How Deel Built Fast, Profitable SaaS Growth

TL;DR

Start growth by solving real customer problems in places where people already seek answers, such as search engines, Reddit, Quora, and professional communities. Build a fast, discoverable website and useful content before funding paid acquisition, while checking each channel’s audience ceiling and preserving a strong customer experience as the company expands.

Transcript

... early days, it's very important to just  go back to the basics, build the skeleton   before you put on the makeup. So the first  question I would ask is, do you have a website? Is it fast? Do the search engine knows that it  exists? Okay, great. The next step would be, can people find it? If they can't find it,  do you need to write content to ... Read More

Key Insights

• Deel is a payroll, HR, and compliance platform for global teams, supporting needs such as immigration, employer-of-record hiring, independent contractor hiring, and payroll. Its central value is helping companies manage international workers and related processes in one place.
• Deel’s growth was paired with financial discipline, because the company remained EBITDA positive while rapidly increasing annual recurring revenue. The discussion presents this combination of expansion and positive operating performance as a particularly important source of pride for the team.
• Low-cost B2B growth starts with solving active customer problems. Prospective buyers often visit search engines, Reddit, Quora, partnerships, and professional communities because they want reliable answers, so useful guidance can introduce a relevant product without relying immediately on advertising.
• Public community answers can continue producing value after the original interaction. A helpful response on an open digital platform remains available to later readers, supports word of mouth, and can repeatedly expose prospective customers to a solution that fits the problem being discussed.
• Every inexpensive channel has an audience ceiling. A focused online community may generate valuable customers, but its total membership limits potential scale, so teams should estimate the available audience rather than assuming a successful small channel can grow indefinitely.
• Effective SEO depends on demonstrated search demand. Publishing large amounts of content cannot create discovery when prospective customers are not asking those questions through search engines, making topic selection and an understanding of user intent essential before content production begins.
• A strong growth foundation begins with a fast, discoverable website. The site should work well and be recognized by search engines before the company invests heavily in content distribution or paid acquisition, because weak infrastructure damages the visitor experience.
• Paid advertising should follow website and content readiness. Sending purchased traffic to a site that loads slowly or fails to answer visitors’ needs makes successful acquisition difficult, so teams should improve the core experience before using advertising to expand reach.
• Related book: How Will You Measure Your Life?

Questions & Answers

Q: How did Deel use low-cost channels to drive growth?

Deel focused on places where prospective customers were already asking questions about real business problems. The team used search content, Reddit, Quora, partnerships, and existing professional communities to provide useful answers. When Deel’s services matched the problem, those answers introduced the platform naturally. This approach required staff time, but it reduced dependence on paid promotion and also encouraged word of mouth.

Q: Why should B2B growth teams answer questions instead of selling immediately?

B2B companies are often created to solve an active and practical problem, and prospective customers usually seek an answer before they want a sales pitch. Providing accurate, useful guidance meets that immediate need and establishes the product as a relevant option. If the solution fits the customer’s situation, the helpful interaction can lead to consideration without forcing an advertising message into the conversation.

Q: How can Reddit support an early-stage growth strategy?

A company can monitor relevant keywords and discussions on Reddit, identify people asking questions related to its product, and respond with genuinely useful advice. Deel used this approach for questions connected to its market. The method does not require buying ads, although it requires time and thoughtful participation. Public responses can also remain discoverable for later readers and contribute to word of mouth.

Q: What limits the scalability of community-based growth?

The size of the community creates a natural upper limit on how many customers the channel can produce. Even a highly relevant group cannot generate more demand than its reachable audience contains. Growth teams should therefore evaluate audience size alongside engagement and conversion potential. A community can be valuable during an early stage without being capable of supporting the company’s entire long-term growth target.

Q: When should a startup invest in SEO content?

A startup should invest in SEO when prospective customers are actually searching for questions connected to the problem it solves. Before producing content, the team should determine whether relevant search demand exists and whether its articles can provide useful answers. Writing content without evidence that people use search engines for the topic is unlikely to create discovery, regardless of how much material the company publishes.

Q: What should a company fix before buying paid ads?

A company should first ensure that its website exists, works properly, loads quickly, and can be recognized by search engines. It should then determine whether people can find the site and whether useful content is needed to improve discovery. Paid advertising becomes appropriate only after this foundation is ready, because purchased visits cannot compensate for a slow site or a poor core experience.

Q: Why can a slow website undermine paid acquisition?

Paid acquisition directs visitors to a destination, so the destination must provide a strong experience when they arrive. If the website loads slowly, prospective customers may struggle to access the information or solution promised by the advertisement. The result is a structural problem that additional advertising cannot fix. Improving site performance should therefore precede spending designed to increase traffic.

Q: What does Deel offer companies with global teams?

Deel offers a combined platform for payroll, HR, and compliance needs across global teams. Its tools cover areas including immigration, employer-of-record hiring, independent contractor hiring, and payroll. The platform is intended to help a company hire and support workers in different countries while managing the related operational requirements in one place, rather than relying on disconnected processes.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Deel provides payroll, HR, compliance, immigration, employer-of-record hiring, contractor hiring, and payroll tools for global teams. Meltem Kuran Berkowitz joined when the company and marketing function were still small, then helped lead growth as Deel rapidly increased recurring revenue while remaining EBITDA positive.

• Deel’s early growth strategy focused on answering practical questions where prospective customers already gathered. The team used search content, Reddit, Quora, partnerships, and business communities to provide useful guidance instead of immediately selling. These channels required time but benefited from word of mouth and persistent public answers.

• Growth investments should follow a logical sequence. A company first needs a functional, fast website that search engines recognize, followed by content that helps people discover it. Paid advertising should come later because directing purchased traffic to a slow or unhelpful experience undermines the campaign before acquisition can succeed.