{"id":557,"date":"2020-05-06T17:50:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T14:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arc.dev\/employer-blog\/?p=557"},"modified":"2025-06-11T12:55:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T04:55:25","slug":"building-community-remote-workers-brooke-hurford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arc.dev\/employer-blog\/building-community-remote-workers-brooke-hurford\/","title":{"rendered":"Building a Community of Remote Workers: Brooke Hurford of Workfrom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Who works at the same places I like to work? What are the other remote workers in my city? How do I find other remote workers around? There\u2019s no connective tissue.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>For this week\u2019s episode, we have Brooke Hurford, COO and co-founder of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/workfrom.co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Workfrom<\/a>, a platform connecting professionals to real-world spaces and virtual offices. We talked about how Workfrom is designed to help remote workers interact better, the benefits of remote work to local communities, how Techstars mentorship helped her and her co-founder, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019ve enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/outside-the-valley\/id1481937930\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">iTunes<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The podcast is also available on your favourite players:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/outside-the-valley\/id1481937930?ign-mpt=uo%3D4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">iTunes<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy50cmFuc2lzdG9yLmZtL291dHNpZGUtdGhlLXZhbGxleQ%3D%3D&hl=en-TW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google Podcast<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/castro.fm\/podcast\/5a2c6978-e8e7-4f02-a47d-ca3474778329\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Castro<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/overcast.fm\/itunes1481937930\/outside-the-valley\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Overcast<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/5qzXgcHzieXIRtXglSmUE8?si=rMPobXZtQwSU0wQ3grTAxA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spotify<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.stitcher.com\/podcast\/outside-the-valley\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stitcher<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/player.fm\/series\/outside-the-valley\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Player.fm<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tunein.com\/podcasts\/Technology-Podcasts\/Outside-The-Valley-p1251704\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tune In<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Follow us on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/arcdotdev\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Twitter<\/a>\u00a0to get updates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Looking for top talent fast? See how <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/arc.dev\/\">Arc<\/a><em> can help you:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u26a1\ufe0f Find developers, designers, marketers, and more<br>\u26a1\ufe0f Freelance or full-time remote + fully vetted<\/em><em><br>\u26a1\ufe0f Save up to 80% with global hires<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/arc.dev\"><strong>Hire top talent with Arc risk-free \u2192<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"topics-also-covered-in-this-episode%3A\">Topics also covered in this episode:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Why Brooke was initially attracted to remote work<\/li><li>Brooke\u2019s experiences with isolation while working remotely<\/li><li>How Workfrom helps remote workers to interact with each other<\/li><li>How Brooke thinks COVID-19 will impact the dynamics of remote work in the future<\/li><li>Why remote work is a big benefit to local communities<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"mentioned-resources%3A\">Mentioned resources:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/workfrom.co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Workfrom<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/code_brooke\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Brooke\u2019s Twitter<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/darrenbuckner\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Darren Buckner<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.techstars.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Techstars<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.techstars.com\/accelerators\/anywhere\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Techstars Anywhere<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/codementor.io\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Codementor<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/jamesclear.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">James Clear<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"full-transcript%3A\">Full transcript:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Welcome to another episode of \u201cOutside the Valley\u201d a podcast by Arc. Here we interview remote startup leaders, remote work advocates, and workers of distributed teams who thrive outside of Silicon Valley. I\u2019m your host, Jovian Gautama. Today we\u2019re going to talk about the role of communities, spaces, and camaraderie amongst remote workers all around the world with the co-founder and COO of an up and rising startup Workfrom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Workfrom itself is a platform connecting professionals to real-world spaces and virtual offices where they can be productive outside the home or office. Basically like a third space. They\u2019re also the world\u2019s largest search engine for worker spaces and community of mobile workers. And this year they were also invited to Techstars Anywhere, a brand new remote accelerator program launched by Techstars. Super excited to have our guest here today, Brooke Hurford. Brooke, thanks for being here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Thank you so much for having me. I\u2019m excited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, super excited to talk about you because the topic around your community and remote workers interact with each other is something that I\u2019m always interested in. So I\u2019d love to chat. So before I start the whole thing, I\u2019d like to chat a bit about yourself and how you joined and founded Workfrom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, definitely. So, I found Workfrom in 2016. I had previously for the five years before that I had been a project manager at a web development agency here in Portland, agency. I loved the tech industry. I didn\u2019t love being kind of outside all of the creative work being done. So I decided I wanted to go to a coding school for front-end web development. It was a six-month program 40-hours a week, really intense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And at the end of that, I had an internship. I applied for five, Workfrom was one of them and ended up getting chosen to be a Workfrom intern. And so that\u2019s how I started. Lucky for me, they decided to hire me after that. So I worked as a front-end developer for about a year. At Workfrom, when it kind of the team, you know, things were happening and it ended up to be Darren, the original founder, and myself on the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I just, you know, if I decided, after working with him, I knew that if I was gonna work on a startup, building a startup it was to be with him, I just love working with him. And so, yeah, that\u2019s kind of how I came to be co-founder of Workfrom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0And how big is the team now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0So, the team is five people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Right. Some people will argue this is the best time in startups when you\u2019re small. Because when you get bigger, like 20 people, especially like the founders. I\u2019ve talked to a couple of people in the podcast, they basically kind of miss those time when their startup was smaller. It\u2019s just because things move faster. But again, going big doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s bad. It just means there\u2019s more process to be done. And so, yeah. But I\u2019m quite curious, is Workfrom your first remote job?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0It is, so, Workfrom\u2019s my first remote job. But there was a time where I wasn\u2019t full time at Workfrom so I ended up doing\u2026 I was freelancing as well. I did freelance web development and worked on Workfrom kind of on the side, but at least I was always working on it at least half of my time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then to support myself in the beginning, I would do freelancing, and I was also, that\u2019s when I started traveling and working as well. So I have experience working with clients remotely, as well as working at Workfrom remotely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Got it. Just curious, what specifically attracted you to the whole remote work thing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Oh, man. So, freedom. I was like most people worked a 9:00 to 5:00. You have to be at this office every day. If you don\u2019t come in, that\u2019s kind of\u2026 what\u2019s happening. Why are you slacking? I don\u2019t know, it was very much that vibe. So, when I learned about remote work and the fact that you could choose where you want, it just completely blew my mind. I didn\u2019t realize it was possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So when I went to coding school I thought, if I could become a developer, sometime in my life I can work remotely, and it just all happened. That\u2019s why I was so stoked to be, you know, able to work at Workfrom in the beginning because I thought it was gonna take me a lot longer to achieve that remote status. But, yeah, it\u2019s definitely the freedom to choose your lifestyle and have it be more about what you want versus what somebody is telling you what time and where you have to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, and you\u2019re now like really in the center of it. You really founded a remote work company so-to-speak. Like a company that revolves around the whole remote work thing. So, tell me a bit through the Workfrom, especially for listeners who are not familiar, what is Workfrom and what\u2019s the concept of it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, so Workfrom in the very beginning served one main purpose, which is to help you find places to work, and ended up being a lot of coffee shops, so places to\u2026 Yeah, places to work like coffee shops, libraries, co-working spaces, literally any place with Wi-Fi. So people have put campsites on there. So it\u2019s basically it was like, \u201cThis is where I\u2019m at. I need a place to go right now and I\u2019m going to be in Taipei.\u201d And then you can see places based on like their Wi-Fi speeds, if there\u2019s plugins, if it\u2019s noisy, what the pictures are like, reviews. So that\u2019s very much how it was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And over the years, we started asking people, why did you sign up and as soon as they did. And everybody was super lonely, basically. They were like, \u201cI work at home all the time. And I wanna get out of the house.\u201d So, literally, it was finding a place, but motivation was this isolation that we can all talk about and are experiencing at least sometimes when we work remotely. So that\u2019s how it\u2019s evolving, is to solve that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A lot of people would say, I like going to places around, I love to know the people that are around, you know<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Who works at the same places I like to work? What are the other remote workers in my city? How do I find other remote workers around? There\u2019s no connective tissue.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>And so that\u2019s future vision of Workfrom. So, started finding places and you can still do that, but what we\u2019re doing through Techstars is figuring out exactly how to help people connect more in the ways that they want to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Got it. I just want to dive into this a little bit, especially in the topic of isolation actually. So, as we\u2019re recording this, you know that the whole world is currently having somewhat \u201cforced\u201d to do, you know, the so-called work from home and remote work. And you see in the social media, there\u2019s a lot of sentiments of people starting to feel isolated, like having a cabin fever, and so on, so. This is something that probably people didn\u2019t expect when it comes to remote work, especially for me. I\u2019m also a remote worker. People will say, \u201cOh, the freedom, or you can work from anywhere, and you can schedule your stuff. If you want to work on weekends and take the day off on weekdays, it\u2019s okay,\u201d something like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the isolation aspect is actually quite, you know, it\u2019s sometimes it\u2019s rarely talked about compared to the other productivity talk, you know, four-hour work week talk. I\u2019m curious, what\u2019s your experience with isolation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, so, definitely. So my experience with isolation is what\u2026 So I started working remotely. And I think, to your point about people not talking about as much is because we\u2019re, like, when Darren and I always say, we\u2019re remote drunk. And I think people that are really into remote are just so into it. You don\u2019t really wanna talk about the negatives because there are so many positives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0But everything has give and take. And so if we are so gung ho and positive about remote work and isolation is a side effect, let\u2019s just work on fixing that instead of having to choose one or the other. My experience is I worked remotely only for a few months before I started traveling. And what I did was I worked with co-working and co-living groups. So I went on those kind of month-long trips where basically you live with other people from all over the world. And that really was, I never felt isolated or lonely. I heard people talk about that in remote work, but I never experienced it until I came back to my hometown and I was in Portland for about a year. And I was like, realized everybody was talking about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>I was working at home all the time. I wasn\u2019t intentional about human connection. I just was kind of like, got into my workflow. And then a couple of weeks have gone by, I hadn\u2019t seen any friends. I really started to just notice the effects and kind of understand more of what people are feeling. And that\u2019s when I just realized how intentional you have to be.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>So if you choose this work style and if you choose for your home to be your office, you really have to be intentionable\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Intentional I think is what you\u2026 Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Intentional about getting what you need as far as human connection is considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0That\u2019s an interesting point you make, because the word intentional or intentionable, I\u2019m sorry. It came a lot in my conversation with other people when it comes to remote work. It\u2019s not only in the personal level, but only the company level. Like, you\u2019ve got to be intentional about onboarding, hiring, taking care of your remote employees, and so on. So, with this in mind, you talk about being intentional with social interaction. How does Workfrom helps a user achieve that? Or what kind of features that actually came from this particular mindset of yours and Darren\u2019s, your co-founder, that, \u201cOh, we have to be intentional when it comes to social connection.\u201d How do you translate it to features in the Wordfrom?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, definitely. So we are pre-launched with our beta for this. But the features when we were thinking about them are very like, okay, so you have connection that\u2019s similar like Tinder. Where you\u2019re just like one-on-one like you should meet, like go on a date. But the one thing we realized is that people have different level of connections that they\u2019re comfortable with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some people say a Slack community. You just like to observe. You\u2019re interested in what\u2019s going on, you don\u2019t necessarily wanna\u2026you\u2019re not the extrovert that\u2019s gonna be just jumping in right away. So I think that\u2019s a big thing, is like,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>[\u2026]what we\u2019re launching, we\u2019re trying to have different features where you can choose the level of connection you want anywhere from being an observer to a straight-up one-on-one connection. And that\u2019s kind of how I think about it. It\u2019s like the layers of people to be able to choose what they want because everybody\u2019s different, but giving everyone the opportunity to feel connected in whatever that means to them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, and the thing is really people\u2019s\u2026 I think a lot of, my take on it is also like, or my hypotheses on this, like a lot of online communities often thrive because of this particular needs. It\u2019s not necessarily about remote workers community but just our communities, like Facebook groups, or even familiar with indie hackers lots of entrepreneurs. I think they just try to find some connections online just like Tinder that you said about, talked about it. But yeah, I think it\u2019s a very basic human need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0It definitely is. It\u2019s like we\u2019re all humans like it\u2019s different now, the world is shifting. We\u2019re on our computers, it\u2019s tech space. Now it\u2019s exciting to see everybody so quick and ready to jump on video call because I think that is so important. And I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve experienced this in a remote team. You have to be on video call so you can kind of feel that. But I think just that human part of it and that we\u2019re even though it\u2019s like these online communities of typing and chatting, we\u2019re all humans behind the computer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, got it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0So, yeah, bringing that out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0You mentioned you\u2019ve been joining Workfrom since 2016, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0You\u2019ve been working\u2026 In these four years, is there anything that you\u2019ve learned in regards to remote work that kind of changed your perspective on it? Like before you started working at Workfrom it was like that, but now it was different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah. So I think the biggest thing is that remote work is not any one thing. I think when I was excited about it, for me, it was the whole digital nomad thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0I was like, \u201cI\u2019m gonna be a remote worker. I\u2019m gonna travel every month. I\u2019m gonna eat out.\u201d And I thought Workfrom, cool. It\u2019s this huge community of digital nomads and travelers. And one thing I learned, that\u2019s not our community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Our community is 80% at least employees of remote companies that live in their own city, that work at home at least three to four days a week.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>So it\u2019s like, that\u2019s one huge thing I learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then just talking to all the different people and how, why remote work is important to them. Whether you have kids, whether you have families, think like everybody has different reasons. And I think just learning about all those different aspects has been eye-opening. And from what I came into it thinking remote work was this one specific thing and now I just remote work is being able to design your work in however you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0It is a spectrum definitely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes. Very much a spectrum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah. And I also like your point about digital nomad because I think for companies that are not familiar with remote work, that\u2019s their first, that\u2019s their very first, their typical idea of a remote worker. Are you working from the beach? Like the beach doesn\u2019t have Wi-Fi. So, that was kind of like, and actually our founder, Weiting, also wrote about this on Forbes. Basically like, not every remote workers are digital nomads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0[inaudible 00:13:51] yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0I forgot who said that, I think someone said it on Twitter, like, it\u2019s probably like digital stay-mads, like even if they move, they\u2019ll probably be in Mexico for three months or in Korea for three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, 100%. I think for that first year I was just figuring it out month-to-month. But since then I\u2019ll still travel quite a bit but it\u2019s three months in one place. It\u2019s still figuring out what works for you. But, yeah, I agree, there\u2019s this stereotype that remote work means digital nomad or it means work from home and never leave. And I just think it\u2019s a spectrum, 100%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, I mean, I\u2019ve seen companies like that they feel like remote workers. \u201cOh, what if they have like shitty internet?\u201d Something like that. So, that\u2019s something that we need to change on this, like this kind of perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, you know, and trust in the unknown and people who\u2019ve never done it. And never been on a team and just there\u2019s so many things that people have questions on. And until you experience it\u2019s kind of\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Got it. Cool. So, Workfrom is invited to the Techstars Accelerator, Techstars Anywhere, can you share, and congratulations by the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, I\u2019d love to chat a bit more on the decision to join Techstars, and why do you think it\u2019s the right step for Workfrom?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Oh, man. So, by far just the most amazing thing to be a part of. It was the right choice for Workfrom. There\u2019s this crazy network of mentors of people that I just didn\u2019t have on my own, you know, people that I consider just so successful that are just willing to help me now and I love that are\u2026 So, our cohort and all the Techstars\u2019 cohorts are only 10 companies. And we have a managing director and two other Techstars staff that just work with our 10 companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Got it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0So, yeah, just the amount of help, the way they\u2019ve pushed us, it\u2019s like this business. I never went to a business school. I got my Associate of Arts and then got into tech by way of that. And I just didn\u2019t have these kinds of fundamentals of business that Techstars is teaching me. We have workshops all the time with just incredibly smart people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so, like I said, yeah, they\u2019ve just pushed us in a way that I\u2019ve never personally been pushed before. And, you know, for the better. It\u2019s been really awesome. The camaraderie of the cohort, the other companies are just so freaking cool. And, yeah, it just was the perfect I think the exact place for Workfrom and where we need to be as a company right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Got it. Was the main attraction for you and your co-founder to join Techstars was because the\u2026.is it like a remote cohort like Techstars Anywhere?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0I think it\u2019s the first cohort, right? It\u2019s their first\u2026?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0No, we\u2019re fourth actually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Oh, sorry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, no, no, you\u2019re good. It\u2019s newer, but yeah, this is the fourth cohort they\u2019ve done of the Anywhere program, but it is newer. Forever Techstars has been an in-person accelerator all over the world. So right now there\u2019s currently 14 cohorts happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Got it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a010 companies, but, yeah, all over the world. And then this is the only remote cohort happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Got it. Got it. But not every companies joined are related to remote work. It\u2019s basically just the fact that you don\u2019t have an office so-to-speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, correct. So a lot of us are remote-focused, or at least that\u2019s part of our market but definitely not. Definitely not all of it. It\u2019s not a requirement by any means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Got it. So, the Techstars Accelerator itself is basically just normal accelerator but everything is done remotely. Is that correct?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0I\u2019ve never been through another accelerator, so, yeah, I don\u2019t\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Okay. Can you share a bit more about how does it work, especially when remotely. Because actually, you know, Arc is affiliated with Codementor, which is also a company that our founder founded. Which still exists this founder, we kind of like work together we share the same office right now. Codementor is a Techstars Seattle graduate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Oh nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes, so it\u2019s interesting like the big\u2026Actually it\u2019s like you mentioned. One of the biggest things about Techstars is the mentorship part of it, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Mm-hmm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Which is, you know, you got to hang out with these great mentors. And then you can hang out with like-minded people on the same cohort. And that\u2019s the biggest value. So I\u2019m just curious, if you can share a bit, in the Techstars, how does, because in remote like you mentioned, back to the intentionality of this stuff. While in your co-located accelerator, you can just hang out like at lunch you talk and you start talking shop. But can you share a bit more, what\u2019s the biggest thing that you\u2019ve kind of experienced during the accelerator, and said, \u201cYep, this is it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah. Definitely, so, it\u2019s a good point because I think even what we\u2019re bringing into the future for Workfrom, I\u2019ve learned a lot from our managing directors Ryan Cooter and also Kendra Dixon. And the way they manage this program and just noticing the intentional things they do to make sure we get the same experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, it\u2019s 13 weeks and we have three trips. So we started the program off. We had never met\u2026I think we\u2019ve done one video call with all the companies just to kind of see, it was kind of see who else was in it. We didn\u2019t know before that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0And then we all flew down to San Diego and met for a week. And we stayed in a house with at least three of the other companies and then every day for like 14 hours we would go to a house and basically like, \u201cThis is Techstars meeting friends.\u201d We did workshops on just the company basics, but also a lot of bonding inducing workshops, like, you know, walk and talks with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And they did founder stories where they sit and tell us their personal stories. And are super vulnerable and just make it a space for us all to put those walls down you have when you\u2019re just meeting a bunch of new people. And so coming out of that week was like, \u201cI\u2019ve got a bunch of homies now.\u201d Like I just felt very comfortable with everybody it was like, you know, we\u2019re voice messaging each other, we\u2019re slack, like it just\u2026they did a great job of making it a space to start off and be like, \u201cOkay, now we\u2019re all in this together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Basically that we\u2019re in this together. So then we come to our prospective homes, and we started doing a bunch of workshops. So we do those all online. We are always asking each other how we feel. It\u2019s a very open communicating environment. And then as far as the process from there we did for mentors. I think a cool thing that I didn\u2019t know before was, we did two weeks of mentor madness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, for over a two-week period, we had 80 meetings with all these different mentors, 20 minutes where we pitched and talk to them. And then at the end, we picked three mentors that we meet with weekly for the rest of the program. And then also you can really reach out to any of the mentors at any time but that was kind of the process for picking who you vibed with, who was helpful, who got your vision, all that kind of stuff. And then we had a second trip in Boulder again where we all just kind of went and stayed in houses. But, like I said, it\u2019s just an environment that they, I think, intentionally create for us all to feel comfortable digitally being friends while we\u2019re not all together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, and it\u2019s a gigantic task, isn\u2019t it? In any environment, to create an environment where\u2026We create a remote environment where people belong in the same, you know, belong in the same, we\u2019re in this together vibe is really hard, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, it is. And you don\u2019t really realize it until you see it being done. \u201cWow, they made me feel like they recreated this kind of in-person experience,\u201d other things that [inaudible 00:21:55] that way, but we\u2019re not personal, and so, yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0The funny thing, you mentioned about the mentor madness thing. I think it\u2019s also something that they do in a co-located cohort. But the fact that they can\u2019t translate it to, in the remote setting very smoothly is actually pretty great, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah. No, it was great. So, Darren and I were in the same house but different rooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Oh, I see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0And we\u2019d meet 20 minutes and we had five-minute breaks in between. It was just this fast-paced like, \u201cOh my God, they\u2019re cool,\u201d like rundown. Like, \u201cI love them.\u201d And he was like, I would. And then I don\u2019t know. So, yeah, it was like Zoom call to Zoom call, but the experience of it was still eventful and big.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah. Got it. So, I want to shift gears a bit about the current situation about, we are currently facing a challenging time due to the Coronavirus pandemic causing a lot of companies and employees to start \u201cexperimenting\u201d with remote work or working from home like WFH is very popular. Three word acronyms nowadays in social media is for the first time. Curious about your take on this. Do you think this will make remote work be more popular in the near future? Or how do you think it\u2019ll impact the dynamic of the remote community, even the Workfrom community?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes, so, as far as making remote work more pop\u2026I think it\u2019ll be more understood. I don\u2019t know if this is gonna make companies that were completely closed-minded to remote say, \u201cOh, hell, yeah, we\u2019re gonna be remote now.\u201d But I think it\u2019ll show people the possibilities. Like maybe not everything has to be in-person, maybe it is okay for people to work from home every once. You know, I think it\u2019s just gonna open people\u2019s eyes a little, maybe open their minds a bit more than it did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I think it\u2019ll also\u2026I have a friend who works at a finance company, and he was talking about how they\u2019re 90% remote already, they were prepared for it and then their competitor was not, and so they\u2019re still struggling to make this transition during what\u2019s happening. And so I think it\u2019ll make people have those contingency plans. And then also, yeah, be a little bit more open to the remote work style in general. Maybe not being a fully distributed company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, it\u2019s tough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0I think that\u2019s what will happen. But, yeah, also, I think maybe before we were recording I mentioned, what\u2019s happening now is not definitely my normal work style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Like being stuck at home. I haven\u2019t been able to leave. Like, I\u2019m a coffee shop girl, it\u2019s definitely different. And I think for people to kind of\u2026I think if people say, I think, \u201cThis is remote work,\u201d might not have the best experience with it too. So, that\u2019s another thing I\u2019ve been observing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, absolutely. I\u2019m actually similar to you, like I\u2019m a coffee shop kind of person. That\u2019s my idea of remote work, is not confined at home, especially for people with families, because, whereas even for the usual parents who work from home, they usually work without their kids around because kids aren\u2019t going to school. But now the kids are home. So that\u2019s just like a different level, different kind of remote work, so it\u2019s solely. I can see your face like very like, \u201cOh, yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, I don\u2019t have kids, but our Slack community that has been a very popular topic, just the [inaudible 00:25:20] And then my co-founder, Darren, he has a two-year-old. There\u2019s other people, you know, a lot of people in our Slack community have kids and it\u2019s just something that people have been talking about a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, it is super hard. I want to talk. So this is something I forgot to ask before. So it\u2019s about the\u2026What do you think is Workfrom\u2019s role in regards to helping the local economies to thrive? Because people are working from coffee shops, or local restaurants, or something like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, I think this is also a topic that I\u2019m super interested about, like how remote work can boost the local economies, especially in smaller cities. So, I\u2019m curious, what\u2019s Workfrom\u2019s role is or if you guys have a plan to kind of like in this area, you know, and partnering up. I\u2019ve seen you guys already partnering up with vendors or venues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes. So, as far as helping local economies, I definitely think Workfrom has a role to play. A lot of people that work at home don\u2019t realize that there are workable spaces around them, you know, coffee shops, small co-working restaurants, all that kind of stuff. Yes, I think, and just, I was gonna say, oh, Grow Remote, Ireland. I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve heard of it, but they are huge and one of the biggest initiatives that I\u2019ve seen of like, \u201cLet\u2019s bring remote workers to more rural communities.\u201d So they work heavily in Ireland and just getting the workers and spreading out, I don\u2019t know if the wealth is the right term, but having people that can make good money that don\u2019t have to be just in Dublin or just in these main cities and taking it these rural areas and having remote workers there that are making good salaries, supporting their local communities, that\u2019s always really fun to learn about and see people doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah. And also there are a lot of a similar initiatives like Tulsa Remote, I guess. And also I talked to Laurel Farrer remote work consultant. You know Laurel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0So, yeah, she was experienced in helping rural areas to do this kind of, helping them grow and helping their local workers to get remote jobs. So, I always find that interesting aspect of remote works that like a second-degree effect of remote work that I think more and more people will talk, especially in this current situation, current crisis of the pandemic where we are now\u2026We now realize more than ever the role of the local small businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, definitely. And just the points like kind of that extension of people should be able to be where they want. If they wanna be tied to it just because they can\u2019t get the job that they want. So it\u2019s just another extension of that I think, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, especially. I think that\u2019s also the main\u2026this is the main thing that we believe here in Arc. We\u2019re a platform where you can hire, sorry. We\u2019re a platform where you can hire software engineers. But we do believe that if you have the talent and the skills, you don\u2019t have to be confined to your geographical limitation. You can be in Asia or you can be in Europe or Eastern Europe, and you can work with great companies based in Silicon Valley, Seattle, Portland or anywhere. So I think\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0And I think just how you said that about local community. So I think it was Andreas Klinger. He had a tweet one time that said, \u201cIf work is remote, life should be local.\u201d And I think it always stuck out to me and that is part of the vision of what we\u2019ll be launching because of COVID and everything we\u2019re strictly focusing on virtual tools first. But the idea is that once we are going back to the places we love, and just because our team is all over the world, and maybe for me wouldn\u2019t be in Portland, there\u2019s still local co-workers, local remote workers to create that sense of local community, local business. There\u2019s still a role that localness has to play even if you do flexible. Yeah, I think that\u2019s an interesting thing too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah. I saw that tweet, too. I think I retweeted that. I absolutely agree with that, the sentiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Like damn it, that\u2019s so true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, cool. And so by the way, I didn\u2019t prepare for this, but I recently realized that you and the Workfrom on Twitter recently used the #remotekind. Can you share a bit more about that? What\u2019s that about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, so, it\u2019s a play on humankind. So, we think the future of remotekind looks a certain way. And that\u2019s why we want to launch products for those people. And so that\u2019s kind of where it came from, it was this thing that we\u2019ve just started saying and playing on. I think Darren came up with it. But we talk a lot about our community and our people. It\u2019s like these are our people like the future. It\u2019s kind of this, the future of remotekind, the future of our people, like everybody\u2019s working this way. And when we believe that everybody, that remote work will just be work eventually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0And so in a world that looks like that, what role does Workfrom have to play? And then we think that\u2019s just a big community of people. Hopefully that explains it well, but I think when we say remotekind it just means our people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Got it. Got it. So, I think my last question for today is basically, can you share a bit more about your daily routines? Especially in your remote work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah. Definitely. You froze a little bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Sorry. Let me ask that. Let me re\u2026Okay, so, my last question I think for today is basically, can you share a bit more about your daily remote work routine? You can share like pre-pandemic and post-pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah. Okay, so, my daily routine, pre-pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Pre-pandemic. It feels like we are having this post-apocalyptic podcast interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, no, I know. It is interesting. Yeah, very interesting time. Yeah, so I get up. Before I would choose where I wanted to work that day and it depended on if I had meetings or not. And two or three times a week, I would head to one of my favorite coffee shops here in Portland. So I wake up, decide where I wanna work, make my coffee, make my breakfast, do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>If I\u2019m at home, I have a home office. So the only time I come in here is to work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Oh, that\u2019s good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, I stick to my one coffee a day. I like to say that I exercise every day. It\u2019s something that I think is important, especially now to get outside. So, during this pandemic, I think I\u2019m still kind of figuring out my daily routine, especially with Techstars. Like I said, it\u2019s like, I want to just meet all our goals and be super successful, and all this kind of stuff. So it\u2019s just a different environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then when you\u2019re home and you\u2019re kind of \u201cbored,\u201d it\u2019s like I should be working. So I\u2019m working hard to make a better routine. So, shutting my computer, not coming in the office after a certain time, going on a walk to kind of mark\u2026 I think that\u2019s one thing for workers working from home is to mark the beginning and end of your day. You don\u2019t have a commute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0You don\u2019t have that morning chitchat with people. So, I think, again, another thing you have to be intentional about, like, this is the start of my day, this is the end of my day. And I think a good book is \u201cAtomic Habits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Absolutely love that book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah. They talk a lot about your environment and things like this, like starting and ending things. So, I try to do that type of stuff, but it\u2019s work in progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Are you subscribed to James Clear\u2019s newsletter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes, yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0He\u2019s probably the best newsletter I\u2019ve subscribed to. It\u2019s full of substance and it\u2019s very easy to read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0The way he explains is very easy to understand. So, I don\u2019t have a science background or anything, and so the way he explain it, I love when somebody explains something to me I\u2019m like, \u201cThat makes total sense.\u201d And, I think that\u2019s how I read all of his stuff. His book was a conversation like somebody telling, I don\u2019t know, just the language he uses I think it\u2019s very easy to understand. I love it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0The best thing about his newsletter is he ended with a question. And it\u2019s usually a really great question that makes you think, \u201cHuh. Yes, what\u2019s my thinking on this?\u201d And it\u2019s really great because it\u2019s really like a good, you know, it\u2019s a good start to your day and it\u2019s something at back in your mind, you could just think over and over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah. I love that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0That\u2019s absolutely great. So, yeah. Brooke, so, where can listeners find you online?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0So, Twitter, @code_brooke. So, as we\u2019re talking about this, like I said, we\u2019re gonna be launching a new product, so if you\u2019re curious about that I\u2019ll be talking about it there. I try to be very open. I get inspired by the maker community, kind of the product community\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Absolutely, yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0[crosstalk 00:34:39] how they\u2019re just like live talking about what they\u2019re doing. We try to do that as much as we can. And it\u2019s hard to do sometimes. So, find me on Twitter, DM me, especially if you\u2019re new to remote work. I love to be helpful. And I feel like because I\u2019ve been in this space for so long I know a lot of resources. I can try to point you towards different people. So, I\u2019m so open for people ask me questions. I think it\u2019s really fun to be helpful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah. So that\u2019s how you find me online, and then workfrom.co as well. We have a slack community about 3,500 people, everybody\u2019s working from home and they\u2019re all experienced remote workers, because we were, like you said, doing this before all this stuff was happening. So, that\u2019s workfrom.co\/chat is how you can join that and come hang out with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Got it. Are most of your users based in the U.S.?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, probably most of them. But we do have a lot of international folks as well, especially in the chat. When I\u2019m thinking about the people in the slack community, it doesn\u2019t seem weighed super much or super a lot. But, yeah, when you look at the data of our members, mostly U.S. probably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Absolutely. Cool. I actually just created a Workfrom account. I think I told you before. And I would love to next time, after the whole thing\u2019s pandemic blow over, I\u2019d love to start adding great place in Taipei to Workfrom. And Taipei is actually one of the\u2026I think it\u2019s the best place when it comes to coffee shop. Like great Wi-Fi, great coffee, great food and you can stay all day. This sounds so stringy, but yes, it\u2019s great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0And hopefully, like I said, hopefully by that time it\u2019ll be a thing where you add places you love, finding other people that love working there, and make friends and I\u2019m excited to launch this into the world and have it be more of a way. Just an example is currently when you kind of clock in or check-in on Workfrom, the person who added it gets a notification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I was just sort of maybe a month ago before all this, checked in and the person was there. And he was just like, \u201cHey, are you at Push-Pull?\u201d And I looked up and he looked up and we ended up meeting and it was super cool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Cool it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes, by the time we\u2019re all out and about again, I\u2019m hoping to have everybody be able to have those types of interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0Got it, awesome. Brooke, again, thank you so much for your time today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes, thank you so much. It was so fun chatting with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jovian:<\/strong>\u00a0It was so fun chatting with you. Cheers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>You can also try <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/arc.dev\/\">Arc<\/a><em>, your<\/em><em> shortcut to the world\u2019s best remote talent:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u26a1\ufe0f Access 450,000 top developers, designers, and marketers <br>\u26a1\ufe0f <em>Vetted and ready to interview<\/em><br>\u26a1\ufe0f Freelance or full-time<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/arc.dev\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/arc.dev\"><strong>Try Arc and hire top talent now \u2192<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brooke Hurford, COO and Co-founder of Workfrom shared her story about building a platform for remote workers to connect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":558,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thought-leadership"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Building a Community of Remote Workers: Brooke Hurford of Workfrom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Brooke Hurford, COO and Co-founder of Workfrom shared her story about building a platform for remote workers to connect.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arc.dev\/employer-blog\/building-community-remote-workers-brooke-hurford\/\" \/>\n<meta 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