Eden Prairie Software Founder Builds Team Through Remote-First Hiring

Priya Chandrasekaran founded her software company in Eden Prairie with a hiring philosophy that has shaped much of its early growth: rather than competing primarily for talent within the crowded Twin Cities tech labor market, she built a remote-first culture that allows her to recruit software engineers and support staff from smaller communities across Greater Minnesota and beyond.

Chandrasekaran says the approach emerged partly from necessity in the company's early years, when competing directly with larger Twin Cities employers for local engineering talent proved difficult for a smaller startup without an established reputation. Opening hiring to remote candidates across the state significantly expanded the pool of qualified applicants willing to consider the company.

Recruiting Beyond the Twin Cities Metro

The company now employs engineers based in Duluth, Mankato, and several smaller Greater Minnesota communities, alongside a smaller core team working from the Eden Prairie office. Chandrasekaran says many remote employees specifically cited an interest in staying in or returning to their home communities, rather than relocating to the Twin Cities, as a significant factor in accepting positions with the company.

Building a functional remote-first culture required deliberate investment in communication tools and processes, Chandrasekaran says, since simply allowing remote work without adapting management practices tends to create disconnected teams. The company has established structured virtual collaboration routines and periodic in-person gatherings intended to maintain team cohesion despite the geographic spread of employees.

Some challenges have emerged, particularly around ensuring remote employees feel equally considered for advancement opportunities compared to those working from the physical office. Chandrasekaran says she has worked to build promotion and evaluation processes that explicitly account for remote work patterns, rather than inadvertently favoring employees with more in-person visibility to leadership.

Contributing to Broader Regional Economic Goals

Chandrasekaran frames her hiring approach as connected to broader conversations about economic opportunity across Greater Minnesota, noting that access to well-paying technology jobs has historically been concentrated in the Twin Cities metro area, leaving fewer comparable opportunities for skilled workers who prefer to remain in smaller communities.

She acknowledges that remote-first hiring is not a complete solution to regional economic disparities on its own, but says it represents one practical way a growing technology company can contribute to distributing economic opportunity more broadly across the state. As the company continues to grow, Chandrasekaran says she intends to maintain the remote-first hiring philosophy that has shaped its culture from the beginning, viewing it as both a practical recruiting advantage and a value she considers important to the company's long-term identity as it continues expanding its engineering and customer support teams.