Zartico’s Remote-First Culture Playbook: Building Company Culture Without an Office

Being a “walk around CEO” was Sarah Lehman‘s comfort zone. In her previous role, she’d built culture through daily interactions, walking manufacturing floors from 4 AM to midnight. Then COVID hit just as she took the helm at Zartico. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, she shared how this forced reinvention led to stronger company culture than she thought possible.

The Initial Crisis

“I remember being curled up under my desk, which, oh, by the way, was the laundry room, because my children were home and I had to give out my office to my kids,” Sarah recalls. This moment of vulnerability captures the early challenges of building culture remotely.

Experimenting with Virtual Connection

The team tried everything. “We had costume parties via Zoom. We have an amazing slack community,” Sarah shares. But their most powerful innovation was the “This Is Me” sessions: “Every couple of weeks, someone from my company just gives a brief 15 minutes overview of what’s important to them in their life, their family, how they got to Zartico. And it’s one of the most astonishing connection points that we’ve created virtually among our people.”

Growing Without Meeting

What makes Zartico’s story remarkable is how they scaled this culture. “We’re now close to 100 employees,” Sarah notes. But at their first in-person gathering, “We were over 30 people by then, and we hadn’t ever seen each other in person.”

Making Remote Work, Work

Several key elements emerged in their remote-first approach:

• Weekly all-hands calls that maintain connection across the organization
• A vibrant Slack community that extends beyond work discussions
• The “This Is Me” sessions that create deeper personal bonds
• Annual “Base Camp” gatherings in Salt Lake City

Balancing Virtual and Physical

While primarily remote, Zartico recognized the value of occasional in-person connection. “Now every year, because we are a work from anywhere organization, we bring our team together every January for something called base camp, and everyone flies into Salt Lake City,” Sarah explains.

Building Culture Through Crisis

Their remote culture wasn’t just about internal connection – it shaped how they approached customers too. When trade shows shut down, instead of retreating to Zoom calls, they got creative: “We’re going to rent an RV, and we’re going to drive it cross country, and we’re going to bring the trade show to the people.”

The Impact on Implementation

Strong remote culture translated into better customer outcomes. They reduced implementation times from 120 days to as little as 24 hours for some customers, proving that remote teams can execute efficiently when properly connected.

Lessons for Remote-First Companies

For founders building remote-first companies, Zartico’s experience offers several key insights:

1. Make vulnerability normal through structured sharing sessions
2. Create regular rhythms of connection (weekly, monthly, annual)
3. Balance digital connection with strategic in-person gatherings
4. Use crisis as catalyst for cultural innovation
5. Let culture shape customer interactions

The success of their approach is evident in their growth and retention. As Sarah notes, “We’ve done something well because we’re now close to 100 employees.” Their experience shows that with intentional design, remote-first culture can be stronger than traditional office-based approaches.

For founders navigating remote-first scaling, Zartico’s journey demonstrates that constraints often birth innovation. What started as a crisis response became a strategic advantage in attracting and retaining talent while building genuine community.