Remote Year Explained

Remote Year
Key People:Greg Caplan, co-founder and CEO,[1] Sam Pessin, Co-founder and COO
Industry:Travel
Founded:2014
Logo Alt:Remote Year Logo

Remote Year is a company that facilitates travel and accommodations for people working or interested in working remotely.[2] [3] For $2,000-3,000 per month, Remote Year organizes accommodation, workspaces and professional and local activities to enable participants to travel while continuing to work and to foster a sense of community amongst the group traveling together.[4] The program includes a 12-month trip across 12 cities in various countries.[5] [6] across four continents[7] [8] Remote Year has hosted employees from over 300 companies participating in the program.[9]

History

Greg Caplan and Sam Pessin launched Remote Year in 2014,[10] [11] [12] after finding it difficult to travel with friends whose work schedules didn't allow for the ability to travel freely.[9] [13] Prior to launching the company, Caplan founded the fashion company, oBaz, which was eventually acquired by Groupon,[14] where Caplan remained until 2013.[15] [16]

Applications for the first Remote Year program opened in December 2014. Over 50,000 people signed up to be notified when the application went live.[9] Three days after the site launched, there were 3,000 inquiries from potential applicants and 15 companies interested in hiring workers participating in the program.[17] For each of its programs, Remote Year arranges travel between cities, housing, co-working spaces with Wi-Fi, and personal and professional group activities.[18]

In summer 2015, Remote Year facilitated the first program for 75 participants.[12] [19] [20] [21] The initial group received over 25,000 applicants, from 40 different countries ranging from 22 to 65 years old.[22] The trip, which started that June in Prague, included Ljubljana, Cavtat, Istanbul, Penang, Ko Pha-ngan, Hanoi, Kyoto, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Santiago and Lima.[23] [24] [25] The second trip left the US in February 2016 and began in South America.[26] The third group, which left in June 2016, was scheduled for destinations including Prague, Czech Republic; Lisbon, Portugal; and Buenos Aires, Argentina.[27]

In October 2016, Remote Year received Series A funding led by Highland Capital Partners with participation by Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk, and Flybridge Capital Partners. At that point, Remote Year had worked with employees from over 100 companies, including 20 from the Fortune 500 and employed 85 people around the world.[28] [29] [30] Remote Year has developed co-working spaces for its programs in locations such as Croatia in order to scale company operations.[31] [29]

In October 2020, Selina, a Panama-based hospitality brand, acquired Remote Year for an undisclosed amount.[32]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Provincial Life of the Digital Nomad. Linda Kinstler. March 15, 2017. Bloomberg.
  2. Web site: Three Group Travel Services Aim To Make Remote Work Effortless. Kavi Guppta. February 9, 2016. Forbes.
  3. Web site: Working While Traveling Around the World. Patricia R. Olsen. June 8, 2017. New York Times.
  4. Web site: Working gap years: how going Remote can connect you with like-minded people. Rin Hamburgh. December 10, 2015. The Guardian.
  5. Web site: What I learnt from making a plane, ship and train my office. Tiffanie Wen. May 9, 2016. BBC.
  6. Web site: The Trend Toward Working From Almost Anywhere. Margaret Jacoby. September 8, 2016. Huffington Post.
  7. Web site: Home, suite home. Judith Ritter. May 18, 2017. The Globe and Mail.
  8. Web site: Remote Year wants you to spend a year working all over the world. Miguel Lopez. September 11, 2014. Genbeta.
  9. Web site: Why This Man Plans To Shpherd 100 Remote Workers Around The World For A Year. Libby Kane. December 15, 2014. Business Insider.
  10. Web site: Remote Year: work each month in a different city for one year. Victoria Mujica. February 17, 2016. El Observador.
  11. Web site: Working holidays: a good idea or just plain exhausting?. Harriet Minter. September 26, 2016. The Guardian.
  12. Web site: How much would you pay to live – and work – in a different country every month?. Brooke Edwards Staggs. September 5, 2015. Orange County Register.
  13. Web site: Duty & Pleasure. Juan Martinez. Revista Nueva.
  14. Web site: For $27,000 a year, Remote Year will let you take your job overseas. Michael Castillo. July 16, 2017. CNBC.
  15. Web site: A year of remote work and travel: startup wants to make it work. September 26, 2014. Rodrigo Capelo. Globo.
  16. Web site: Here's How To Travel The World But Still Keep Your Job. Dominique Mosbergen. July 1, 2016. Huffington Post.
  17. Web site: Want To Work While Traveling The World For A Year? This Startup Might Be Able To Help. September 24, 2014. Jessica Hullinger. Fast Company.
  18. Web site: This Company Will Help You Travel the World for a Year While You Keep Your Job. Cortney Clift. February 22, 2016. Brit + Co.
  19. Web site: How an R/GA Designer Dreamed Up a Way for Anyone to Take the Most Creative Vacation. Tim Nudd. March 1, 2016. AdWeek.
  20. Web site: Fed up with the daily grind? Working from a tropical island is easier than you think. Elizabeth Anderson. August 18, 2015. Telegraph.
  21. Web site: The people who pay $27,000 to work abroad. Mark johanson. November 10, 2016. BBC.
  22. Web site: A New Company Offers You To Keep Your Job While You Travel Around The World. Jena Mcgregor. June 5, 2015. Independent.
  23. Web site: Remote Year Promised to Combine Work and Travel. Was It Too Good to Be True?. Erika Adams. May 5, 2016. Atlas Obscura.
  24. Web site: Got wanderlust? Now you can go without leaving the job. Jena McGregor. June 5, 2015. Chicago Tribune.
  25. Web site: Work, travel, get paid. Steve Hargreaves. June 8, 2015. CNN.
  26. Web site: A developer who started working over 4,000 miles away from his office explains what it takes to succeed at a distance. Libby Kane. July 8, 2016. Business Insider.
  27. Web site: Work and Wanderlust: Take Your Job Abroad. April 7, 2016. Ana Connery. Parade.
  28. Web site: Remote Year Raises $12 Million Series A To Transform Workforce Mobility. Kavi Guppta. October 25, 2016. Forbes.
  29. Web site: Remote Year raises $12 million to combine remote work and global travel. October 11, 2016. Anthony Ha. Tech Crunch.
  30. Web site: Rise of the digital nomad: Why working remotely could draw more millennials to the tech industry. Alison DeNisco. November 14, 2016. TechRepublic.
  31. Web site: Out of Office: Workers Try a Year on the Road. Joshua Jamerson. November 29, 2016. The Wall Street Journal.
  32. Web site: O'Neill. Sean. 2020-10-05. Selina Nabs Remote Year in Bet on Subscription Travel for Digital Nomads. 2022-02-01. Skift. en-US . Remote year doesn’t yet have a timetable on when it will resume accepting customers. It had until now offered 1, 4, 6 and 12-month programs, in a dozen cities, including Mexico City, Medellin, Lima, Santiago, Split, Lisbon, Valencia, Cape Town, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, Chiang Mai, and Kyoto. The program had cost between $2,000 and $3,000 a month plus an initial payment. .

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