<p>What does craftsmanship look like in an async-first, remote company?</p><p>In this episode of<em> Distributed</em>, host Jack Hannah sits down with Steve Schoeffel, co-founder of Whimsical, to talk about async-first work, craftsmanship, and the tradeoffs of running a fully remote company. Steve shares how Whimsical creates momentum without constant meetings, why quality lives in the details, and how async-first work shapes both the product and the company culture.</p><p>Steve also reflects on the harder, more personal side of the work. He talks candidly about co-founder misalignment, the strain of leadership during periods of uncertainty, and what it’s been like to learn to hold work more loosely over time.</p><p>They also dig into the return-to-office push and why Steve remains convinced that remote work, done well, is worth fighting for.</p><p>—</p><p><strong>Where to find Steve Schoeffel:</strong></p><p>• LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveschoeffel" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveschoeffel</a></p><p>—</p><p><strong>Where to find Jack Hannah:  </strong></p><p>• LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-hannah/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-hannah/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></p><p>• Website: <a href="https://tuple.app/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tuple.app/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></p><p>—</p><p><strong>Timestamps:</strong></p><p>(00:00) Intro</p><p>(01:02) An overview of Whimsical </p><p>(02:02) The size of Whimsical’s team and how it operates across time zones</p><p>(03:08) What the Whimsical Way is and how it shows up in practice </p><p>(04:58) Why Whimsical is async-first and what that looks like in practice</p><p>(10:49) How Whimsical maintains energy and connection in async work</p><p>(13:59) Craftsmanship as a core value at Whimsical</p><p>(18:21) How Whimsical pursues “insanely great” work</p><p>(24:14) What’s been hardest about running a remote company</p><p>(28:24) How Steve realized he and his co-founder were misaligned</p><p>(32:08) How Steve is learning to detach from work and care for himself</p><p>(36:32) Why Steve remains pro–remote work amid big tech’s return-to-office push</p><p>—</p><p><strong>Referenced:</strong></p><p>• Whimsical: <a href="https://whimsical.com" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://whimsical.com</a></p><p>• The Whimsical Way: <a href="https://whimsical.com/whimsical-way" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://whimsical.com/whimsical-way</a></p><p>• Kaspars Dancis on LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kasparsd" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://www.linkedin.com/in/kasparsd</a> </p><p>• How async work inspires craftsmanship: <a href="https://whimsical.com/blog/how-async-work-inspires-craftsmanship" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://whimsical.com/blog/how-async-work-inspires-craftsmanship</a></p><p>• Development cycles, process, and tooling: <a href="https://tuple.app/distributed/head-of-engineering-at-sublime-security-on-development-cycles-process-and-tooling-with-sumeet-jain" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://tuple.app/distributed/head-of-engineering-at-sublime-security-on-development-cycles-process-and-tooling-with-sumeet-jain</a></p><p>• Craftsmanship, the heart of Whimsical: <a href="https://whimsical.com/blog/craftsmanship-the-heart-of-whimsical" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://whimsical.com/blog/craftsmanship-the-heart-of-whimsical</a></p><p>• Frank Slootman on LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankslootman" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankslootman</a></p><p>• Shapeup: <a href="https://basecamp.com/shapeup" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://basecamp.com/shapeup</a><br></p>