Remote Startup HQ

Server structure

Overview

For a company past its founding team that has decided to be remote rather than drifted into it. #handbook is read-only and is the difference between a remote company that works and one that runs on interruptions: how decisions are made, what response time is expected, when meetings are justified, and how to escalate. #how-we-work-async states the norm the server enforces — write it so it can be read six hours later, do not expect a reply within the hour, and never make a decision only in a call. #where-everyone-is is a board with one line per person: city, working hours and how to reach them urgently, which removes the daily timezone arithmetic. Departments is one channel per function — engineering, design, product, go-to-market, support and people — each with a weekly written update rather than a meeting. Company holds #announcements, #all-hands-notes so the recording is not the only record, #decisions, and #kudos, which sounds soft and is one of the few things that replaces the ambient recognition an office provides. Onboarding is a real category, not a document dump: #start-here, #first-week-checklist, #meet-the-team and #ask-anything-newcomer, where a new joiner can ask the obvious question without an audience of forty. Rooms are open all day for presence rather than scheduled.

When to use it

Remote companies fail on unwritten norms: nobody knows the expected response time, decisions get made in a call two people attended, and a new joiner spends three weeks discovering how things work by getting them wrong. This layout writes the norms down, keeps a timezone board so nobody does the arithmetic, requires written weekly department updates instead of status meetings, and makes onboarding a place rather than a document.

What makes it different

• A written handbook covering response times, when a meeting is justified and how to escalate.
• A board with each person's city, hours and urgent contact, ending timezone arithmetic.
• Weekly written department updates instead of status meetings nobody can attend.
• Onboarding is a category with a checklist, not a document dropped on the first day.

Recommended Vetox setup

• Welcomer

  Point Welcomer at #start-here so a new joiner's first message is the checklist rather than a stranger's direct message.

• Auto Roles

  Assign a department role on arrival so a new joiner lands in the right channels without a manager doing it by hand.

• Reminders

  Set weekly Reminders in the department channels so the written update survives busy weeks, which is when it usually stops.

• Logs

  Enable Logs so role and channel changes across a company server are auditable rather than remembered.