We've actually done remote experiments at Stripe in order to do just that. Where whole teams will get spread across as many places as possible and we attempt to keep everything as it was in order to discover the holes in the daily processes we have.
This is why it's a god send if you have a Scottish relative of some sort when you grow up poor in England. A couple of friends of mine used this exact loophole in order to further their education when they had to leave high school.
We almost provide that today with Checkout. If you've used Checkout on a website before, you can easily pay on another site without entering your CC info again.
This wouldn't work in the YC environment since people don't actually work at YC's offices. The startups just meet every Tuesday for a group dinner then outside of that will only appear at the YC office if they have office hours booked with one of the partners.
My first job at a startup was when I was 17. I was hired as their first design and within 2 months was labelled as their lead designer when they began to hire more designers. Considering it was also my first job, it was very strange leading people who were 5-8 years older than me.
The points he touches upon about things he will now never get to see has haunted me since a very early age personally. It was scary to think that the man who wrote these words which I have worried about for years has now passed away and won't get the opportunity to see what happens in 2061.
The final paragraph is the kicker and has my eyes watering up, I hope his family all the best and hopefully we'll see his two daughters do something just as great as Derek has done online!