Location

Flight is moving unexpectedly fast and it's probably getting close to the time where we might define how we're going to work together. The standard options on the table today are fully-remote, hybrid (come into the office a few days a week), and in-person. Flight isn't any of these. We're remote(ish).

When I was growing up I had to move, a lot. First it was to a new home when my parents separated (they were fully divorced before I was 2), then it was to a new city when my mom got remarried, then it was to a new city for a new job, then to new schools, etc. etc. Constant uprooting scarred me.

When I was interviewing a very strong candidate yesterday I moved him to the next round on the spot (which I almost never do). The next step of the interview process, after the initial meet, is a take-home challenge. He asked "how soon do you want this?" I said, naturally, "I'm an 'as soon as you can get it to me' kind of guy." He said "Is tomorrow OK? My son wakes up from his nap in 30 minutes." I said "Of course. Family first, always." I mean that.

Building Flight will be extremely challenging, and frankly we'll need as much in-person time as we can get, because we're tackling a very hard problem and nothing accelerates iteration like late nights in the office, where we have all functional teams working shoulder-to-shoulder to solve.

BUT will I ask that person to uproot his family and move to headquarters (wherever that ends up being) to come work for Flight? Hell no. not in a million years. I know what that's like.

So, Flight is remote-ish. I'll pick an HQ and we'll spend one week or more together each month (definitely more at first), working together in a shared location for very, very long hours. This will give us the face time we need to build strong relationships and trust, and the opportunity to tackle our hardest problems, together.

There is a special sub-segment of meetings at every company where nobody wants to be in the meeting, but nobody wants to leave the meeting, either. At Flight, we have those meetings in-person.

But where should we have them? Right now, the base requirements for our HQ location are that it should be a place that my cofounders and I want to live (whether or not we actually move there). And It should be affordable, such that both people working on the line and those working in the office (and they will be co-located) can access quality homes. Finally, it should be close to an airstrip. And we will dominate that airstrip.

After that, everyone goes home. Keep your home, keep your family, keep your community.