Global payroll is a maze most companies dread navigating.
Deel turned it into their MOAT by streamlining HR across borders, powering remote work, and hitting a $1B+ run rate with over 5,000 employees.
Alex Bouaziz, Deel’s CEO and co-founder, grew up nerding out on Nintendo and hunted perfection from Paris to MIT. His relentless curiosity built a platform that’s rewriting how the world hires.
In this episode, we explore:
• why he wakes up obsessed with your problems, not his product
• how a Disneyland obsession shaped his entrepreneurial spark
• why he’s doubling down on AI and stablecoins
ABOUT US:
We’re proudly sponsored by Brex—a brand I co-founded, now supporting over 30,000 businesses like Anthropic, DoorDash, and Scale AI, helping them make every dollar count.
I’m grateful for their continued support as I bring you all conversations with some of the most exceptional founders of our generation. Onward and upward, together.
Connect with us:
1. Deel - https://x.com/deel
2. Brex - https://x.com/brexHQ
3. Henrique Dubugras- https://x.com/hdubugras
This episode was produced and distributed by our friends at Atomik Growth: https://atomikgrowth.com/
00:00 Introduction
01:35 Being happy
02:50 Big family
11:56 Video games and math
14:59 Confidence
16:12 College and older people
23:47 America, Nintendo, Disney
26:08 MIT
26:59 Helping yourself, cold emails
31:51 PhDs are super lonely
34:38 Trying to impress
39:16 Brex
40:06 Deel
45:05 Gaming forums and money struggles
49:49 San Francisco, Tel Aviv, Paris
52:26 Remote work
54:32 Growth and value
1:00:42 Marketing and getting old
1:02:09 Next decade
1:04:07 Crypto
1:08:42 AI and payroll
1:12:00 Outro