Running Remote — Start Here
Liam Martin and Rob Rawson argue that running an entire company as remote-first, not merely remote-friendly, requires treating remote as the default design choice rather than an accommodation: hiring processes, performance measurement, culture-building, and decision-making all have to be built around distribution from the start, at whatever scale the company grows to. Their core claim is that companies who bolt remote work onto office-era systems struggle, while those who redesign around it from the ground up scale more smoothly.
The whole book, in one line
Liam Martin and Rob Rawson argue that running an entire company as remote-first, not merely remote-friendly, requires treating remote as the default design choice rather than an accommodation: hiring processes, performance measurement, culture-building, and decision-making all have to be built around distribution from the start, at whatever scale the company grows to. Their core claim is that companies who bolt remote work onto office-era systems struggle, while those who redesign around it from the ground up scale more smoothly.
How the mechanism works
- Building a remote-first hiring and onboarding process, rather than a remote-friendly patch on an office-first one.
- Establishing performance measurement based on clear output and outcomes rather than hours logged or visible activity.
- Creating culture and genuine connection deliberately across a distributed organization, rather than assuming it will happen on its own.
- Structuring meetings, documentation, and decision-making so they work at scale, not just for one small team.
Who this was written for
A founder or operations leader scaling a company past the size where informal, office-era habits still work, looking for a deliberate remote-first structure that holds up as headcount grows.
ACT tier. Both credited authors are living professionals and co-founders of a real, active software company built around workforce analytics and time tracking. Safeguards for every persona edition: both authors, Liam Martin and Rob Rawson, must always be named together in exactly one sentence, never separately; the authors' real company and its real product must never be named or referenced; performance measurement must be framed around clear, agreed-upon outcomes and output, never around endorsing invasive activity monitoring or surveillance software; no real client or case-study companies reproduced; no fabricated statistics.
Cross-book note
This is the scaling-a-remote-first-company title in the category, with a hiring-and-culture-at-scale focus. Distinct from Remote: Office Not Required (a general philosophy, not a scaling playbook), The Year Without Pants (one company's real story), Distributed Teams (a systems/process-design treatment), and Work Together Anywhere (a tactical field guide for any size team). Needs a cross-category check against New Manager and Team Leadership Skills and Job Search and Interview Skills.