RW244 NIRA’s $24M Remote Pivot:From Search Tool to Trust Engine

In this episode, I talk about NIRA’s journey through the lens of a fully remote business — not the tech, but the trust behind it. Founders Hiten Shah and Marie Prokopets built NIRA as a remote-first team from day one, learning that success depends on clarity, documentation, and communication — not constant oversight. Their story shows how transparency and listening can shape both culture and product. It’s a reminder that remote work isn’t just about flexibility; it’s about designing systems where people feel trusted, informed, and accountable. That’s what makes a remote business truly sustainable.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to the Remote Work Live Podcast,
spotlighting the leaders andlocation-independent
entrepreneurs shaping the futureof work.
I'm your host, Alex WilsonCampbell.
Now, we talk a lot aboutfreedom, flexibility, and hiring
without borders, but there'sanother side to remote work that
rarely gets airtime, and that'strust.
And today's story is about NIRA,a remote company founded by Hit

(00:24):
and Shah and Marie Prokopetz,gets right to the heart of that.
They started out trying to makedocument search faster, but
ended up creating one of themost important security tools
for the distributed workplace.
Now, Nira's story began likemany great startups with a pivot
born out of curiosity.

(00:45):
Shahr and Prokopetz, both serialentrepreneurs, launched NIRA
around 2019 as a document searchapp.
Think Google for cloud files.
But during a customer demo,something unexpected happened.
A client ran their software andsuddenly realized that dozens of
former employees still hadaccess to sensitive company

(01:07):
documents.
That single moment completelychanged NIR's direction.
They realized the bigger problemwasn't finding documents, it was
who could still see them.
From that point, NIRA became adata access governance platform.
It offered visibility into whohad access to what across Google
Drive, Slack, Box, and othertools, and allowed companies to

(01:32):
revoke permissions instantly.
Built as a fully remote companyfrom day one, NIRA grew rapidly
and raised more than$24 millionbefore being acquired by Dropbox
in 2024.
But their real achievementwasn't just building a product,
it was redefining what digitaltrust means in a world where

(01:55):
teams and data are everywhere.
What I like about NIRA's storyis that it started with
humility.
Instead of clinging to theiroriginal idea, Sha and Procopets
listened.
They really listened to whattheir users were telling them.
That's something that I've seentime and time again amongst some
of the best remote founders.

(02:15):
They're curious.
They don't just sell, theyobserve.
When that client panicked aboutunauthorized access, Nira's team
didn't push it off.
They stayed up all nightthinking about what it meant.
And by the next day, they wereno longer in the search
business.
They were in the securitybusiness.
Now, as somebody who studiedremote teams for years, I see a

(02:39):
deeper lesson here.
In a distributed world, clarityreplaces proximity.
When you can't rely on quickchats or office oversight,
visibility becomes your trustsystem.
Ten Sha often talks aboutdocumentation being the backbone
of remote work.
He said words to the effect of,when you're remote, hallway

(03:00):
conversations don't happen.
You need process anddocumentation.
Now that principle applied notjust inside NIRA, but to what
they were building for others.
Their platform didn't justtighten security, it mirrored
the same transparency andstructure that make remote teams
thrive.

(03:21):
And that's the real takeaway.
When your systems are clear,your people can be trusted.
Whether you're sharing code,financials or family photos from
your phone, trust is thecurrency of remote work.
And companies like NIRA areshowing us how to build it one
layer of visibility at a time.
So what can we learn from NIRA'sjourney?

(03:42):
First, don't assume you knowyour customer's biggest problem.
Ask, observe, and stay flexible.
Second, in remote teams, trustisn't just cultural, it's
technical.
The more distributed we become,the more vital it is to know who
has access to what.
Not control people, but toprotect collaboration.

(04:05):
And finally, rememberdocumentation isn't bureaucracy,
it's empathy.
It's how you give people freedomand accountability.
That's it for today's episode ofthe Remote Work Live Podcast.
I'm Alex Wilson Campbell.
Join me for the next episode.