I've been running my company as a globally distributed business for awhile now and I'd also emphasize #2 and #5. Also, managing a 40 person team across many ti

I've been running my company as a globally distributed business for awhile now and I'd also emphasize #2 and #5. Also, managing a 40 person team across many time zones created interesting communication issues. Be prepared to dial in processes far earlier than you would expect to need them and learn how to manage / archive conversations that happen in chat effectively. I've found that voice / video chat is still very challenging due to time zones, varying internet connections, and spoken accents vs text. I definitely expect to see much more of this going forward though. Asian markets are on fire right now and many US companies, large and small, are focused on growth there.