Should a startup focus on local in house developers or build a remote team from day one?

Local in house hires make it easier to build culture quickly, especially if your company is not yet good at written communication and documentation. Remote hiring, on the other hand, opens access to a larger pool of specialists, better rate to quality ratios, and easier scaling in both directions. The trade off is that remote teams require more deliberate process, clear expectations, and written decisions to avoid chaos. Many successful startups use a hybrid model: a small local core for product and leadership, plus vetted remote developers in compatible time zones for extra capacity. The right answer is the one that matches how disciplined you are willing to be about communication and process.