Safara’s Post

This week, as I caught up with our incredible team at SOUTHWORKS, I found myself pausing for a moment of reflection... 🌐 𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝟏𝟎 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬? Though I'm aware of this, every time I think about it, I can't help but swell with pride. Our nearshore Fireteams are working magic from the corners of the globe - think Argentina 🇦🇷, Colombia 🇨🇴, Uruguay 🇺🇾, the USA 🇺🇸, the UK 🇬🇧, Spain 🇪🇸, Italy 🇮🇹, and beyond! Isn't that something? 💫 Being a remote-first business is in our DNA, and frankly, we've been pioneering the distributed team model since the early 2000s, way before it became the new normal. Seeing our team evolve and watching the SOUTHIE map expand, I feel a deep sense of pride and gratitude. Alejandro G. Jack and I couldn't have dreamed of a better outcome when we decided to build SOUTHWORKS on a globally distributed structure. It's brought such a rich diversity of thought and an exhilarating global perspective to our team, connecting me with incredible people I'd never have met otherwise. For me, it's remote-first all the way. Here's to pushing boundaries and expanding our horizons together. ✌️🌐 #SOUTHWORKS #RemoteWork #GlobalTeam #DiversityInTech #BornGlobal #TechLeadership #RemoteFirst #GlobalOutlook #TeamCulture

Building a startup without a physical office? Remote work is the future, and it’s more than just a cost-saving strategy. Discover how a remote-first approach can help your startup grow faster, boost employee satisfaction, and improve mental health. Learn why employees love remote work and how to create a thriving remote team. Read more here: https://wix.to/2VLMO09

Beyond the Commute: Talent Acquisition and Retention in the New Tech Landscape For tech startups like E42, the primary challenges revolve around talent acquisition, retention, and maintaining customer focus. Finding individuals with rapidly evolving technical skills, strong logical thinking, and the ability to adapt on the job is crucial. Retaining such talent is equally challenging, given the fact that experience at a deep tech startup opens numerous avenues for growth. The COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to the remote and hybrid work dynamic carving out an opportunity for companies to hire talent from anywhere and allow them to work from a location of their choice, incentivizing continuous learning and team loyalty. Additionally, transparent development tools enable techies to showcase their contributions efficiently, saving time and keeping them relevant in the fast-paced tech landscape. For those with the right skills and a growth mindset, this environment offers an ideal platform to demonstrate their capabilities and contribute meaningfully to the world. However, it can be challenging for teams lacking focus and cohesion. While some organizations are transitioning back to the office after remote work necessitated by the pandemic, many tech enterprises thrive in this distributed environment, with employees spending more time at client locations than in the office. At E42, despite the benefits of remote work, we recognize the importance of soft communication and team bonding. Therefore, we ensure that every team gathers for a full week in the office. Here, we work, stay, eat, and play together, fostering memorable experiences that strengthen our collective commitment to our shared goals. #RemoteWork #TechStartups #hybridwork #talentretention #talentacquisition

Remote work & startups are my 2 passions in life 🔥 So, today’s post is about leveraging each other to grow. Are you truly harnessing the power of remote work in your startup? 🚀 Remote work isn't just a trend; it's a revolution reshaping the future of how startups innovate and scale. The transition to virtual environments has shown that distributed teams can not only match but often exceed the productivity and creativity of traditional office settings. This shift demands a reevaluation of our strategies around team dynamics, communication, and company culture to unlock unprecedented growth opportunities. Embracing remote work means more than just providing tools for online collaboration; it requires a fundamental change in mindset towards trust, autonomy, and inclusion. Startups that successfully navigate this change will find themselves at the forefront of innovation, attracting top global talent and fostering an environment where creativity knows no bounds. The journey toward effective remote work is ongoing. By continuously experimenting with new tools, practices, and modes of communication, we are paving the way for a more flexible, resilient, and happy workforce. Let's share insights, challenges, and successes as we navigate this journey together. How is your startup adapting to make remote work not just feasible but advantageous? #RemoteWork #Startups #Innovation #DigitalNomads #CompanyCulture

💡Imagine this: You can Work from or in Italy for an International company. This could be a global corporation, SMB, Startup, or simply an Italian company that allows you to work in Italy in a flexible, hybrid, or remote manner. It's not a dream or an illusion. It's the reality of distributed work. 📍Need proof? Head over to FlexRem and search for Italy as a country. You'll be surprised by the final results and matches you can find. Enjoy a better work-life balance; we're helping users and talents to build it. #flexrem #Italy

What's the South African equivalent of a Hobnob? 🧐 One of my favourite things about remote work is its ability to bring people together. We don’t appreciate how amazing it is to be able to collaborate with people from different countries, backgrounds and cultures. There’s so much space to learn and grow from interacting with people outside of what we’re used to. Our ability to hop on a daily call with someone from the other side of the world is new and it’s genuinely exciting. It’s so easy to take it for granted but diversity and new perspectives are always going to improve your workspace. (It's Rusks btw… 👀) #remotework #startup #recruitment

This topic is inspired by the global shift to remote work, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and further accelerated by advancements in technology. Many businesses have realized the benefits of remote teams, including access to a broader talent pool and cost efficiency. However, the shift presents unique challenges, such as maintaining communication, collaboration, and company culture. With my experience managing globally distributed teams at AppsGenii Technologies, GharPar Technologies Private Limited , Aventrio, BlackHoleStudio, NexosTechnologies, CodeWorking.Co, BoxesGen and other ventures, I have seen firsthand the critical strategies that ensure remote teams are productive, scalable, and aligned with business goals.

In a study conducted by Startups.co.uk in December 2023, 66% of employers said they offered remote work. You need people to bring tech to life… and in a remote world, you need tech to bring everyone together to achieve that. Start your modern workplace transformation by chatting to one of our specialists or filling out boxxe's workplace assessment 👇 Link in the comments. #MakingTechHuman

Brellium was a fully remote company for the first 2 years of our existence. We had teammates across 4 different time zones. Was great for life activities. Engineering could roll out of bed at 8:59 and be at their desk for our daily stand up at 9. (Or take the meeting from bed!). Could handle appointments, spend more time with family/friends, and generally just focus more on life. We made the (very) difficult decision to centralize the team in New York exactly a year ago. Best decision we’ve made as a company. Information moves quicker, teammates are more connected so they’re happier, and productivity has increased by 2-3X. Think there are huge benefits to working remotely. But as an early startup, it slows momentum so much.

𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 At āltitude VC, we are a remote GP team based with me in London and my GP Partners Marc in Berlin and Ingo in Zurich. The premise for this is that we believe in “hyper-local networks”. You cannot truly be part of an ecosystem without being on the ground and embedded in it. Given this, over the last years as friends and colleagues, we have met up frequently in person to spend quality time together, align on strategy, conduct due diligence on founders, or meet our LPs (often once a month). This time happened to be in Berlin, but the beauty of working remotely is that we have the flexibility to meet anywhere (e.g. Hamburg, Olbia, London, Dubai etc.). As a mother with two young children (4 and 1 year old) and my co-GP who has a young child (4 years old too who is good friends with mine), our model of VC allows us to participate as equal partners in the firm, build āltitude together, back incredible founders building in the long tail of B2B (SME segment), and blend family commitments. 𝗪𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀; 𝘄𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆. Limited Partners talk a lot about diversity and backing diverse fund managers; however, we strongly believe that to see this diversity, you also need to acknowledge and celebrate the differences in working models that not only make this possible but can be a huge advantage in day-to-day operations. How does your firm build flexible models of working to support a diverse group of employees and their needs? Do you have remote work models in your firm? cc: Agata, Julia, Francesca (Check), Sherry, Raffaela, Jana, Gülsah, Judith, Jag, Katia, Romina, Dr. Gesa, Torge, Hannah, Lina #remotework #building #venturecapital #team #teamappreciation