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How was the business started?

The journey of Remotive began in 2014 when Rodolphe, inspired by his experience working remotely at Buffer, decided to help friends seeking advice on landing remote opportunities. Recognizing the growing interest in remote work and the lack of dedicated resources addressing this need, he saw an opportunity to fill the gap by providing valuable information to those seeking remote job opportunities.

In 2014, Rodolphe launched Remotive as a newsletter dedicated to remote work. He opted for a simple yet effective approach, sharing curated articles and insights on remote employment. Although the domain remotive.com was already registered, he proceeded with remotive.io. This decision did not hinder his determination to grow the initiative.

Initially, Remotive focused on curating articles on remote work, with the primary medium being a weekly newsletter. This newsletter provided valuable tips, resources, and information to individuals exploring remote work opportunities. Despite challenges, Rodolphe emphasized consistency, ensuring the newsletter was sent out weekly.

In the early stages, Remotive was a side project while Rodolphe worked full-time elsewhere. As the project gained traction and began generating revenue, he transitioned to working on it full-time. Over time, Remotive evolved from a part-time business to a full-fledged venture, introducing features like a community, company profiles, and leadership discourse to cater to the growing audience.

Marketing Strategies

Rodolphe employed a combination of strategic marketing approaches to propel Remotive’s growth:

Social Media and Product Hunt:

Rodolphe’s prior experience at Buffer gave him insights into social media promotion. Buffer's promotion and support played a significant role in Remotive’s early visibility, with Buffer and its employees actively promoting Remotive on social media platforms.

Content Marketing:

In its early stages, Remotive started as a newsletter curating articles about remote work. Rodolphe’s commitment to consistently delivering this curated newsletter established Remotive as a trusted source of information in the remote work niche. To meet the audience's desire for direct access to data, he also introduced spreadsheets on various remote work topics, which became valuable resources for users.

Evolution to Blogs and Cartoons:

Over time, the content strategy expanded to include blogs, cartoons, and social media posts, allowing Remotive to engage with a broader audience and cater to different content preferences.

Community Building:

Recognizing the importance of community, Rodolphe introduced a Slack community for remote workers. This space provided a platform for professionals to connect, share experiences, and seek advice, becoming a virtual co-working environment and generating revenue through memberships.

Word of Mouth and Goodwill:

Remotive benefited from organic support due to its reputation as a side project led by someone genuinely passionate about the remote work community. This goodwill translated into shares and retweets from the tech community, fueling word-of-mouth marketing.

Data-Driven Marketing:

Rodolphe’s creation of spreadsheets on topics like remote workers' salaries and lists of remote-friendly startups served a dual purpose: offering valuable data to the audience while driving virality and helping expand Remotive’s reach.

As the business evolved, Rodolphe adapted by focusing more on content creation, including blogging, cartoons, and active engagement on social media platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn. This adaptability ensured that Remotive remained relevant in the changing digital landscape.

Approach to Revenue Generation

With a high-traffic website and a newsletter, Remotive has several monetization options:

Newsletter Ads:

It charges businesses $850 to advertise to Remotive’s 25,000 subscribers, with one ad per email and two newsletters per month.

Community memberships:

Offering lifetime access or annual memberships to the Slack community for remote workers, priced at $149 and $99, respectively.

Remote employer branding:

It provides services to promote remote startups, starting at $799 monthly.

Leadership Discourse:

Offering a private discourse for remote team leaders, with approved applicants paying $25 per month or $250 per year.

Miscellaneous Revenue:

Additional revenue streams include on-and-off special deals, display deals, courses, and partnerships.

According to Rodolphe, the platform’s expenses are limited to approximately $2,000 per month, which allows Remotive to prioritize convenience over cost-saving measures.

Learn More

For more information about Rodolphe and his business, visit:

Official Website

Remotive’s newsletter sponsorship page

Remotive’s Projected Revenue