Remote Year, for example, costs participants around £18,000 for the year – £2,000 paid upfront, and then £1,300 each month.
Perhaps helping their case, unlike traditional travel companies, programmes such as Remote Year have a strong element of professional selectivity.
The brainchild of 26-year-old entrepreneur and former Groupon employee Greg Caplan, Remote Year is something of a tour operator for professionals with wanderlust.
(Remote Year has a £1,600 early exit fee, but hopes the group would rally to help the person find work for the remainder of the trip).
The clear professional orientation of Remote Year, as well as the structured access to work environments, Smith says, "offered comfort to me.
For the next 12 months, Utt, a project manager in the hydraulics division Eaton, will continue working for the big manufacturing company through a new outside programme called Remote Year.
Both Hacker Paradise and Remote Year have seen a few candidates bow out because they ultimately couldn't get corporate approval, whether from their own bosses or from HR and accounting.
Remote Year will also be building its own physical infrastructure.
His investments include Imperfect Produce, Remote Year and Splice.
Remote Year participants make a $5,000 downpayment and also pay $2,000 a month for the first 11 months.
Betaworks partner Matt Hartman has led investments in over 30 companies, including Remote Year, Gimlet Media, Product Hunt, and Anchor.fm as well as co-founded its bootcamp accelerator.
