RWL240 From a Business of Two People to 100: Building a Remote Creative Agency

Remote work isn't just surviving in creative industries—it's helping companies like Elephant Skin thrive on a global scale. Founded in 2017 by architect Henrik Driesen, this remote-first creative agency has transformed from two people with a vision to over 100 professionals operating across three continents. Their meteoric growth offers a compelling blueprint for building borderless businesses in specialized fields.

The company's origin reveals its ethos perfectly. Named after a message on a post-it note—"develop your elephant skin, focus and keep moving forward"—the agency embraced resilience and perseverance as foundational values. These principles guided their expansion from a lean startup to a major player in architectural visualization, now serving clients like Hilton, Marriott, and Royal Caribbean across 30+ cities worldwide.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Elephant Skin
• 0:54 Early Days and Company Origins
• 1:36 Remote Work Foundation
• 2:47 Creative Intelligence for Real Estate
• 4:24 Growth and Global Expansion
• 5:35 Key Business Lessons and Conclusion

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

You're listening to the Remote Work Life podcast. I'm Alex Wilson-Campbell and in this episode I'm highlighting Elephant Skin, a remote creative agency in the real estate sector. The company was founded by Henrik Driesen and since 2017, it's grown from a two-person startup to a global operation with more than 100 people working across three continents. What makes Elephant Skin stand out isn't just the scale of its growth, but how that growth has been achieved through remote work, through storytelling and through a focus on reshaping the way real estate is presented to the world. Henrik's background is in architecture and urban planning, and that's important because what he created with Elephant Skin wasn't just another design studio. It was a business built around narrative, around visualizing ideas in a way that connects with people emotionally, not just aesthetically. At the start, he was working alone, running things remotely and traveling from city to city to build relationships with potential clients. That early phase was lean, low resources, high effort, but the priority was always clear generate creative work that tells a story, not just fill space on a page or screen. The name Elephant Skin came from something personal. Giovanna, who's now the CEO, received a post-it note while working in a tough landscape architecture job. Her boss had written you need to develop your elephant skin Focus and keep moving forward. That message resilience, discipline, perseverance wasn't just a note. It became the foundation of the company's identity. They kept the name, they kept the mindset. That mentality is one I understand well. Whether you're working solo or managing a remote business, the ability to keep showing up, to push through the tough phases often becomes the difference between surviving and scaling. Elephant Skin was remote from the beginning. It gave them flexibility but, more importantly, it gave them access to a global talent pool. Their team is now spread across Miami, sao Paulo, portland, toronto and beyond. They've added four physical offices, including in Lisbon, but those serve as support hubs rather than core operations. The work itself happens remotely. They've structured the business with horizontal leadership and flexible hours, all built on trust and not built on control. Henrik's spoken openly about this. While digital flexibility is crucial, people still need people. They need interaction, feedback, moments of collaboration. So they've shaped a culture where remote isn't isolating, it's liberating but balanced, with connection when it's needed.

Speaker 1: 2:47

Elephant Skin describes itself as the creative intelligence for real estate. They work with developers, hospitality brands and architecture firms offering services like brand development, visual storytelling, cgi and 3D rendering, film and motion design and virtual experiences and immersive media. Their clients include big global names Hilton, marriott, brookfield, royal Caribbean and they've helped position those brands in new developments around the world. The work itself is about more than polished visuals, is about more than polished visuals. They embed themselves into the developer's vision and create assets that communicate a lifestyle, a story, a purpose behind the project. They make the process easier for clients by handling everything from strategy to final production all under one roof, and that's one of the reasons they've been able to scale. Instead of taking a service provider approach, elephant Skin positions themselves as a strategic partner. They collaborate closely with developers, starting early in the design or branding process.

Speaker 1: 3:58

One of the standout features of their remote structure is how they manage talent. They don't recruit based on location or resume length. They look for alignment, people who understand the mission, who want to work autonomously and who value design as a tool for connection, and they refer to their team members as elephants, which isn't about branding. It's about a shared mindset. That's how they've built a cohesive culture across multiple time zones. I've seen this kind of clarity make or break teams right. When your business is remote, your culture has to be intentional.

Speaker 1: 4:32

Elephant Skin has done that well, from two people in 2017 to more than 100 employees six years later. Growth like that doesn't just happen. It comes from building something scalable, being consistent and finding the right clients. Their presence now spans more than 30 cities and four office locations. Their presence now spans more than 30 cities and four office locations. They've delivered over 150 projects across the US, brazil, canada, vietnam, china, japan and Portugal. Their latest move into Lisbon gives them access to Europe's high end design market and its deep talent base. It's also a strategic play. Europe's real estate market is evolving and elephant skin is positioning itself to meet that demand head on. The architectural visualization market as a whole is expanding rapidly, from under a billion dollars in 2016 to an expected 5.7 billion dollars by 2025. They're already embedded in that space and their infrastructure is built to scale with it.

Speaker 1: 5:30

There are a few lessons I'd take from what Henrik and their infrastructure is built to scale with it. There are a few lessons I'd take from what Henrik and the team have built. One remote work doesn't mean disconnected. If anything, it forces you to build more intentionally with your team, your clients and your systems. Two, being clear on your niche matters. They chose real estate early and stayed focused. That allowed them to go deep, build authority and grow in a structured way.

Speaker 1: 5:56

Three storytelling isn't just for consumer brands. It's a core business function, especially in sectors like real estate, where buying decisions are often emotional. Four talent is everywhere, but you have to build the systems and culture that support remote collaboration. Elephant Skin has done that well, bringing together people who care about the work and trust one another to deliver it. Five scaling isn't about speed. It's about alignment between what you do, who you do it for and how you choose to build and grow. That's it for this episode of the Remote Work Life podcast. If you found this useful, hit subscribe, leave a quick review or share it with someone building a remote-first business.