno Ventures, Olive Tree Capital, DTX Ventures, angel investors, and others.
- Mobly, a Lehi, Utah-based event marketing technology developer, raised $4.3 million in seed funding. Jump Capital and Eniac Ventures led the round and was joined by existing investors Peterson Ventures, Tenzing.VC, Peak Ventures, and angel investors.
- Coval, a San Francisco-based AI agent evaluation platform, raised $3.3 million in seed funding. MaC Venture Capital led the round and was joined by General Catalyst and Y Combinator.
- Intryc, a San Francisco-based AI-automated customer support quality assurance platform, raised $3.1 million in seed funding from General Catalyst, scouts from Sequoia, and existing investors Episode 1 and 500 Emerging Europe.
- CapeZero, a Brooklyn-based financial platform for clean energy developers, raised $2.6 million in seed funding. Powerhouse Ventures led the round and was joined by Climactic, Avesta Fund, Virta Ventures, and Stepchange.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Summit Partners, joined by existing investor Telescope Partners, acquired a minority stake in Fundraise Up, a Brooklyn-based nonprofits fundraising platform, for $70 million.
- BPGC Management acquired a majority stake in PB Materials, an Odessa, Texas-based construction aggregates and ready-mix concrete producer. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Cengage Group, backed by Apax, Apollo, KKR, Searchlight, and others, acquired Visible Body, a Framingham, Mass.-based interactive, 3D models and software developer for the sciences. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- National OnDemand, a portfolio company of Blue Point Capital Partners, acquired J. Tucker Construction, a Greenville, Texas-based communication utility company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- SKKY Partners acquired a minority stake in 111SKIN, a London-based skincare brand. Financial terms were not disclosed.
OTHER
- Accenture acquired a minority stake in Workera, a Palo Alto-based AI-powered skills intelligence platform for enterprises. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Alpha Omega acquired Macro Solutions, a Washington, D.C.-based technology and management consulting firm for government organizations, and SeKON, a Reston, Va.-based IT services provider for the federal government. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Esusu acquired Celeri, a New York City-based AI-powered fraud prevention software provider for residential real estate. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Infinite Reality agreed to acquire Obsess, a New York City-based virtual shopping platform company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- xPortal acquired Alphalink, a Berlin-based crypto solutions mobile app. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Northpointe Bancshares, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based bank, filed to go public on the NYSE. The company posted $175 million in revenue for the year ending Sept. 30, 2024. Castle Creek Capital Partners, Charles A. Williams, John S. Simoni, and Anne Gainey back the company.
FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS
- Frontenac, a Chicago-based private equity firm, raised $900 million for its 13th fund focused on the consumer, industrial, and services industries.
PEOPLE
- Ambienta, a Milan-based investment firm, promoted Andrea Venturini to partner; Andrea Florio and Luca Daminelli to investment director; and Pietro Reho to investment manager, all within the private equity division.
- Braemont Capital, a Dallas-based investment firm, added Wali Bacdayan as a partner. Previously, he was at Delta-v-Capital.
- Canaan, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture capital firm, added Kumar Sreekanti as a venture partner. Previously, he was at HPE.
- Lovell Minnick Partners, a Radnor, Pa.-based private equity firm, promoted J.P. Marquess and Jenny Thapa to principal and Bill Lucas to vice president.
- WndrCo, a Redwood City, Calif.-based investment firm, promoted Justin Wexler to general partner.
