Scaling Culture in a Remote Environment with John Fohr

Building a company is really hard, even when the world is normal.

But throw in a global pandemic? It makes you appreciate so much more how company culture is built on in-person interaction.



My guest today is John Fohr, CEO of TrustLayer (trustlayer.io). He’s built the majority of his team during COVID-19. They’ve had to transition from being in-person, one room with a whiteboard, to a decentralized group spread across multiple timezones.

During our conversation we touch on things like how important building habits of asynchronous communication are in a virtual environment, just how much we underestimate overhearing in-person conversations are, recreating the in-office energy and morale over Zoom and Slack, as well as how to instill confidence of everyone you work with to duck out of a meeting if they shouldn’t be there. Hint: it starts with the CEO throwing up the peace sign in multiple meetings and encouraging others to do so.



This episode is packed full of advice from a team that just raised their Series A, but it’s also a very honest conversation about navigating a global pandemic. It hasn’t been easy, ever, and it’s had its share of down moments. But I’m most impressed with John and team’s fearlessness to keep moving forward and finding ways to celebrate huge milestones even under less-than-ideal circumstances.

After the episode, please visit howyouinsurethat.com to catch up on all the latest episodes.

Please enjoy my conversation with John Fohr!

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