How to Build a Successful Startup with a Remote Team | Wework Labs

Learn how to structure, engage, and overcome challenges while building a successful startup with a remote team. Discover actionable tips and expert insights for thriving in the remote work landscape.

The modern startup landscape is increasingly defined by agility, innovation, and global collaboration. One of the most transformative shifts in this space is the rise of remote teams. Almost 20% of the job postings in India are for remote or hybrid roles, up from just 0.9% in 2020, according to a report in the Economic Times.

With both companies and people looking for more remote roles, it’s critical to understand how that dynamic affects the workplace. We attempt to break down everything you need to know about building remote teams.

Structuring remote teams

While structuring a team remotely, it’s very important to define roles and responsibilities clearly. Since the team won’t be meeting in person as frequently, by clearly defining roles it can be easier for team members to feel more comfortable in their process. A study indicated that 34% of remote workers feel more connected to their organization when roles and expectations are clearly communicated.

Similarly, setting a clock-in and clock-out time can also help give people who work remotely the chance to balance their daily tasks more effectively.

Defining work culture as a remote team

In offline spaces, it is easier to convey the goals, vision, mission, and work culture of a company through face-to-face meetings, physical standees and more. Companies can also conduct social events to promote engagement among employees. This can be harder to do as a remote team, since most companies do not have several layers of touchpoints available to them online. Whereas online, companies have to work within the constraints of what is available to them through online platforms. According to Gauri Gokhale, Founder, Mentorgain, who is a member of Growth Campus by WeWork Labs, the essential things to remember in order to build a remote work culture is to ensure that you’re clearly communicating with your team, that you have regular check-ins and have several virtual team meetings which can help ensure you are regularly in touch with the employees in your company.

Ishita Gupta, who heads Talent and Culture for HealthCRED another Growth Campus member, says that she has also seen several early stage companies in her career trying to establish remote cultures online like engaging employees through games or setting up individual meetings.

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“Many HRs or those in the people team think that (establishing work culture) happens through maybe playing games online…. But in my experience that is not the only thing that counts,” she says. “I think the one thing that has really worked for me in this span of time is having one-on-one chats with folks, that gets you inside the minds of the people (in the workforce) and what’s really going on. This is especially important for teams that are working online because you aren’t having day-to-day chitchats.”

(Side note: Growth Campus by WeWork Labs is designed to help Indian startups launch their businesses with space and resources that enable them to scale faster. If you’re a startup looking for resources, you can reach out to us here.)

Roadblocks to building a remote team

Building a team remotely is just as complex as building a team offline. One particular study found that 85% of managers expressed distrust in their employees' productivity when working remotely, which can exacerbate communication issues as managers may feel compelled to micromanage.

According to Gokhale, balancing flexibility with accountability is one of the key challenges she faces while building a remote team. Besides this, she also highlighted the inability to ensure seamless knowledge transfer as some other issues she faced while building her startup remotely.

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To support these efforts, she recommends introducing initiatives like personalized onboarding, creating a virtual space for casual chats, and including interactive brainstorming sessions with online tools.

One of the key challenges remote teams face is maintaining alignment and ensuring that every team member remains engaged and focused on their goals. Without the natural structure and frequent touchpoints of an in-office setup, it can be difficult to keep everyone on the same page.

Addressing this, Ishita shares that at HealthCRED, they make it a priority to hold a team meeting every Saturday. “On this call every Saturday as a team, we just take stock of how the last week has been, how the next week is going to be, and we do a townhall every 2 months so we are laser-focused on what we need to do and so that every member is glued-in to what they need to do.”

What are some methods that you recommend using while building remote teams, or how do you impart work culture remotely? Let us know! See you in the next WeWork Labs blog.