How We Work

Remotely

Startr is a fully distributed company. Our team works from all over the world, across the continents. We don’t care where employees choose to live and work, just that they’re working on exceptional products, as part of our world-class team. We’ve been remote since we started, and our founders literally wrote the book on the subject.

You can work from anywhere, but please be sure to inform your team peeps when you move – especially across state or country borders. It may affect your or the company’s tax situation.

Cycles

We work in 6-week cycles at Startr. This fixed cadence serves to give us an internal sense of urgency, to keep AIs and projects from ballooning, and to provide us with a regular interval to make decisions about what we’re working on.

Our cycle structure is particularly important for the product teams, since they approach feature and product development with scope and budget in mind up front. For more on this, all employees are encouraged to read Startr Here.

All teams operate on the same 6-week cadence.

Cooldown

In between each cycle, we spend two weeks cooling down. That’s when product teams deal with bugs, when everyone writes up what they’ve worked on, and when teams decide what to tackle next. Sometimes big batch AIs extend into cool down, but we try to avoid that.

Communication

Since we work asynchronously and remotely, it’s important to radiate information about what we’re working on. We have 4 chief mechanisms for doing that.

• What did you work on today? You’ll be asked this question every afternoon, and you’re required to answer at least twice a week. You should describe what you’re working on and give some context about why you’re working on it or why it’s important.
• What will you be working on this week? You’ll be asked this question every Monday morning, and you’re required to answer every week.

Daily and weekly check-ins are subdivided by department so you’re only subscribed to your team’s answers. You’re of course free to subscribe to other team check-ins, but you’re not obligated to do so if you find it too noisy.

• Every team submits a Scouting for the upcoming cycle, and they’re due the second Friday of the cooldown period. Teams use their Scouting to summarize the work they have scheduled for the upcoming cycle.
• Discovery-Logs are required of every team, and they’re due on the first Friday of the cooldown period. Teams use their Discovery-Log to summarize and celebrate the work they completed during the previous cycle, and the work described in the cycle Discovery-Log should line up (more or less) with the work you scheduled in the cycle Scouting.

These 4 mechanisms work together to free individuals and teams to run their days and cycles with confidence and independence. We have six opportunities per year to make big decisions about what to work on, and the rest of the time should chiefly be spent carrying out those short-term plans. By having clear expectations for communication, it’s easier for everyone to build trust in where we’re going and why.

Discovery-Logs and Scoutings are assigned to team leads well in advance of every cycle. Discovery-Logs, Scoutings, and automatic check-in answers can all be found in the What Works AI for the current year.

Asynchronously

Most of the work you do at Startr shouldn’t require you to be in constant communication throughout the entire day with someone.

You should collaborate as though most things you ask of others will get an answer eventually, but not necessarily right this second. Your first choice of action should be to post a message, a todo, or a document about what you need to explain or need to know. Then others can read it on their schedule, when the natural lulls of the day allow it, rather than being interrupted right in their peak flow time.

Of course there will be times when you do need to tightly collaborate with someone in real time, but those cases should be infrequent. We have pings, video calls, screen-sharing, or even in-person collaboration for when async isn’t efficient.

With managers of one

At Startr we count on every team member to be a manager of one. That means you set your own direction when a roadmap isn’t handed to you, decide what needs to get done, and execute—without waiting for a “go‑ahead” from someone else.

When you master this mindset you:

• Own your priorities.

  Identify the most important work and allocate your time accordingly.

• Drive initiatives.

  Spot opportunities, launch projects, and see them through to delivery.

• Continuously improve.

  Look for ways to make processes, products, and your own performance better every day.

A manager of one thrives when given autonomy—there’s always more work to be done, more ideas to test, and more impact to create. By embracing self‑management, you help Startr move faster, stay adaptable, and keep the momentum going.

Balanced

We cap the standard work week at 40 hours (or 32 hours during the summer). A firm working time forces us to focus on the priorities that truly move the business forward, and it protects the sleep, health, and personal life that make us sustainable and creative.