The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

20VC: From $57M in ARR to $297M in Just 12 Months; Why Speed of Execution is the Most Important Factor to Success, Hiring 2,000 People in 3 Years Remotely & Secondaries; Why, When and How Much To Take Out with Alex Bouaziz, Co-Founder & CEO @ Deel

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Feb 1, 2023

In this discussion, Alex Bouaziz, Co-founder and CEO of Deel, shares insights from his journey scaling the HR platform from $57M to an astonishing $295M in annual recurring revenue in just one year. He emphasizes the critical importance of speed in execution for startups and offers tips on balancing rapid growth with maintaining quality. Alex recounts how a simple WhatsApp group helped him identify product-market fit and reveals the challenges of hiring a global remote team, including the need for trust and adapting to diverse market dynamics.

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ANECDOTE

Early Deel Hiring

Alex Bouaziz couldn't afford Israeli engineers early on.
He hired remote workers from Ukraine, Serbia, and the UK, many of whom remain at Deel.

ADVICE

Rapid Experimentation

Try things and iterate quickly to discover what works.
Be realistic about progress and avoid vanity metrics.

ADVICE

Prioritize Speed

Prioritize speed of execution in all aspects of your startup.
This helps validate ideas, serve customers, and build internal processes.

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Alex Bouaziz is the Co-Founder and CEO @ Deel, the all-in-one platform made to simplify all things HR, built for global teams near and far. In the last year alone, Alex has scaled Deel from $57M in ARR to $295M, EBITDA positive since Sept 2022, 85%+ gross margins, and over $5BN paid out to 250,000 people. Alex has raised over $679M with Deel, pricing the company at the last round at $12.1BN. Investors in the company include a16z, Spark Capital, Coatue, and many more.

In Today's Episode with Alex Bouaziz We Discuss:

1.) From Student in London to Decacorn Founder:

How Alex made his way into the world of startups and how he came up with the idea for Deel?
Did Alex always know he would be successful when he was growing up?
What does Alex know now that he wishes he had known when he was starting?

2.) The Importance of Execution:

How important does Alex think speed of execution is for startups?
What can startups do to deliberately increase their speed of execution?
How does Alex think about the dilemma of losing quality with speed?
What does Alex think you do need to go slow on to ensure it is perfect?
How does Alex think about focus and prioritisation today with Deel?

3.) Scaling to $295M in ARR in 3 Years:

When did Alex know he had true product-market fit with Deel?
How did Alex use a 50-person Whatsapp group to both determine product market fit and to navigate product direction for the company?
What was the key to Deel's blitz scaling strategy? What worked? What did not work?
How did Alex hire 2,000 people in such a short space of time?
What broke first in the organisation? How could they have prevented it?

4.) Secondaries, Angel Investing and Wealth Management:

How much did Alex take out in secondaries in the last round of funding?
How did Alex determine how much cash to allocate to angel investing?
Why does Alex believe most founders make poor angel investments when they have cash?
What have been Alex's biggest lessons from investing? How has it changed how he operates?
Why should all founders be super transparent in investor updates?

20VC: From $57M in ARR to $297M in Just 12 Months; Why Speed of Execution is the Most Important Factor to Success, Hiring 2,000 People in 3 Years Remotely &#x26; Secondaries; Why, When and How Much To Take Out with Alex Bouaziz, Co-Founder &#x26; CEO @ Deel

Early Deel Hiring

Rapid Experimentation

Prioritize Speed

20VC: From $57M in ARR to $297M in Just 12 Months; Why Speed of Execution is the Most Important Factor to Success, Hiring 2,000 People in 3 Years Remotely & Secondaries; Why, When and How Much To Take Out with Alex Bouaziz, Co-Founder & CEO @ Deel