Three years at OpenSolar & three things I’ve learned about helping run a remote company

Learning One:? You can build a successful company that’s almost 100% remote workers, from the ground up

When I started at OpenSolar, we were ~30 people with a small office in Sydney Australia for about 15 of them, and the rest distributed across the world.? Fast forward to today and we have 100+ people forming a vibrant and diverse team in 15+ countries.? You can absolutely build the culture you want through thoughtful design (kinda one of our values).? With brilliant people leadership from Lavinia Davison , and careful attention to internal comms, highlighting people who live our values through our peer-nominated OpenStar program, and of course the much cherished OpenDay, we’ve been able to build a supportive, loyal and incredibly productive culture that knows how to have fun.

As a remote culture, it makes the times we do get together so special.? Our internal water cooler slack channel always gets the most buzz where there are pictures of people who’ve worked together for months or years, but have just met for the first time face to face.? Guessing people’s height before and after meeting is a fun game.??

Learning Two:? Wisdom = noticing patterns and sharing!

I’m pretty sensitive about my age these days, especially when the people I work with are so young.? But I’ve learned over the past three years that it’s actually pretty cool to have decades of experience and be able to look for and notice patterns that you’ve seen many times before.? What’s even cooler is being able to share those patterns (or wisdom) with people, and help them be successful either by avoiding pitfalls or by using the multiple playbooks for success that I’ve compiled in my head over the course of an almost 30 year long career.

When there isn't a meeting room and a whiteboard to jump on spontaneously, and you can't just go for a walk and a coffee with someone, you have to be more proactive in sharing what you've learned, using virtual teach-ins and opportunities presented by our wonderful custom started by Joseph Abel , lunch roulette. With many Openers, I’m literally old enough to be their Dad, and it’s hard not to feel like a little bit paternal!??But it's a thrill to share, be listened to, and then to see these young rockstars run with your teachings.

Learning Three:? Being truly mission-driven is truly a super power for a company

Every company has a mission statement these days, but that’s very different from being mission-driven.? At our company, we all know what we’re working towards, and that’s a world powered by sunshine by 2040.? Every program, every feature, every slack message, every line of code, every customer onboarding session chips away at our goal of getting more solar on more roofs by more contractors in more countries…in less time.

Every day we’re bombarded with more and more dire consequences of climate change, but for us, work isn’t just a paycheck.? It’s a cathartic outlet that reduces climate anxiety and brings about a real sense of achievement and satisfaction.? Last time I checked, systems sold and installed on OpenSolar in more than 150 countries will prevent 49+ megatons of CO2 from entering our atmosphere over their lifetimes.? And we’re just getting started.??

Being mission driven also gets incredible output from everyone involved, and that’s not something to be taken lightly.? People at OpenSolar care so much, and work so hard, there’s a constant effort to help people retain some balance, primarily through extremely strict prioritization, but also by setting an example from leadership across the org to take vacation, take a breath, use OpenDay to get outside and away from a screen.??

So...

As we scale, these are three things that I want to hold onto.? What reactions and additional thoughts do you have???