Remote Founder Stand-Up with Mark Muller
In our ongoing series of founder interviews, we sit down with leaders who've built successful remote-first companies. Today, we're speaking with Mark Muller, who scaled his software consulting firm from a solo operation to a 50-person distributed team across 12 countries. For more resources on building and managing teams, visit our HR Management Hub and IT Management Hub.
1 / The Journey to Remote-First
ToolkitCafe: Mark, you've been running a fully remote company for over seven years now. How did it start?
Mark Muller: It wasn't really a conscious decision at first. I started the company in 2017 as a freelance developer, and when I brought on my first team member, they happened to be in a different city. Rather than forcing a relocation, we just made it work remotely.
By the time we hit 10 people, we were spread across five countries. At that point, we had to choose: open an office and consolidate, or double down on remote. We chose remote, and I've never looked back.
What made you commit to staying remote?
The talent access was the deciding factor. When you're not limited by geography, you can hire the absolute best person for each role. Our engineering lead is in Portugal, our head of design is in Canada, and our operations director is in Singapore. None of them would have been available if we required office attendance.
2 / Building Culture Without an Office
ToolkitCafe: Culture is often cited as the biggest challenge for remote companies. How do you approach it?
Mark Muller: You have to be incredibly intentional. In an office, culture happens organically—people chat by the coffee machine, they overhear conversations, they see body language. None of that exists remotely, so you have to create explicit structures.
We have three main pillars for culture:
Documentation First: Everything important gets written down. Decisions, processes, even the reasoning behind choices. This creates transparency and helps new team members understand not just what we do, but why.
Regular Rituals:
- Weekly all-hands - Every Monday, the whole company meets for 30 minutes
- Team stand-ups - Daily async updates in Slack
- Monthly retrospectives - What's working, what isn't
- Quarterly off-sites - In-person gatherings (we budget $2,000 per person per year for travel)
Explicit Values: We wrote down our values early on, but more importantly, we reference them constantly. "Does this align with our value of transparency?" is a question you'll hear in almost every major discussion.
3 / The Remote Tech Stack
ToolkitCafe: What tools power your remote operation?
Mark Muller: We've experimented with dozens of tools over the years. Here's what stuck:
| Category | Tool | Why It Works | |----------|------|--------------| | Communication | Slack | Async-first, great integrations | | Video | Zoom | Reliable, everyone knows it | | Documentation | Notion | Single source of truth | | Project Management | Linear | Developer-focused, fast | | HR/People | Deel | Global payroll made simple | | Design | Figma | Real-time collaboration |
The specific tools matter less than the principles: minimize tool sprawl, prioritize async communication, and document everything.
Any tools you regret adopting?
We once tried a "virtual office" tool where you could see avatars of teammates and walk over to them. It felt invasive and created the worst of both worlds—the interruptions of an office without the benefits of in-person connection. We dropped it after two months.
4 / Managing Across Time Zones
ToolkitCafe: With team members in 12 countries, time zones must be challenging. How do you handle it?
Mark Muller: We have about 4 hours of overlap across the whole company, so we're very protective of that window. Most synchronous meetings happen during that time.
Our time zone principles:
- Async by default - If something can be a Loom video or a Notion doc, it should be
- Recorded meetings - Every meeting is recorded so anyone can catch up
- Follow the sun - We use time zone differences strategically for things like customer support
- No meeting days - Wednesdays are meeting-free company-wide
The key insight is that time zones force you to communicate better. When you can't just tap someone on the shoulder, you have to write clearly, provide context, and think before you ask.
5 / Hiring for Remote Success
ToolkitCafe: What do you look for when hiring remote team members?
Mark Muller: Technical skills are table stakes. What differentiates great remote workers:
Written communication - Can they explain complex ideas clearly in writing? We include a written exercise in every interview process.
Self-direction - Remote work requires people who can manage their own time and priorities. We ask candidates to describe a time they completed a significant project with minimal oversight.
Proactive communication - Do they over-communicate status, blockers, and questions? Under-communicators struggle in remote environments.
Async mindset - Are they comfortable with gaps between messages? Some people need immediate responses, and that doesn't scale across time zones.
Any red flags you watch for?
People who describe themselves as "not needing much human interaction" sometimes struggle. Remote work still requires a lot of connection—it's just different. We want people who value relationships but are comfortable building them through screens and text.
6 / Advice for Aspiring Remote Founders
ToolkitCafe: What would you tell someone starting a remote company today?
Mark Muller: Three things:
Start with process, not tools. Figure out how you want to work before selecting software. Too many founders buy every tool and then wonder why collaboration is messy.
Over-invest in onboarding. The first 30 days determine whether a new hire thrives remotely. We pair every new person with a "buddy" and have a detailed onboarding checklist that spans their first month.
Meet in person regularly. This sounds counterintuitive for a remote company, but those quarterly off-sites are invaluable. The relationships built in person make remote collaboration work better for months afterward.
Resources for Remote Teams
Building a remote-first company requires the right policies, processes, and tools. Here are some resources to help:
- HR Management Hub - Comprehensive HR resources for all team structures
- Remote Work Policies - Templates for remote work guidelines
- IT Management Hub - Technology infrastructure for distributed teams
- IT Policies - Security and compliance for remote operations
- Performance Management - Managing and reviewing remote employees
Mark Muller's company continues to grow and has been recognized on multiple "Best Remote Companies to Work For" lists. Follow him on LinkedIn for more insights on remote leadership.