Episode 30: The Magic of Meetups
On this episode of the Distributed podcast, we dig into the good, the bad, and the history of Automattic meetups. More
Episode 29: Dylan Field, Figma Co-founder, Talks Design, Digital Economy, and Remote Culture with Host Connie Yang
The latest episode of the Distributed podcast pairs Dylan Field, Figma’s CEO and Co-founder, and guest host Connie Yang, Head of Payments Design at Stripe. Join a discussion on design, instilling remote culture, and the digital economy, including Field’s perspective on the role of design in technology. “We’ve gone from a physical economy to a digital economy. I don’t think these are new trends or new things that happen but now, all of a sudden it happened all at once, and accelerated massively,” he says.More
GitLab and a Pioneering IPO
Congratulations to GitLab on its IPO earlier this week. You can read coverage of GitLab’s public offering at TechCrunch (GitLab’s mega IPO), Bloomberg, and plenty of other places. In May, we interviewed CEO and Co-Founder Sid Sijbrandij on the Distributed Podcast. The conversation didn’t specifically cover a potential public offering beyond Sid acknowledging GitLab’s well-known…More
Automattic Featured on TechCrunch TC-1
“Part of my life’s work is trying to make WordPress something that looks more like a city. Companies always die. Cities never die. There’s networks of things that can be created, and once they reach a certain scale, they’re somewhat invulnerable.” -Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg This week, TechCrunch published a four-part series of articles that…More
Matt Mullenweg On Finding Talent: From Cheddar News
“If you’re a business for whom talent is a key differentiator,” said Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg this week on Cheddar News’ Closing Bell, “then I would highly recommend you learning how to evolve your business to be fully inclusive of remote people.”More
Episode 28: Erica Pandey of Axios on Returning to Work
Whether making their start as a solo blogger on their own beat, or growing up in a thriving newsroom, journalists must forge their own unique work life as they write the first draft of history, as Matt says in the latest Distributed podcast episode with Erica Pandey, business journalist and writer of the What’s Next newsletter at Axios. This fast-paced conversation covers a lot of ground, from Erica’s own journalism career, to how she works with her Axios colleagues across bureaus. She balances Axios’ Smart Brevity style with authoritative reporting on complex topics, seeking multiples perspectives, from data to experts to people on the ground. Says Erica, “One of my greatest joys is being able to talk to people.”
The lively conversation centers on how we’re all returning to work after so much change and adaptation, including the rise of hybrid workplaces.More
Returning to the Office
“The way that we run our company – which is very asynchronous, people in timezones all over the world – written communication is very important. We maybe over index in our hiring process for people who are really clear writers, which I think sort of begets clear thinking,” said Matt Mullenweg, when asked about managing…More
Distributed by Default: Matt Mullenweg on The Knowledge Project
Matt Mullenweg joins Shane Parrish on The Knowledge Project podcast to talk about companies that are distributed from the beginning, and some of the benefits that means for its people. “Part of our model of distributed work also provides a fair amount of autonomy in how people get their work done,” Matt said. “I like that it creates a lot more objectivity and focus around what the actual work is.”More
Episode 27: Leading with Values: Sid Sijbrandij joins Matt Mullenweg to talk about GitLab, Transparency and Growing a Distributed Company
Matt welcomes Sid Sijbrandij, Co-Founder and CEO of GitLab, another pioneering company with Open Source origins and a long-running commitment to a completely distributed workforce. Sid and Matt settle into a conversation about how GitLab’s six values are reinforced in 20 ways at the fully-remote company. GitLab, now with more than 1,300 employees, updated its values over 300 times in the last calendar year. “They have to be reinforced,” says Sid, “and be alive in that way.”
The values, how they are experienced, and most other details and data about GitLab’s processes are publicly shared in a 10,000 page Handbook. “Transparency is sunlight,” says Sid.
Hiring For Distributed Companies & Angel Investing: This Week in Startups with Jason Calacanis
“Why would the best employees in the world choose so little autonomy in the third of their day or more that they spend working?” Matt Mullenweg asks Jason Calacanis in a recent appearance on the long-running This Week In Startups. More