Jan 2, 2019 · 38m · a16z
a16z Podcast | Telepresence and Tech for a Distributed Workforce
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this a16z podcast episode, host Sonal Chokshi leads a discussion with industry founders Scott Hassan, Craig Walker, and Shan Sinha on how telepresence hardware, cloud software, and thoughtful product design enable effective distributed workforces.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. The host holds 18.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
The host as informed peer 4.2 Guest teaching 3.5 Guest disagreement 1.7 The host pushing back 2.8
speaking balance: gold is the host, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 19:54 Scott correcting Sonal on physical presence etiquette
Scott directly rejects Sonal's framing of remote interaction by asserting that beaming in is physically identical to being present, telling the host 'that's sort of an etiquette that you guys just haven't learned.'
Hardest push from the host ▶ 9:45 Sonal challenging remote tools with the multimillion-dollar deal exampleSonal pushes back against the premise that communication technology can replace in-person contact, raising the counterargument of high-stakes deal closings where flying in person remains irreplaceable.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:01 Shan reframing telepresence as an obsolete termShan corrects Sonal's episode topic premise by comparing the term 'telepresence' to asking about the mainframe market, educating her that telepresence is dead and reframing the conversation around modern distributed work statistics.
The host holds their own ▶ 25:24 Sonal connecting cloud communications to Mark Weiser's computer science theoriesSonal displays explicit domain expertise by citing Mark Weiser's foundational theories on ubiquitous and context-aware computing to reframe and elevate Craig's points on cloud communication context.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | The host as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | The host pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sourcing Global Talent and Distributed Workforces | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | Sonal opens by asking a provocative question about why telepresence matters when the problem has existed for years. Shan Sinha gently reframes her premise by explaining that 'telepresence' as a concept is dead, like mainframes, and presents statistics on the rise of distributed workforces. | |
| Audio vs. Video Communication and In-Person Realities | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | Sonal challenges the necessity of video by asking why traditional phone calls aren't enough, and later introduces a counterexample regarding multimillion-dollar contract negotiations where flying in person is mandatory. The guests agree with her nuance regarding the limits of technology. | |
| Physical Presence, Serendipity, and Company Culture | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | Scott Hassan details how Beam devices enable passive serendipitous interactions rather than transactional calls. Shan Sinha shares study data showing two-thirds of workers prefer in-person meetings, while Sonal primarily listens and facilitates. | |
| Remote Etiquette and Humanizing Digital Interactions | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | Scott Hassan firmly corrects Sonal regarding office etiquette when interacting with Beams, telling her 'that's sort of an etiquette that you guys just haven't learned.' Sonal pushes back using a real-world story of how people interact with Beams in their office, arguing that physical distance creates subtle social differences. | |
| Cloud Productivity Integration and Environmental Connectivity | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | Sonal demonstrates strong academic/tech history knowledge by connecting Craig Walker's point about metadata in cloud communications to Mark Weiser's concepts of ubiquitous and context-aware computing. Shan Sinha offers a mild pragmatic reframe, taking a 'less future-looking lens' focused on immediate workplace friction. | |
| Design Philosophy and Minimizing User Friction | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | The guests outline their design philosophies around democratizing video and placing cognitive load on the user who benefits most. Sonal actively synthesizes their points regarding UI complexity and user troubleshooting friction. |
Statements from this episode (13)
Sinha: Two-thirds of workers now work remotely
“You can just look at all the statistics, you know, companies are increasingly more distributed. Two thirds of workers are now working from remote locations, not going into the office.”
Sinha: Google hosted 20,000 daily video calls for 40,000 employees
“When we were at Google, I think we left right around the same time, but when we were at Google, we were around 40,000 people. Every single day, they would do 20,000 video calls. The average person used video one to two times a day”
Walker: Holograms will never replace face-to-face meetings for critical business
“When there's something big, when, like, it's, you know, it's time to go shake the hand, or it's time they're having an issue, and you gotta go calm them down, that's a face-to-face thing, and I don't think we'll ever get, even if you had a killer virtual holog…”
Hassan: Remote engineers stay logged into Beam for 6 to 8 hours
“We have engineers that sit on the beam for more than six, eight hours. At a time, and they overhear conversations, so they're working from Indiana, from, you know, from Vancouver, all around the world, and they basically are there with their team, embedded wit…”
Sinha: Internal study shows two-thirds of people prefer in-person meetings
“We ran a survey or we ran a study a couple of months back, and one of the things that we learned, I don't know if this is going to be a surprise to anybody, but it turns out two-thirds of people actually prefer in-person meetings over everything else.”
Sinha: Mandatory video meetings reduce interpersonal hostility between teams
“As soon as you required all of their meetings to be done over video And, you know, the thing that made it work was, it was easy to you, all that kind of stuff. But as soon as you got everyone to be able to just plug in and use video, everything softened. Becau…”
Hassan: Suitable Technologies bans touching Beam devices while someone is logged in
“We have a policy of all employees. Once someone's beamed in, a customer or an employee or anybody beamed in, You're not allowed to touch the beam at all. We want to, we apply the same principles as if they were there. So you don't touch them.”
Walker: 52% of businesses still rely on on-premise productivity servers
“Currently it's at 48%, which is pretty high, but it still makes you realize that 52% of the businesses aren't.”
Walker: Cloud productivity is a two-horse race between Google and Microsoft
“They're really gonna, it's a two horse race. You're either going to move to the cloud with your productivity suite. It's going to be Google apps or it's going to be office three, 65”
Walker: Office 365 grew from 7% to 25% market share in one year
“Office three, 65. It was this recent bit class report, but like has now overtaken Google apps and just Over the last year, it went from seven percent to 25% of the market.”
Hassan: Suitable Technologies operates a fully automated store with zero physical staff
“At our we have a store on University Ave in Palo Alto right across the street from the Apple store, and it's been, we opened it in October of last year, Halloween, right, was our first day was open, and it's a fully automated store. There are no none of my emp…”
Hassan: Learning burden should rest solely on a technology's primary beneficiary
“In a design of our product, my philosophy, Is that you should only put the burden of learning on the person who most benefits from that technology, right? You shouldn't put it on someone who doesn't really benefit from it, right?”