How We Hit $1 Billion in Revenue in 5 Years: Employee #20 at Deel

DescriptionIn this episode, we sit down with Meltem, one of Deel’s earliest growth leaders, who joined when the company was sub-$250K in revenue and helped scale it into a $1B+ ARR generational company.00:00 — Joining Deel early & Andreessen backing03:10 — From agencies to growth in tech06:40 — Why paid ads break at SMB scale10:25 — Deel in 2020: sub-$250K revenue13:45 — What “Head of Growth” really meant16:20 — First customers: cold emails & Reddit20:05 — Non-scalable hustle vs long-term growth24:10 — Competing with PayPal & wire transfers27:40 — Sales ↔ Growth handoff that actually works31:15 — Product feedback in hypergrowth34:30 — First real inflection point38:10 — Back-to-back fundraises & momentum41:50 — Founder dynamics & execution speed45:30 — Deel’s intense culture explained49:20 — Hiring bar-raisers at scale52:40 — Growth bets that surprised them56:10 — Turning channels off to find truth59:30 — Why she didn’t start a company1:02:10 — The ideal stage to join a startupRho Website - https://www.rho.co/PublicWebsite - https://public.com/Meltem Kuran Berkowitz  https://www.linkedin.com/in/meltem-kuran-berkowitzNichole wischoffhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholewischoff/