The remote work startups that will last aren’t actually remote work startups

Back in 2020 when the pandemic forced people to work from home, entrepreneurs saw an opportunity to build tools to fuel this new transition to remote work. From virtual offices to making it easy to run payroll for a distributed team, founders leaned in hard.

But now, three years later, some companies have remained remote, others have gone back to the office, and most are operating somewhere in the middle. It’s become increasingly unclear if there really is a large market for companies focused on catering exclusively to remote work. It seems that the remote work category has lost steam — but has it?

It’s hard to pin the exact numbers on it — because the category can include companies across various sectors — but there are signs that things aren’t going well for many remote work startups.