The best remote companies I've seen do almost everything online, via email and telephone. But they also get together face to face on a regular basis.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I don't think a true company - one that builds sustainable value - can ever only exist online or remotely.
Sometimes, great collaboration is hard to nurture online, so doing so offline is the way to go.
Truth be told, there are lots of companies that provide exemplary phone support. DirecTV, Virgin America and Apple are a few that regularly exceed my expectations.
If you can use a Web browser, you can use Skype.
When we first started Glitch, there were four co-founders of the company. We built Flickr and worked together at Yahoo and then started Tiny Speck. We were split in Vancouver, New York, and San Francisco. So we used an old chat technology called IRC. Almost nothing went through email.
I was amazed at how the life of a freelancer differed from running a remote studio for another company. I thought I knew what I was doing in 2004 when I left Eidos because I had run Ion Storm Austin, which was my own independent studio. I had run a business unit inside Origin, but being part of a startup is crazy.
Online is another way for all of us to reach people.
It may be irrational, but if you're local, the client often feels that, if worse comes to worst, they can knock on your door. They 'know where you live.' But when you're remote, they're going to be more suspicious when phone calls go unreturned or emails keep getting 'lost.' Stay on top of communications, and you'll reap the benefits.
This is not a business where you can hand off and run by remote control.
Every day at Skype, I am able to connect with employees from around the world and engage with them on a level that just is not possible through a conference call or email.