⚡️Embracing Change: Our Journey to Fully Remote Work 🌟🌍

Dear Kano Community,

In the ever-evolving landscape of work, adaptability is key. 🔄 As a team, we've always prided ourselves on our ability to pivot, innovate, and embrace change. Today, we're excited to share a significant milestone in our journey: we've gone fully remote!🚀💼

After 4 years of successfully operating as a remote team, we've decided to take the next step and bid farewell to our office. The decision to go fully remote was a result of a gradual shift in our working culture. It was the culmination of a rapid pivot during the early pandemic, careful consideration and nurturing of our remote culture and connection, feedback from our team members, an acknowledgment of the shifting dynamics in the modern workplace, relevant data on our office use, and also, our lease was ending 🤣.

But, this decision was not made lightly. Those located in Victoria, BC, know that post our makeshift apartment workstations in founder living rooms and kitchens, we’ve had a succession of “real” offices, starting with our first, at 45 Bastion Square.🏢📍

Bastion Square holds a special place in our hearts. 💖 It was defined by a work hard / play hard mentality, nerf gun wars 🔫, and the torture of “slide guitar guy” 🎸 who played the same song over and over for hours outside our front window. Most importantly, however, it was where we really started to develop our culture and values, especially around resourcefulness and ownership, as we often had no idea what we were doing in a nascent and growing space and were figuring things out along the way. 🤔💪

From Bastion Square, we moved to 539 Herald St, where we were really able to create a space of our own (we got a sign 🎉), became addicted to foosball, and got to know our community. Coffee ☕ and beer 🍺 culture grew, being that our office was over Union Pacific coffee and the quick stroll to Phillips for growler fill-ups became a weekly tradition for team members. We can also lay claim to being some of the first regulars at the popular Jam Cafe! If you don’t believe us, ask Brent, a longstanding product leader at Kano. At Herald, we started to gain local notoriety through our successes and were often part of tours to show folks what was happening in Victoria’s tech community, which was often hidden from downtown storefronts but very much alive on the second floors of retail businesses. 🌎🏡

From Herald, we moved to 844 Courtney St, where we experienced several more moves within the building to accommodate our growing team. 📈 We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to Dan Robbins and Fraser McColl, who are amazing landlords and really understood and accommodated the needs of a company like ours. 🙏✨

Proud of the culture that we had built in the office, when the pandemic hit, we were very concerned about how we would maintain our “super power” 💪 if we were all to be remote. By no means without mistakes and challenges, but again, leading with curiosity and resourcefulness, we were able to evolve our culture in this new setting. 🌐✨ Especially when travel restraints came down and we were able to meet twice yearly for our team summits. ✈️🎉

So, what does this mean for us? 🤔 Mostly, business as usual. It means flexibility, autonomy, and more opportunities for collaboration. 🤝 It means saying goodbye to the traditional office setup and hello to a new way of working—one that empowers our team members to thrive, no matter where they are in the world. 🌍 We will lean on our core value of continuous improvement and always think of ourselves as a work in progress. 🔄🚀 

As such, we are constantly evaluating our communication strategies, exploring new ways to foster team cohesion, and regularly checking in to ensure that everyone has the tools and resources they need to succeed. 🛠️📈 As we've always done, we approach challenges head-on, with creativity, resilience, and a shared commitment to our goals. 💡💪🎯

Now that we've fully embraced remote work, we're excited about the possibilities it opens up for us. 🌟 Ultimately, we are here to create amazing gaming experiences for our players, and now, we can recruit top talent from anywhere in Canada, tap into diverse perspectives and experiences, and create a more inclusive and flexible work environment for everyone on our team. 🌎👥 We believe the result of this will be just that—amazing experiences for our players and better games overall. 🎮✨

This transition also opens up exciting possibilities for our future in-person Summits. Without the constraints of a physical office, we'll have the freedom to draw inspiration from new locations, immersing ourselves in different cultures and environments as we come together to strategize, innovate, and celebrate our successes. 🌍🎉 We'll explore co-working spaces like the incredible KWENCH, providing us with dynamic environments for collaboration and creativity. 🏢🎨

But perhaps most importantly, going fully remote reaffirms our belief in the power of adaptability and our ability to thrive in the face of change. 💪🔄 As we continue on this journey, we're excited to see where it takes us and how it shapes the future of our team and our company, and ultimately the games for our players. 🎯

So here's to embracing change, seizing new opportunities, and building a brighter future together, no matter where we are. Welcome to the next chapter of our journey—let's make it one to remember! 🚀✨

Stay tuned for more updates and insights as we embark on this exciting new adventure together.

Until next time, 👋

Tim Teh, Founder and CEO 🌟🚀