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Research Outline

Prepared for Snehal K. | Delivered March 26, 2020

Analysis of Remote Companies

Goals

To analyze the following four remote companies of: Basecamp, Zapier, Gitlab, and Automatic to determine:
1. Type of Business
2. The date the company was founded
3. Size (number of employees)
4. The remote work manifesto or vision for the company
5.Best practices used by the company for successful remote work
6. If the company is fully distributed or hybrid, and if so, to what capacity

To compare and contrast the 4 remote companies of: Basecamp, Zapier, GitLab, and Automatic to find the pros/cons of features they have to include the Asynchronous communication style that Basecamp advocates over the Synchronous communication style that other companies depend on

Early Findings

Our research on Basecamp revealed insights. Here are key pieces of information we found:

Analysis of Remote Companies

Basecamp:

  •  Basecamp is a project management and internal communication tool for remote workforce management teams worldwide and offers "the all-in-one toolkit for working remotely."
  • Basecamp was founded in 1999.
  • The size of this company is about 50 employees spread out across 32 different cities around the world.
  • The remote work manifesto of Basecamp is to focus on these goals that have always been the same: "Have fun, do exceptional work, build the best product in the business, experiment, pay attention to the details, treat people right, tell the truth, have a positive impact on the world around us, give back, and keep learning."
  •  Basecamp has built one of the oldest and longest-surviving businesses on the internet by flipping conventional wisdom on its head.
  • A best practice that Basecamp implements is simplicity in software by building and refining a single, simple project management tool to help people do their jobs better.
  • Another best practice that Basecamp implements is to only focus on their original ideas that have continued to sustain this company for over 20 years.
  • Basecamp also implements an anti-growth approach as a best practice that does not focus on revenue or growth just for growth's sake and instead focuses on giving customers what would help them, while still ensuring that their company remains profitable.
  • Basecamp is not fully distributed, although some of their members choose to work from home. Basecamp has headquarters in Chicago, but their employees are free to live and work wherever they want.