RWL248 Inside A Fully Distributed Company Building Better Remote Rituals

In this episode of the Remote Work Life podcast, I look at how Parabol operates as a fully remote business. They’ve shaped their culture and day-to-day work around distance, time zones, and flexibility, not as an add-on, but as the foundation of how they function.

Parabol seems to approach communication differently from many companies, and the way they organise their week suggests a conscious effort to protect focus rather than fill calendars. Their hiring philosophy also hints at a distinctive view of what makes someone a good fit for a distributed team, and the way they handle compensation raises some interesting questions about fairness across locations.

Refer a Remote Work Expert As a Guest On The Show

Looking for Remote Work?

Click here remoteworklife.io to access a private beta list of remote jobs in sales, marketing, and strategy — plus get podcasts, real-world tips and business insights from founders, CEOs, and remote leaders. subscribe to my free newsletter

Connect on LinkedIn

Episode Transcript

Alex Wilson-Campbell (00:00):
Hey, it's Alex Wilson Campbell here.
Welcome back to the Remote WorkLife podcast.
In this series, I am trying tounderstand different remote
businesses and trying to do abit of research behind different
remote businesses to understandwhat they do, how they got
started, how they positionthemselves in the wider world of

(00:22):
distributed work.
And I'm going to publicize thisparticular episode, the video
of the episode, um, in my mygroup.
I've got a new group which I'vestarted on a platform called
School.
And School, which is spelt witha K, S K Dou L, is essentially

(00:44):
similar, it's similar to like aFacebook group, but a bit more
interactive, a bit more umcommunity-driven.
I'm trying to do that, or I'mdoing that because I have
started uh a new jobs by emailservice.
It's in beta at the moment, andit focuses on publicising jobs

(01:06):
that are advertised as remotejobs.
The jobs are mainly growthroles.
So when I say growth, I meansales, marketing, strategy, that
that kind of angle.
So what I'm doing is at themoment I'm in beta and I'm
testing that.
So this is all about umbringing attention to remote

(01:28):
businesses, not not necessarilybusinesses that I know, but
businesses that may, you know,you may want to know about
yourself.
You could do go and do yourdeeper research.
And I always I always remindpeople to do much deeper
research when it comes to umwhen it comes to you know
finding out and figuring outwhich companies they want to

(01:49):
work for.
So the group and the beta listis very much in line with with
that.
So, but as I said, today uhwanted to continue with going
along the lines of uhintroducing you to different
remote businesses, some thatI've not heard of myself,
actually.
This particular business thatI'm gonna talk to you about
today, I don't have any personalconnection.

(02:11):
Um, and nothing here should betaken as a recommendation, it's
just simply me looking at what'spublicly available and sharing
it with you.
And today I'm talking aboutParabol.
I want to take a closer look ata company called Parabol.
They focus on structured onlinemeetings for distributed teams.

(02:31):
Now, Parabol was founded in2015 by Jordan Husney.
And according to their originstory, the idea came from his
time in management consulting.
And he noticed himself that youknow something quite
interesting to him was that manysenior leaders were already

(02:54):
working with geographicallyspread teams, even before remote
work had a name attached to it.
And that observation seems tobe what nudged the company's
direction.
Instead of trying to replace uhvideo conferencing or create
another broad collaboration toollike Zoom, Parabol appears to

(03:17):
have aimed at a fairly specificpart of the market and a part
and a specific sort of team, solike structured meetings.
So they describe their platformas a way to run things like
retrospectives and planningsessions with more order and
consistency.
The features they include highuh include things like uh guided

(03:41):
templates, digital cards,timers, and automated uh
summaries.
The intention, at least, basedon how they present it, is to
bring a bit of shape to meetingsthat can easily drift without a
framework, and we've all beenthere, haven't we?
And Parabol positions itself asa fully distributed team, fully
distributed company.

(04:02):
They talk openly about theirpreference for flexible
schedules, asynchronouscommunication, um, and limiting
recurring meetings.
They also point out that theirteam spans multiple countries,
which aligns with the fullyremote approach many companies
have shifted towards.
So, looking at the informationthat I've got available and that

(04:26):
they share, the team itself,the product seems built around
the idea that certain teamrituals, especially in agile and
project-driven environments,benefit from structure.
Now, I'm not from anengineering background myself,
so I can't speak to how theseceremonies typically function

(04:47):
inside a technical team, butparabolic materials suggest
they're aiming to make theserecurring meetings clearer and
easier to manage.
Terms like retrospectives,planning sessions, and
estimation meetings come upquite often in their
descriptions.
The platform includes thingslike digital sticky notes,

(05:07):
multiplayer contribution,anonymous input options, and
automated meeting summaries.
From the outside looking in,the goal seems to be reducing
the admin burden that oftenfalls on one person and helping
conversations move in a cleardirection.
Now, whether that's helpful ornot will obviously depend on the

(05:30):
type of work your team does,but it gives a sense of where
Parabol places its focus.
Now, their growth story issomething which is quite
interesting.
Now, according to what I'veseen, what I've researched,
signups increased sharply duringthe pandemic, jumping from

(05:51):
around 500 weekly to severalthousand at peak demand.
They've talked about having toscale their infrastructure
quickly in response.
Again, I can't comment on theproduct's effectiveness, but the
surge does indicate there wasappetite for tools addressing
structured online meetings atthat time.

(06:12):
And I'm sure that, you know, asmuch as it probably hasn't
grown, I think it's probablystill still relevant now.
Now the hiring approach stoodout to me.
Parabol describes usingproject-based assessments rather
than typical interviews, whichgives a small window into how
they evaluate collaboration.
They also mentioned providingUS-based salaries regardless of

(06:34):
location.
Very nice, which is a detailsome listeners may find relevant
given the ongoing debatesaround location-based pay in
remote work.
Altogether, Parabol appears tobe a company focusing on one
piece of remote work and onepiece of that particular puzzle,

(06:56):
rather than trying to covereverything under one platform.
So just to take a step back andsummarize what Parabol seems to
be offering here, it's a fullyremote company built around the
idea of adding structure toonline meetings that follow
particular formats, especiallythose linked to agile or team

(07:16):
reflection cycles.
They outline a clear positionon flexible work, asynchronous
communication, and globalhiring.
Their origin story points to asimple observation.
Teams were already workingacross distances even before
remote work became mainstream,and the platform appears to be
their response to that.

(07:36):
As with any tool, whether it'srelevant will depend on your
team's workflow.
And this episode isn't anendorsement, it's simply an
overview based on informationthat I've found online.
If you're exploring tools inthis space, Parabol is one of
the companies you may want tolook at and assess for your own
team and your own needs.

(07:56):
For me, the interest alwayscomes back to how remote
companies present themselves andthe types of problems they're
solving.
Parabol sits at that categoryof businesses trying to make
distributed collaboration moremanageable.
How useful that is for yourcontext will be something only
you and your team can determine.
But I hope this episode isuseful for you, even if you're

(08:18):
just trying to understand, youknow, the types of options you
have in terms of fully remoteorganizations, whether you're
looking to work with them orlooking to work for them.
I'll see you on the nextepisode.