Culture, Connection, and Growth with a Distributed Team

Downtown has teams working in 16 cities across 12 countries and five continents. With so many regions, languages, and ways of working, building a single, unified company culture isn’t always straightforward.

What we’ve learned is that culture doesn’t come from the top down. It’s something you build from the ground up. Region by region. Value by value.

Even when everyone’s under one roof, maintaining a strong culture takes thought and care. As we’ve grown, we’ve expanded into new cities, acquired businesses with their own identities, and hired teams across time zones, languages, and customs. Keeping our culture cohesive through all of that has taken more care, more listening, and more intention.

There’s no single playbook for building culture across borders. Every new location brings its own challenges, like local laws, customs, and communication styles. Each one also offers opportunities to learn, grow, and add something meaningful to the wider team.

People are the Foundation

When you launch a new market, people are the foundation. Those first hires play a big part in shaping everything that follows, they help set the foundation.

We look for people who not only understand the industry, but who are deeply embedded locally. We can support them with systems, tools, and guidance, but local knowledge and cultural fluency can’t be outsourced. And building trust in a new place depends on people who can navigate the local landscape with credibility and care.

Staying Connected across Time Zones

With little or no overlap between time zones like Amsterdam and Portland, we’ve had to get creative about how we stay in sync.

Sometimes that means rethinking when and how we meet. Sometimes it means sending a quick message just to check in, even when there’s no project deadline. And sometimes it means waiting to schedule an email until it’s morning in someone else’s day.

We’ve also built internal spaces that bring people together beyond their immediate teams. Shared Slack channels for everything from artist celebrations and industry news to camping tips and pet photos. Small, human moments can create a stronger sense of belonging across distance.

Whether it’s employee-led resource groups, listening events, or professional development sessions, the goal is to give people more ways to feel seen, supported, and connected.

Learning as We Go

We don’t see culture as something fixed. It’s something we adjust, and improve as we grow. 

One thing we’ve learned is the power of showing up in person when we can. Meeting up in person can go a long way. Sitting together in a room can break down barriers and build trust in a way that video calls make it difficult to. Written communication can sometimes lead to misinterpretation, especially when tone is hard to read or styles differ. Spoken conversations allow for a greater connection and expression of emotion when fostering communication.

We’ve also learned to pay attention to local context. In Amsterdam, teams tend to work informally. In Johannesburg, workplace culture can lean toward clearer hierarchies and formality. Neither approach is right or wrong. They’re simply cultural differences that we take into account as we grow.

Cultural differences in communication can lead to misunderstandings and need to be navigated. Local social norms and verbal cues can impact the way we communicate. For example, a direct approach of providing feedback in Amsterdam may be perceived differently in the US where communication styles may be less direct. 

What We’ve Learned

Global growth doesn’t dilute culture, it deepens it.

Each team we’ve added, from Paris to Portland, brings something essential to our team. The lived experiences, communities, and local cultures all add texture to who we are.

There’s no one-size-fits-all formula for building culture across time zones and borders. What works is people showing up with openness, being there for one another, and making connection a shared priority.