How Moonlight does remote

# How Moonlight does remote

This guide was brought to you by the Moonlight team and community of developers. We are a fully remote company, and are working to build a future where more people get to work with flexibility. Transparency is part of our DNA, so we’re hoping these resources will help you grow!

# Resources from the Moonlight team:

  • How launching a membership model grew our revenue by 300%: Moonlight is a professional community of software developers. Our mission is to help the world work together, and we do that by matching companies and developers for work. We started the company two years ago, and today remain a bootstrapped, two-person team that is ramen profitable.

  • Moonlight on the future of work: It’s the beginning of 2019, and everyone is talking about their predictions, goals, and resolutions. As a bootstrapped remote team of two, here’s our view about the future of work!

  • Digital nomad’s guide to information security: Hello from Barcelona! Last week, somebody stole the Moonlight team’s laptops out of our Airbnb. I have been spending the last few days configuring our new MacBooks. So, I am sharing the steps that we take to keep data secure.

  • Growth charts for startups: Growth defines startups. That growth needs to be quantified and measured to keep teams honest about their success. Growth charts should be the core dashboard of every startup.

  • Startups shouldn’t hire a CTO: In a startup, one founder usually runs engineering as the CTO. But, if no founder takes this title, it does not mean there is a vacancy! Learn about career development for engineers and why hiring a CTO too early can cause problems in the future.

  • Storytelling: the key to getting hired: Landing a job at a top startup is competitive. Hiring managers have to choose between many well-qualified, experienced candidates. Read on to learn how you can showcase your experience in a way to catch their attention and land the offer!

  • How to find a technical co-founder: Are you looking to build an app with limited resources? Here’s our guide to solving the chicken-and egg-problem of starting a software business!

# Coming soon:

  • Communication best practices - We have a list of all the communication tools we use, with best practices on how and when to use each one. Email lists are the top tool on the priority list, synchronous tools like Slack follow.

  • Daily Standup for remote teams - Each morning we set routine and goals for the day. This is done over Slack, and each team member posts their update at the beginning of the day in their time zone.

  • Weekly sprint planning - We set up one meeting for each team (product, marketing, growth, founders). There’s a meeting each Monday to plan and kick-off the week.

  • All hands - We do a full team meeting every Friday. It’s run over Zoom, with each team member joining from a different computer. We talk about company goal progress, celebrate wins, and talk through top items for each team.

  • Weekly internal update email - Each Monday, we send a structured email to get everyone on the same page and motivated. It includes company goals, weekly stats, and highlights from the past week.

  • Monthly investor update email - We send a monthly email to investors with the same sections each time. We talk through goals, stats, highs, lows, and asks.

  • Meeting-free Thursday - Each Thursday is designated a no-meeting day. There are no recurring meetings, and only spontaneous meetings if absolutely necessary. It clears up time for each team member to have devoted deep work time.

  • Metrics dashboard - We share graphs and metrics that are core to the health of our business through the admin portal of our app. All employees have admin accounts, and this is the first page they see when logging into the app. It keeps incentives aligned, and adds transparency to how we run the business.

  • Offsites - We do in-person offsites 2-3 times per year. As a remote team, this is the time to connect on a personal level and collaborate on ideas.

  • Videos instead of meetings - When events happen that don’t require a meeting, like a product handoff, or bug report - we use Loom videos. This screen recording software is a great way to communicate complicated ideas in a quick and effective way.

Divider illustration - "Headphones - Do not disturb"

Made with ❤️ by Moonlight.
© 2020 Moonlight Work Inc.