In Portland’s tech landscape, IT Assurance has become the dependable partner businesses call when their technology needs to just work. Evolving from a small managed-services team into a full IT backbone, they offer the strategy and responsiveness of an in-house department—without the overhead. With proactive monitoring, cloud know-how, and hands-on support, IT Assurance helps companies stay secure, efficient, and ready for what’s next.

>Over the past few years, many entrepreneurs have been redefining what “the office” means. For some, that office now lives entirely online. Why did you decide to go remote?

It was evident that when China couldn't contain COVID, it would become a multi-year global pandemic. In January 2020, I told all my staff to go home. I knew the pandemic last for years, so everybody packed up everything, cleared out the office, and went to work remotely forever.

Then within a few weeks we saw it... "Wait, nobody is physically here anymore, so why limit myself to the tiny talent pool of Portland when we can hire anybody, anywhere in the world?" So...we did! 

> How do you create culture and connection in a virtual world?
Let's start with our world-famous "Good News" meeting. This is a monthly meeting of our entire company where we spend 2 hours tell each other good news. That's it. A two-hour round table where we share the amazing things happening in our lives and connect with each other.

Every month, there is a theme and an optional assignment. We're coming on Thanksgiving, so for November every year, everybody posts a recipe, and then each person in the company picks someone else's recipe, makes it, and sends pictures and reports on how it went.

In December, we give every staff member $500 and tell them to "go do something good with it," and then they report back on their incredible and inspiring efforts, from delivering computers to one-room schools in Northern Colombia to supporting their neighbors having a tough year who need an extra bit of cheer. 

Once a month isn't enough, though, to build a culture. The biggest piece is our core values. The set of behaviors we require from our people, every single day, in every interaction.

"Crave learning"
"Care about the details"
"Make it better"
"Be a captain on the field"  
"Appreciate each other" 

We also have EOS L10 meetings to bring teams together every 1-2 weeks to troubleshoot together. We have a rule - Judge the work, not the person. Someone working in Egypt or Jamaica or Seattle? Who cares. Hows their work?


>What’s a critical mistake you made that was a major learning moment?

Early on, I lowered performance standards for overseas contractors because I misunderstood "cultural sensitivity." This was in fact the soft bigotry of low expectations. I gave foreign workers a pass on accountability I'd never tolerate from Americans.

Big mistake. It cost us money and efficiency while actually disrespecting their ability. We fixed it with one principle: judge the work, not the person. Hold everybody to the same standards for deadlines, communication, quality. No excuses based on geography or accent.

>What are some challenges you experience for teams across different cities, states and/or time zones?
At first, especially with international employees, we had a lot of unlearning to do about what they would be capable of accomplishing, or how they would need to be managed.  I had biased assumptions about us vs. them. That American employees couldn't be managed by people in other countries, or that people in other countries would be unable to connect with our American customers.  As we broke those habits and began to treat everybody equally, the challenges faded away. 

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Zac joined EO Portland in 2014. Interested in joining a community of business founders? This could be your year! Learn more.