If I hear of a new competitor with smart, dedicated founders, I get nervous anyway. Period.

No effect, their attitude towards remote does not itself indicate anything (like, if they're full remote they WILL have superiority in attracting talent but are their processes remote optimized? Who knows!

depends on where they are based

This is question about commitment. When working in person, you have a real-time social obligation as others see you, but you have distractions. When working remotely, you can decide independently, so you need much more self-discipline, but you can be more productive. ⚖️

Trick question. That doesn’t matter. Im actually excited because it validates our concept and will be an external force to motivate the team to deliver.

It depends, I won't worry a in person startup in Lagos (Traffic=low productivity), but the remote one. All things been equal, in person

The best people are quitting left and right at my job to take remote positions. Over time this will lead to the best companies being built with fully remote staff.

thought experiment: you have a startup. you hear about a new startup with smart, dedicated founders that is going to compete with you. are you most nervous if they are -a team 50 in San Francisco, New York, Mexico City and Brazil -a team of 12 in San Francisco

If smart people decide to compete with you, you are doing something right. No need to regard the work location.

the interesting thing is a bimodal distribution if you view it as a remote - in-person spectrum. why is that so?