An inside look at Deel’s unprecedented growth | Meltem Kuran Berkowitz (Head of Growth)

Meltem Kuran Berkowitz is Head of Growth at Deel, which went from $0 to $300m in ARR in 3 years (fastest company in history to do so). Meltem joined Deel early to lead growth, and currently leads all of the growth and marketing teams including paid ads, content, product marketing, community, brand, and more. In this episode, we discuss:
• How Deel found success leveraging low-cost growth channels
• Why early awareness campaigns are a waste of time in B2B
• How to create effective SEO content
• Deel’s “traffic light” framework
• When it makes sense to invest in paid ads
• The art of structuring growth teams
• Building a startup culture
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Find the full transcript at: www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/an...
Where to find Meltem Kuran Berkowitz:
• Twitter/X: / meltemkuran
• LinkedIn: / meltem-kuran-berkowitz...
Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: www.lennysnewsletter.com
• Twitter/X: / lennysan
• LinkedIn: / lennyrachitsky
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Meltem’s background
(04:21) What Deel does
(06:32) How Meltem leverages low-cost growth channels
(13:18) How to answer questions in a value-add way
(14:52) Leveraging closed communities
(15:48) Breaking down Deel’s impressive growth
(16:33) SEO best practices
(18:32) Deel’s “traffic light system” framework for publishing content
(20:03) The step-by-step process of publishing an SEO article
(21:55) How Deel structures their content team
(23:18) Why you can’t cut corners when doing SEO
(25:15) Businesses that should not invest in SEO
(26:40) The growth channels Deel prioritized early on
(32:12) Why Meltem is not a fan of early awareness campaigns for B2B businesses
(33:54) What Notion did right with their ad campaigns
(36:16) How Deel can help your company
(38:15) Deel’s blog post that caught the attention of the IRS
(40:06) Paid ads tips
(42:12) Why acquisition channels are useless without a great product
(44:19) How the pandemic helped drive growth at Deel
(47:11) Structuring early growth teams
(51:23) Building a startup culture
(1:01:10) The story behind Meltem’s unique workspace
(1:05:22) Closing thoughts on growth
(1:06:05) Lightning round
Referenced:
• Deel: www.deel.com/
• Clearscope: www.clearscope.io/
• Notion: www.notion.so/
• Geoff Charles on Lenny’s Podcast: www.lennyspodcast.com/velocit...
• Amp It Up: Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity: www.amazon.com/Amp-Unlocking-...
• Snowflake: www.snowflake.com
• How Will You Measure Your Life?: www.amazon.com/How-Will-Measu...
• Oppenheimer: www.oppenheimermovie.com/
• The Summer I Turned Pretty on Amazon Prime: www.amazon.com/dp/B09NF4J7XW
• Library stamps on Amazon: www.amazon.com/library-stamp/...
• Bloody Caesar recipe: www.liquor.com/recipes/bloody...
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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

[@Nate-talks-design]

I love that Meltum suggested reading fiction books at the end. Expand your mind with creativity.

[@kilianvalue8855]

She's smart, gorgeous and so wise, great podcast Lenny!

[@Runfasthq]

I love these ideas. Anyone who can grow a company at this rate is doing something right.

[@528Circle]

I’m the oldest person in our young startup. Some of this was a little over my head because I just don’t live in this space. I don’t have any social media, have never been on Reddit, and still don’t really know what that does. This interview has sparked a lot of questions for me. This will never be something that is in my wheelhouse but I do find it fascinating.

[@barbarosozturk]

What a fantastic dialogue! Also grateful that the algorithm shared this video/podcast. Thanks for sharing, Lenny!

[@cokemunster]

Great insights. I love the part where accountability is asked from the team as I am not afraid to get my hands dirty to contribute to the main goal. However, it is also vital for the company to ask how they can provide the resources for their team to excel, such as time, tools, etc., especially when placed in a position where they have to work with lean means to meet their KPIs. Truly, I enjoyed this episode.

[@ArmChairComment]

This is a fantastic. Thank you for sharing your insights Meltem. Loved how you built your strategy around answering people's questions.

[@lawrencedupre5650]

very good episode, with good content. Inspiring company story and Meltem is very engaging, charming interviewee ;-)

[@ThePeelPod]

This was such a good episode!

[@ShubhashisPradhan]

Great tips but it really worked because it was launched during Covid when the workforce really became globally distributed and remote. One of the reasons now the low cost channel are not adding much to the funnel is that people aren’t discussing about it. It’s impressive that it’s now at 300Mn ARR but we should know how much of that is from existing customers and how much from new customers? That split will tell the real story behind the phenomenal growth.

[@ThePeelPod]

I believe Deel launched serving startups and moved upmarket, so very likely new customers make up a big amount.

[@SirajSirajuddin]

Absolutely amazing

[@teamdash_software]

Thanks! Great episode - would've been interesting to dig more into how long it actually took to start seeing significant payback from all the time and resources invested into their content strategy as this is something that's sometimes hard to project and plan for.

[@matheushipolito]

Great tips! Specially about focusing on cheaper channels. I'm definitely starting to focus o Facebook communities associated to my products and services.

[@sumaiyaaijaz5876]

What is your product around? I'm thinking along the same lines. Do you have any recommendations for good Facebook communities?

[@dmitriypetruk342]

Nice!

[@sergeadamu]

We do the complex things so you can focus on what you do best 😄😄😄

[@sbhvibes6971]

Lenny, I missed the Reddit and Quora tool which Meltem was talking about. Can you share the link?

[@aligohar1708]

Numbers are nuts

[@youssef.elmoumen]

*Two amazing quotes I've learned today from youtube* "early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise" "Build the skeleton before putting the makeup"

[@sadiviziotv7095]

She is a beneficiary of Covid and a good product - a lot of the answers she is giving such as not committing to BOFU metrics as a deal breaker is amateurish and shows her lack of experience in B2B SaaS. From what i have heard, the real levers of deel's growth is certainly not a sophisticated growth strategy.

[@ahmadelatik]

She has got to where she is because she knows stuff, it is you who is being amateurish for not acknowledging that.

[@nonefvnfvnjnjnjevjenjvonej3384]

she is also really sexy

[@shinhq]

There are many products that could have benefitted from covid.

[@pbpb5327]

No! It is because she discovered this incredible growth hack: answering questions on quora and Reddit. NEVER heard that before…

[@s.h306]

You could say amateurish, but you could also say her strategies are grounded in fundemantals and the point of view that the basics work.