When people ask me about the biggest lessons from building Atlantic Tech, my answer always starts with people. Strategy, tools, and timing all matter, but the right team determines whether any of them succeed. Building the right team, and growing alongside those people, has been one of the hardest and most rewarding parts of my work.
The Lesson I Keep Relearning
I am still learning how to do this well, and some of those lessons have been painful. Most of them have involved people in one way or another. A great idea with the wrong collaborators rarely survives, while a modest idea with the right people can grow into something remarkable.
As Atlantic Tech has grown, I have come to treat finding the right people as one of my most important responsibilities, because so much of what we accomplish depends on it.
How Do You Build the Right Team Across Borders?
Building the right team across borders starts with looking for talent wherever it lives, then investing in clear communication and trust. Atlantic Tech works with a global team of independent contractors, currently around 81 people working from different parts of the world. Building that way was a deliberate choice. Some of the most talented and highly educated people in our field live outside the United States, and limiting our search to one country would mean missing them.
Working across time zones and cultures requires clear communication and a lot of trust. It also brings perspectives into our work that a single-location team would rarely have. The result is a team with a range of experience I could not have assembled any other way.
What Qualities Matter Most When Building a Team?
Skill matters, and our work demands it. Beyond technical ability, I look for people who take ownership of their work, communicate honestly when something is going wrong, and care about the outcome for the client. Those qualities are harder to teach than any software or platform.
I also look for people who want to grow. The industry changes quickly, and the people who thrive are the ones who stay curious and keep learning. That shared commitment to growth is what turns a group of individuals into a team.
Trusting Team Leads to Lead
As the company has grown, I have learned that I cannot be involved in every decision, and I should not try. Our team leads are close to the work and often see problems and opportunities before I do. Giving them real responsibility makes the whole organization faster and more precise.
Trust has to be earned on both sides. I try to be clear about our standards and our direction, and then give people the room to meet those standards in their own way. When that balance is right, the team leads grow, and so does everyone they work with. That balance is one of the most important leadership lessons I have learned.
Every Decision Reaches Someone
With a team of this size, the decisions I make cascade down. A choice about which deals to pursue, how to price our work, or which direction to take the company affects the bottom line, and the bottom line affects people's livelihoods. That reality makes me far more intentional than I was when I started.
In the beginning, it was easy to be creative and take risks, because the consequences mostly fell on me. Now I weigh every major decision with the team in mind. Taking that responsibility seriously is one of the ways I try to honor the trust people have placed in me. That is also why I see my role as a steward of the company, responsible for something that belongs to more people than me.
Growing Together Means Changing Together
Who we are today will not necessarily be who we are tomorrow. Atlantic Tech may develop new in-house tools or move in directions we have not planned yet, and the people we bring on need to be comfortable with that kind of change. I value team members who can adapt while keeping sight of our standards.
I also believe change works best when it happens with intention. Growing in too many directions at once can pull a team apart. Moving together, at a pace that makes sense, keeps everyone aligned as the company evolves.
Leadership Means Lifting Others
My faith and my blue-collar upbringing have shaped how I see leadership. I believe true leadership means reaching back to lift others up as you climb. When someone on our team grows into a bigger role, develops a new skill, or builds a better life through their work, that is the kind of success that matters most to me, because success without purpose is incomplete.
Finding the right people to grow with is an ongoing process, and I do not expect to ever finish learning how to do it. What I know for certain is that nothing we have built at Atlantic Tech would exist without the people who chose to build it with me.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you build the right team for a growing company?
Building the right team starts with looking beyond technical skill to ownership, honest communication, and a desire to grow. From there, it means trusting team leads with real responsibility, being clear about standards, and making decisions with the whole team's livelihoods in mind.
What are the benefits of working with global independent contractors?
A global team gives access to highly educated, talented people who live outside any single country, along with perspectives a single-location team rarely has. Atlantic Tech works with around 81 independent contractors worldwide, and clear communication and trust make that model work across time zones.
What does it mean for leadership to lift others?
To me, leadership means reaching back to lift others up as you climb. Success shows up when people on the team grow into bigger roles, develop new skills, or build better lives through their work. That growth matters more to me than any title.
