#115 - Mike Knoop and Kevin Hale

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<p><a href="https://twitter.com/mikeknoop">Mike Knoop</a> is cofounder and Chief Product Officer at <a href="https://zapier.com/">Zapier</a>, which was in the YC Summer 2012 batch. Zapier moves information between your web apps automatically.<br><br><a href="https://twitter.com/ilikevests">Kevin Hale</a> is a Visiting Partner at YC. Before YC Kevin was the cofounder of Wufoo, which was funded by YC in 2006 and acquired by SurveyMonkey in 2011.<br><br>You can find Mike on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/mikeknoop">@mikeknoop</a> and Kevin at <a href="https://twitter.com/ilikevests">@ilikevests</a>.<br><br>The YC podcast is hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/craigcannon">Craig Cannon</a>.<br><br>***<br><br><b>Topics</b><br><br>00:43 - Kevin's intro<br><br>01:03 - Mike's intro<br><br>2:03 - How Mike and Kevin met<br><br>4:03 - Market sizing for consumer software<br><br>5:13 - Zapier's growth strategy today vs 2012<br><br>6:28 - Jumpstarting a platform like Zapier<br><br>9:03 - Building an app directory before building a product<br><br>11:03 - Applying to YC twice<br><br>13:23 - Zapier after Demo Day<br><br>14:48 - Zapier's first remote hire<br><br>16:48 - Remote companies not being perceived as legitimate<br><br>18:48 - Noticing remote was working then committing<br><br>21:28 - Qualities to look for when hiring remote employees<br><br>24:28 - Nina Mehta asks - What’s the best way to share work and knowledge across designers working on different parts of product without distracting from focused working time?<br><br>25:58 - Remote mistakes in the early days<br><br>27:33 - When to change modes of communication to allow for deep work<br><br>29:28 - When to ask for someone's full attention<br><br>31:33 - Product and design practices at Zapier<br><br>34:38 - OKRs for teams vs individuals<br><br>39:48 - Tools for remote teams<br><br>43:48 - No internal email at Zapier<br><br>46:53 - Keeping morale high in a remote team<br><br>49:28 - What happens at a Zapier retreat<br><br>51:43 - Remote design critiques<br><br>56:43 - Serendipity and over optimizing for it<br><br>58:33 - Setting up a remote company for success<br></p>