我为什么选择飞去和远程工程师一起工作（而不是在湾区找联合创始人）
1 分•作者: iliaov•7 个月前
三个月前，我开始在加州寻找我机器人创业公司的联合创始人。理想的候选人画像很明确：10 倍工程师，顶尖学校背景（对融资 pre-traction 阶段有帮助），位于旧金山湾区。<p>经过三个月的寻找——包括创造性的拓展，产生了大约六次面对面的面试——我一个联合创始人都没找到。
截止日期<p>关于寻找联合创始人，有一点需要注意：它是有截止日期的。在某个时间点，业务需要进入下一个阶段，无论有没有完美的联合创始人。两周前，我在中国进行制造考察时，就到了那个时间点。<p>在那里，我算了一笔账。飞往中国并停留两周的成本，比支付一个工程师在旧金山湾区一个月的工资要低两个数量级（2000 美元/月 vs 16 万美元/年 + 2000 美元/月福利 + 2.5 万美元融资奖励 + 股权）。<p>那时我意识到，我优化错了约束条件。<p>拆分“理想”联合创始人<p>我一直在寻找既是 10 倍工程师，又有顶尖背景的人。但如果我把这个人格拆分成两个独立的雇员呢？<p>新方法：<p>雇佣 1：通过 Upwork 远程高绩效者
- 20-80 美元/小时（比旧金山创业公司工资便宜 2 到 4 倍）
- 自主、热情、努力工作
- 地点：任何地方<p>雇佣 2：兼职顾问，拥有顶级背景
- 仅限股权
- 主要职责：帮助提高融资信誉
- 地点：任何地方<p>我的妻子同意我出差，所以我完全取消了地点限制。<p>现阶段远程工作的难题<p>事情变得棘手的地方在于此。我仍然处于非常早期的 MVP 阶段。构思和试错循环非常快——尤其是我使用 Claude Code 来实现想法。（我在 MVP 原型设计中使用 Claude，它非常棒。）<p>问题是：这种快速迭代循环不适用于远程工作。如果我在晚上发送规范，早上得到实现，白天进行测试，然后重复——我们已经在每个周期中增加了 12 个小时以上的延迟。当你在现场每天运行多个周期时，远程工作感觉就像在蜜糖里移动。<p>解决方案：混合“外派”+ 远程<p>我计划如下：
- 飞往自由职业者的城市
- 在酒店住 1-2 周
- 带上硬件和 MVP 原型
- 面对面工作，让他们达到 100% 的生产力
- 返回家
- 远程工作，直到需要下一次现场冲刺
- 重复<p>成本结构是合理的。一两周的旅行 + 住宿 + 集中工作，仍然比旧金山工资便宜 10 倍。而且我可以用笔记本电脑在任何地方工作。<p>你觉得怎么样？
- 还有人尝试过这种混合方法吗？效果如何？
- 我没有看到哪些失败模式？
- 这种方法能长期持续吗？
查看原文
Three months ago, I started searching for a cofounder for my robotics startup in California. The ideal candidate profile was clear: 10x engineer, top-tier school credentials (helpful for fundraising pre-traction), located in the SF Bay Area.<p>After three months of searching—including creative outreach that generated half a dozen face-to-face interviews—I found exactly zero cofounders.
The Expiration Date<p>Here’s the thing about cofounder searches: they have an expiration date. At some point, the business needs to move to its next phase, with or without the perfect cofounder. I hit that point two weeks ago during a manufacturing trip to China.<p>While there, I did some math. The cost of flying to China and staying for two weeks was two orders of magnitude less than paying a single month’s SF Bay Area salary for an engineer ($2K/month vs $160/year + $2K/month benefits + $25K capital rais bonus + equity).<p>That’s when I realized I was optimizing for the wrong constraint.<p>Splitting the “Ideal” Cofounder<p>I was looking for someone who was both a 10x engineer and had top-tier credentials. But what if I split that persona into two separate hires?<p>New approach:<p>Hire 1: Remote high-performer via Upwork
- $20-80/hour (2x to 4x cheaper than SF startup salaries)
- Autonomous, enthusiastic, hard worker
- Location: anywhere<p>Hire 2: Part-time advisor with tier-1 credentials
- Equity only
- Primary role: help with fundraising credibility
- Location: anywhere<p>My wife is okay with me traveling, so I dropped the location filter entirely.<p>The Problem with Remote at This Stage<p>Here’s where it gets tricky. I’m still at the very early MVP stage. The ideation and trial-and-error loop is brutally fast—especially because I’m using Claude Code to implement ideas. (I use Claude for everything in MVP prototyping, and it’s been fantastic.)<p>The problem: that fast iteration loop doesn’t work well with remote. If I send specs in the evening, get implementation in the morning, test during the day, and repeat—we’re already adding 12+ hour delays to each cycle. When you’re running multiple cycles per day in-person, going remote feels like moving through molasses.<p>The Solution: Hybrid “Out-Person” + Remote<p>Here’s what I’m planning:
- Fly to the freelancer’s city
- Stay in a hotel for 1-2 weeks
- Bring hardware and MVP prototype with me
- Work face-to-face to get them to 100% productivity
- Return home
- Work remotely until the next in-person sprint is needed
- Repeat<p>The cost structure makes sense. A week or two of travel + accommodation + focused work is still 10x dramatically cheaper than SF salaries. And I can work from anywhere with my laptop.<p>What do you think about it?
- Has anyone else tried this hybrid approach? How did it work out?
- What are the failure modes I’m not seeing?
- Is this sustainable long-term?