Every year, the number of specialists who want to work from home is growing. Remotive.com is a platform where IT professionals can find remote work. Its founder, Frenchman Rodolphe Dutel, started this project as a small hobby in his spare time. However, over time, this project turned into a full-fledged business, which in 2023 brought him more than $156,000 and attracted thousands of regular users.
Wondering how Remotive from a small startup became one of the leaders among job sites for remote work? In this article, we will share the company’s success story and useful tips from the founder, scroll on.
How it all started
Rodolph Dutel founded Remotive in 2014 after being inspired by his experience at Buffer, a company where all employees work remotely. He noticed that many people wanted to work in a remote format, but didn’t know where to look for such jobs. This was the impetus for the creation of his platform.
Although the domain remotive.com was taken, Rodolphe did not give up. He launched a website at remotive.io, starting with a simple newsletter with articles and tips about remote work. Each week, Rodolphe shared valuable information with his audience, and this became the foundation for the takeoff of his project.
It was his strong desire to help people find remote work, as well as his sustainability in the development of the project, that became the key factors in the success of Remotive. By launching regular newsletters that aroused the interest of the target audience, Rodolphe was able to create an active community of people interested in remote work around him.
How Remotive grew into a popular resource
Remotive developed gradually. Rodolphe continued to actively work on the project as the demand for information about remote work grew steadily. What started as a side hustle gradually turned into an important resource for those looking for useful tips and jobs for working from home.
To better interact with his audience, Rodolphe created a Slack community for people who work remotely. This way, users began to share experiences and support each other, and it became a source of income for the project through paid subscriptions.
Success didn’t come overnight. Rodolphe faced difficulties trying to combine work on Remotive with his full-time job. However, thanks to his persistence and ability to make smart decisions, he gradually overcame these challenges and turned Remotive into a full-fledged business.
Marketing strategies that worked
The secret of Remotive’s success is in competent marketing and building loyal relationships with users. We highlight several key strategic steps that played a crucial role in turning a hobby into an effective business model:
- Previous experience. Rodolphe utilized his knowledge of social media that he gained while working at Buffer. He launched Remotive on the Product Hunt platform and quickly drew attention to the project through networking.
- Interesting and relevant content. Rodolphe focused on content marketing. He regularly published interesting materials: articles, tips, blogs, and even memes. Especially popular were the lists of salaries for remote workers and lists of companies that support remote work. This ensured a natural increase in the popularity of Remotive.
- Word of Mouth. The Remotive project seemed to have been created with a heart, and users were eager to tell their friends and colleagues about it. The community actively helped to promote the site, and so more and more new members joined.
Monetization strategies
What about monetization models? We have also researched this and are ready to share it. When Remotive gained popularity and a large community of warmed-up audience, Rodolphe started looking for ways to monetize the project and ensure its further development. He uses the following monetization methods:
- Selling ads in the newsletter. Advertising in the weekly newsletter has become one of the sources of income. Companies pay $850 for the opportunity to tell 25 thousand active subscribers about themselves.
- Paid community in Slack Another source of income was a paid subscription to the Slack community, as we have already mentioned. Users pay $99 per year for access to this community. Yes, it’s a lot, but insider tips and networking in an active community brings participants much more.
- Services for companies. Rodolphe realized that many companies are interested in hiring qualified specialists to work from home (minus the cost of renting an office, at least). So Remotive started offering companies promotion services on the platform. Prices for these services start at $799 per month. This has strengthened the platform’s position as a reliable partner for companies.
- Forum for leaders. A closed forum called Leadership Discourse has been created for remote team leaders. Participation in it costs $25 per month or $250 per year. It has become a useful platform for exchanging experience between remote team leaders and, of course, another source of income for the company.
However, the company does not plan to stop there. The Remotive team has big plans for the future. They want not only to maintain their position in the market, but also to become the main platform for remote work. Not only do they offer users quality jobs that are carefully checked before publication, share insider tips on remote work, but they also create products that help the audience get more.
Final word
Remotive is an example of how a small project started as a hobby can become a successful business with enough effort, the right decisions, and a creative approach. Remotive continues to grow, helping thousands of IT professionals find work on the marketplace and supporting their career growth. We will follow the development of the platform.