Interview with Ayush, a CEO and avid remote team builder

Well, for me, embracing remote work was a part of the experiments I do with myself. I keep checking out newer ways of working, sleeping patterns, and managing my team.

I started with remote work since I was working on scaling up my team and finding ways on how an organization should work without any micromanagement.

We have come a long way since then, and now we are managing teams in five countries.

We are working on building the most extensive online marketplace for hiring managed remote teams. Our platform allows companies to set up a remote team that can bring in efficiency and additional skills to their existing team.

It is different from other current marketplaces like Upwork and Toptal where you hire a remote worker, and the onus to make it work with that person lies on you.

RemotePanda, on the other hand, provides remote teams with a success manager who gets into setting up the process, as well as helping to establish KPIs to make sure that you have a real return on investment (ROI) with your remote workers.

We have teams all around the globe. So, I start by clearing off my inbox and then taking up some strategy meetings.

First, I work in areas where there may be a roadblock. It usually takes half of the day. The other half goes to my tasks involving new client engagements, revenues, etc.

Yes, I do. In fact, I still can't work from home. I need to get to a work desk away from home before I can start.

Personally, I am one of those who likes to concentrate hard on tasks. Hence, no headphones, and no multitasking. At the start of the day and during checking my emails, I keep on creating a to-do list with a pen and paper. At the end of the day, I like to see all the things struck off that list.

Remote work opens up a bigger pool of talent to hire and manage.

That means you are off to the right start for scaling up.

I believe that people looking to do remote work should not consider it as an alibi for lesser or less productive work.

Sometimes I have found individuals who take up remote work opportunities so that they can do other household chores at the same time. That's not how they should treat it.

Slack, emails, and shared docs are the primary tools. Nothing fancy.

As an organization, we work on monthly goals.

Every month we have our company’s goals defined. The company goals then transcend into individual objectives.

Eventually, at the end of the month, one gets measured on goals that they were able to accomplish.

"With great power comes great responsibility." So, if you are a remote worker or looking to be one, make sure that you take this opportunity with both hands and double up your output as well.

The challenges in building a remote team are very similar to the difficulties in building a local team. For example:

• Finding people oriented to your vision. For remote, you will have to reinforce the mission and the vision further. Once that is done it is easier to ensure you do not commit common mistakes of managing remote workers.

• Taking the time to invest in remote workers. Make sure that you spend enough time and attention to the training of remote workers

• Creating a culture of collaboration. You need to build an ecosystem with remote workers collaborating just like you would build out locally.

The benefits of building a remote team are many.

I believe it's the biggest hack to more productivity, a more engaged workforce, solving the talent crunch, and making your engines run 24/7.

And just like for any process to be successful, you need to make it work by giving the building of remote teams your full attention.