At a remote-first company, collaboration and face-time have to be a conscious choice, Upflex CEO and cofounder Christophe Garnier tells Globe St.
In a recent Q&A as part of Globe St.’s “Pay It Forward” series, Globe St.’s Tasha Norman asked Upflex cofounder and CEO Christophe Garnier about the biggest challenge running a fast-growing proptech start-up helping forward-thinking global companies manage remote-first and hybrid work. Here’s what he said:
Globe St.: What has been the biggest challenge in your particular role and how have you overcome those obstacles?
Christophe Garnier: We’re in the business of helping companies cut real estate costs — not people; talent is every company’s most valuable asset. But supporting your talent and helping them grow and thrive in a remote-first environment is a specialized skill set that takes work to develop.
For me, the biggest challenge has been mastering the human aspect of building and managing a fast-growing, global team in a remote-first workplace: finding the right people and working together, especially as we’re working on a disruptive concept in a complex industry. Identifying and hiring the right people for this strong, diverse team is a challenge in itself — and then, you must figure out the right way to align. Everyone has different ideas, and figuring out how to collate and sync all of that valuable input, and make sure all voices are heard, takes a lot of ingredients.
You can’t have a global company without building a global team. So far, we have employees in 16 different countries. The downside of this is that our teams in New York don’t often get a chance to meet or spend in-person time with our team members in Lisbon or Warsaw.
You can’t have a global company without
building a global team. So far, we have
employees in 16 different countries.
In today’s hybrid or remote-first workplaces, many people work in silos. Collaboration is perfectly possible, but you have to be conscious about making space for it. I recently implemented three-way coffee meetings at Upflex, where I meet with two employees at a time for 45 minutes just to catch up. It’s a chance for me to get to really know everyone at the company. My co-founder is doing the same. We’ll be carrying out these meetings throughout 2023 — it’s a time commitment for all of us — but we’re really excited about it. We’ll also get this rolling throughout the entire company so everyone can meet each other
