632: (Solo) Why In-Person Still Wins (Even in a Remote World) - The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

Summary4 min read

Episode Overview

Title: Why In-Person Still Wins (Even in a Remote World)
Host: Nathan Chan
Date: February 16, 2026
Podcast: The Foundr Podcast

In this solo episode, Nathan Chan reflects on the increasing trend toward remote work and collaboration in a post-Covid world. Drawing from his own recent experiences at Foundr, Nathan makes a passionate case for the unique, irreplaceable value of in-person connections in business—particularly for founders, teams, and anyone building entrepreneurial ventures. He shares personal anecdotes, relevant data, and actionable advice on striking the right balance between remote flexibility and the power of face-to-face interaction.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Shift to Remote Work and Its Shortcomings

Remote Collaboration as the New Norm
- Post-Covid, businesses, including Foundr, have adapted to tools like Zoom, Slack, and asynchronous work schedules.
- Nathan acknowledges the upsides: flexibility, efficiency, and convenience for teams and individuals.
"What We Are Missing": Human Connection
- Nathan observes: “Yes, it's easier to work from home, yes, it could be more efficient. But what we are missing sometimes is in-person collaboration to really move things forward, get there faster, build relationships.” (01:11)
- He highlights that remote work may nurture a degree of selfishness around personal convenience at the expense of team synergy and rapid progress.

2. Case Study: Collaborating with Nick Shackelford

Who is Nick Shackelford?
- “He is just an absolute master at paid advertising... one of the best in the world, especially for E Com brands and scaling.” (02:00)
- Nathan and Nick are building "Foundr Operators" together—a new community/platform to help founders scale their advertising.
Initial Challenges Working Remotely Across Time Zones
- Misalignment and time zone difficulties caused productivity stalls.
- Nathan notes: “Things are stalling. We're bumping into time zone challenges, misalignment. Really hard to get the team across this.” (03:17)
Breakthrough via In-Person Work
- Nick flew from LA to Melbourne for four days of direct collaboration.
- “We got more done in four days together than we had in three, four months remotely. There was so much less restriction, no time crunches or like a super strict agenda, just like solving problems, creating content in real time, building alignment instantly, trust, getting built way faster.” (04:04)
- The team achieved dramatic gains in output, clarity, and synchronization.

3. Why In-Person Still Wins

Relationship Building and Deal Making
- “If you want to do deals, it's so hard to do deals. You got to meet the person in person. If you want to build better relationships with your team members or suppliers, you've got to meet them in person.” (05:09)
- Nathan stresses that nothing replaces face-to-face interaction for trust and rapport.
The Science Backs It Up
- “Research shows that professionals expect up to 36% more revenue and better outcomes from face to face interactions compared to virtual ones. And studies have found that groups working physically together generate 15 to 20% more ideas than teams collaborating only online.” (06:04)
- He points out that in-person work accelerates problem-solving, creativity, and strategic alignment.
Limits of Digital Tools
- Respecting tools like Zoom and Slack as “empowering, they're essential, but they're not a replacement.” (06:31)
- Nathan highlights the ease of reading body language, immediate feedback, and stronger trust built in real-life settings.

4. Reflections and Commitments for 2026

Foundr’s Approach
- While Foundr remains committed to remote work, there will be an intentional increase in regular in-person meetups and collaboration—both with team members and external partners.
Personal and Organizational Shifts
- Nathan shares plans:
  - “I'm aiming to do a lot more in person interviews as well and soon I will be doing global tours. So personally I'm doubling down on real relationships. Not just online, but offline too.” (07:11)
- He encourages listeners not to interpret this shift as a return to rigid in-office schedules, but as a call to leverage the unique energy of in-person meetings for moments that matter.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On the Irreplaceable Value of In-Person:
- “We got more done in four days together than we had in three, four months remotely.” — Nathan Chan (04:17)
- “Humans are wired for connection. We're wired to bond in physical spaces, for proximity, for reading, body language.” — Nathan Chan (06:10)
- “If you're trying to get a deal done... meet them in person. Have dinner, have lunch, have a coffee. Build things together. It's so much more fun. You'll get way better outcomes.” — Nathan Chan (08:17)

Timestamps for Key Segments

01:11 — Remote work: Pros, cons, and the loss of in-person synergy
02:00 — Introduction to Nick Shackelford and their stalled remote collaboration
04:04 — The four-day in-person sprint: massive productivity gains
05:09 — Why deals and relationships require real-life connection
06:04 — Research and statistics: in-person vs virtual outcomes
07:11 — Nathan’s commitment: Doubling down on in-person relationships in 2026
08:17 — Practical advice: The power of meeting for meals and casual conversations

Takeaways for Listeners

In-person interactions are vital—especially for breakthrough collaboration, trust-building, and creative alignment.
Remote tools are helpful, but should complement—not replace—physical gatherings for key activities.
Being intentional about scheduling face-to-face time can accelerate progress, resolve stalls, and lead to better business outcomes.
Maintain a flexible work model, but recognize when coming together in person is the best path forward.

“Prioritizing real world networking, guys. Virtual meetings, online collaboration operations will always be a part of how we work. I'm not saying go back to the office five days a week. That's not the point. The point is... build things together.”
— Nathan Chan (08:07)

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Transcript2 lines

[00:02]
A
Hey, founder fam. I want to talk to you about something super exciting. We're officially partnered with Omnisend, the email marketing and SMS platform built specifically for e commerce founders. We've been recommending Omnisend to founder students for a while now because it just works. Whether you're launching your first store or you're scaling to seven figures, it really helps you automate your marketing and get real results. Did you know on average OMNISEND customers make $68 for every $1 they spend, which is an insanely good return. And because you're part of the founder community, you get 50% off your first three months with the code. Founder50. Just head to omnisend.com founder without the e to get started. All right, now let's jump back into the show.
[00:49]
B
Hey, founder fam. Nathan here. Welcome back to another founder to founder solar episode. Today I want to talk about something that's been on my mind lately and that's the power of in person connection, especially in the world that we live in now. Post Covid. Like a lot of you guys, we've shifted to zoom meetings, slack threads, remote collaboration, and that's helped us adapt. And I think at times people become more selfish. Like, yes, it's easier to work from home, yes, it could be more efficient. But what we are missing sometimes is in person collaboration to really move things forward, get there faster, build relationships. And let me tell you what happened and how I had this realization. Hear the stories, learn the proven methods and accelerate your growth and future through entrepreneurship. Welcome to the founder podcast with Nathan Chan. So we're working on something pretty special with one of our instructors, Nick Shackelford. So he is just an absolute master at paid advertising. He's one of the best in the world, especially for E Com brands and scaling income brands. Like, he's working like eight different companies right now, whether he, you know, is engaged with them, consulting all sorts of things or, you know, part owner, whatever. And anyways, you know, he was showing me behind the scenes of a, of an account where he's taking like this brand from like $25,000 a day in spend to $250,000 a day in spend. And he's done that over like 40 days in. He's like an absolute master in this space, someone I massively respect. And we're building something really cool with him called founder operators, where he's going to be our operator in residence. And we're building this incredible community and platform where we can really help you scale up your ads. And it's going to be super cost affordable and you can learn how to do it. And we've broken it all down. We've got this amazing system and he lives in la, in America and I'm based in Melbourne, Australia and we're collaborating remotely to bring this thing together. And to be honest, things are stalling. We're bumping into time zone challenges, misalignment. Really hard to get the team across this. And we'd met in person before and we knew each other, but it was different. So we flew Nick down the other week and he worked directly with the team. And I'm not exaggerating when I say this, we got more done in four days together than we had in three, four months remotely. There was so much less restriction, no time crunches or like a super strict agenda, just like solving problems, creating content in real time, building alignment instantly, trust, getting built way faster. We just unblocked so many things and by the end of that week the amount of output, synchronization, clarity was there and it made me reflect. And Nick and I talked about this like we couldn't have got this membership, this community and what we're launching to where it needed to go if we didn't meet up in person. And this is why in person still wins. If you want to do deals, it's so hard to do deals. You got to meet the person in person. If you want to build better relationships with your team members or suppliers, you've got to meet them in person. We've come to glorify remote work. And don't get me wrong, I love the flexibility, I love that you can work from anywhere. And we've built found with that same spirit. But over the years I think it's been lost in translation because humans are wired for connection. We're wired to bond in physical spaces, for proximity, for reading, body language and business. Like it's about creative work, strategic alignment, problem solving. And here's the cool thing, I looked into this, the data backs up too. Research shows that professionals expect up to 36% more more revenue and better outcomes from face to face interactions compared to virtual ones. And studies have found that groups working physically together generate 15 to 20% more ideas than teams collaborating only online. Zoom, Slack, Google Docs. These tools are empowering, they're essential, but they're not a replacement. And that is why, however you're building your culture, solving big challenges, moving fast, you have to have an element of in person, because in person you don't have to explain the tone, you don't have to repeat yourself. You pick up cues that speed understanding and the trust is built and it's just, it's just so much better. So this is what I'm taking with me into 2026. We still operate a remote business. We have a hub in Melbourne that's not changing, but we are going to move more to frequently meeting in person. We operate remotely, yes. However, we have to have just like regular, regular movements of people together. When we work with partners or collaborators, we're going to try and bring them down as much as we can. You know, I'm aiming to do a lot more in person interviews as well and soon I will be doing global tours. So personally I'm doubling down on real relationships. Not just online, but offline too. So prioritizing real world networking, the guys, virtual meetings, online collaboration operations will always be a part of how we work. I'm not saying go back to the office five days a week. That's not the point. The point is, if you're trying to get a deal done, if you're trying to get more from a team member and help them do their best work, if you're not finding things are working well with your supplier in China, find a way to meet them in person. Have dinner, have lunch, have a coffee. Build things together. It's so much more fun. You'll get way better outcomes. Thank you for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed this. I'll see you in the next one.