#8 — Helping remote teams better connect and interact | Alexander Spahn, CEO Gomada

Startup Culture

In this episode, I talked to Alexander Spahn, co-founder and CEO of Gomada, a platform that helps remote and hybrid teams better connect and interact with each other. Alex's team has always been remote, and currently, they're all spread over seven countries.

Alexander shared his experiences as a fully remote company and we talked about these three topics:

1. Pivoting a product during the pandemic in order to survive in the market
2. About Gomada’s product and how it helps its own team improve collaboration
3. Why aligning values when hiring is crucial for remote work success
   

1. Pivoting a product during the pandemic, in order to survive in the market

At the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Alexander said that they already had a product ready to use called Veertly. It was a virtual meeting space for remote and hybrid working companies. But after the pandemic, Alexander and his co-founder decided to pivot to another product, currently, Gomada, supporting remote and hybrid companies to create team-building activities for their teams.
2. About Gomada’s product and how it helps its own team improve collaboration

Gomada is a team-building product that helps team leads reduce the time spent on team-building activities. The product uses an algorithm to recommend specific team-building activities for the team based on the insights gained from team assessments and surveys. The activities are self-service and handled directly on the platform. Gomada helps in understanding the behaviors of team members and addresses specific challenges, such as trust, familiarity, collaboration, and appreciation. Alexander says that they use it for their own remote team, and while they excel in trust, familiarity, and appreciation, they acknowledge that they need to improve in “collaboration”.
3. Why aligning values when hiring is crucial for remote work success

The CEO of Gomada, Alexander Spahn, emphasizes the importance of cultural and remote work fit when hiring new employees. He admits to making a mistake in the past by not considering these factors enough during the interview process. Alexander acknowledges that some people thrive in remote work settings, but it's important to only hire those who really enjoy the setup. Gomada values personal touch points and interactions, so it's crucial to understand what type of company leaders want to become and communicate expectations to potential hires. Alexander believes his company is doing a better job now, and the last pop-up office showed a harmonious group that was diverse yet still able to come together as friends.
Show Notes
00:30 Episode begins
01:28 About what is Gomada and how the platform is used
02:57 One-continent-based fully remote company
04:16 Building Gomada as a second product
06:29 Investing time and people in team building-bonding activities
09:16 Using software as a team coach
11:29 Two different measurements: traditional surveys and team activities
14:17 Improvements that Gomada could implement in their company culture
16:28 “Random Fairy-Tales” as an activity that helps the team to collaborate better
19:56 Having sub-cultures in the company culture
24:39 Retreats and their effects on the team
26:59 Alexander Spahn gives his opinions on the future of working cultures
29:57 Physical touch points and life-work balance
30:58 Advice for companies who want to have a stronger sense of belonging within their teams
33:32 End of the episode
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