Photo: Remote Social
The co-founders of Remote Social are all experienced at working in global teams, as well as in remote and/or hybrid environments. But, when the pandemic arrived, they all found themselves struggling to engage with colleagues in a meaningful way.
Gerardo Contreras Vacca, Remote Social co-founder & CMO says they realized they’d lost the ability to have casual, social interactions that are so critical in a working environment.
Remote Social is an all-in-one platform that provides remote and hybrid teams with ways to connect and build stronger relations through play, shared experiences, and organic interactions.
“Our platform offers a combination of self-serve, synchronous, and asynchronous activities, and hosted online experiences. All delivered via powerful integrations with existing business tools like Slack and Zoom.
“After seeing hundreds of users interact and provide feedback, we are feeling more and more confident we are heading in the right direction. We’ve now had over 100, one-one conversations with users inside organizations that are seeing company culture fracture because they lack the tools to thrive in a hybrid environment,” Gerard says.
“We’re working towards being able to measure a company’s internal culture and then surface tailored recommendations back to an organization, based on our Culture as a Service framework, industry standards, and best practices.”
Photo: Remote Social
Gerardo was inspired to be an entrepreneur as he saw both his parents’ own businesses they built from scratch.
“This is something I deeply respect and admire. Looking back, I’ve also had that entrepreneurial ‘itch’ since I was little, pushing me to build my own startup. After one failed attempt back in 2010 and ten years in corporate, in 2020 I finally decided to give this another shot,” Gerardo says.
“Prior to Remote Social, I spent 10 years in advertising and marketing, with a heavy focus on B2B SaaS. I had the pleasure of working for large tech companies like Adobe and Google.”
“I love building new things and as a marketer, I love the process of building and positioning new brands.”
Gerardo feels lucky to have found two talented co-founders; Mike and Jess, as part of the Antler program in Sydney.
“Having the opportunity to go on this journey with them, has made the process easier and also very fun,” Gerardo says.
“Our biggest success so far, other than launching our closed beta in November and seeing some good initial traction, we’ve been able to build around us a world-class network of advisors and investors who understand and support our vision.”
The future is incredibly bright for Remote social; they’re now in the process of closing a SAFE round that will give them the opportunity to continue to build their open beta which they’re aiming to release at the end of Q2.
“In addition to synchronous and asynchronous activities delivered through business tools like Slack, our open beta will also include a marketplace of over 75 hosted experiences and the first iteration of team culture insights,” Gerardo says.
Photo: Remote Social
Gerardo says being part of the Fishburners community has been a fantastic boost for Remote Social.
“It is such a vibrant community. The unlimited resources for founders and the direct access to experts have been of incredible value,” Gerardo says.
“My advice for other startups is to remember that it is a marathon and not a sprint. Founders have great, good and bad days - you have to learn to deal with all. It is the ability to stay focused and keep going that makes the difference in the end.”
“If you’re looking for ways to keep your teams connected and continue to build and sustain culture, feel free to reach out to us. We can help!”