Common M&A mistakes and founder retention

Alex Bouaziz is the co-founder and CEO of Deel, the global payroll and workforce infrastructure company that has rapidly become the #1 platform for hiring and paying employees worldwide. Founded in 2019, at only 7 years old, Deel has scaled to $1.4B+ ARR, a $17.3B valuation, and 40K+ customers across 150+ countries. 

In this conversation, Alex breaks down how Deel became one of the fastest-growing software companies in the world, building the infrastructure that allows companies to hire, manage, and pay talent anywhere globally.

We discuss Deel’s unique M&A playbook, including 10+ acquisitions used to rapidly expand payroll, HR, and compliance capabilities across markets, and how the company has built its own global payroll infrastructure across countries.

Despite its rapid growth, Deel has also achieved profitability while scaling past $1B+ in revenue, an uncommon milestone for a company growing at this speed.

Alex also discusses the company’s recent $17.3B valuation & funding round backed by Ribbit Capital, Coatue, and a16z, how Deel scaled globally, and why he believes AI and autonomous agents will fundamentally reshape the future workforce.

Topics include:

• Scaling Deel to $1.4B+ ARR

• Serving 40K+ companies across 150+ countries

• Deel’s 10+ acquisition M&A strategy

• Building a profitable hypergrowth SaaS company

• The future of global hiring and distributed teams

• How AI agents will transform the workforce

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Alex Bouaziz: https://x.com/Bouazizalex  

Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea 

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