I work on a distributed team. We aren't a startup however. Using SVN, IM, con-calls, Confluence, JIRA, and an excellent project manager we are able to work ve

I work on a distributed team. We aren't a startup however. Using SVN, IM, con-calls, Confluence, JIRA, and an excellent project manager we are able to work very effectively from all over the country. It was key that we all got together for the project kick-off for a week or two and got to know one another a bit. Being able to picture someone, and having a sense of how they communicate, how their sense of humor works, etc... can make non-face-to-face communication later much easier.