""When I started Deel, someone told me the different stages of the business require different types of people and you will basically need to replace your whole leadership team, when you get to $1 million in ARR (annual recurring revenue), and then $5 million," he recalls to Fortune. After all, bootstrapping a startup, raising capital, and managing a handful of employees require different management skills than running a billion-dollar business with thousands of stakeholders."
""If you look at Deel, actually 80% of my leadership team is the same that it was when we were at $0 ARR." His instincts were on the money: In 2021, just three years after launching, Deel hit unicorn status-and it's not slowed down since. The company has swallowed up eight similar employee engagement services, its workforce has swelled from 10 to 3,600 workers and annual recurring revenue has skyrocketed from $4 million in 2021 to $500 million as of March."
Alex Bouaziz launched Deel, an HR platform, in 2019 at age 25 and retained most of his original leadership despite common scaling advice to replace teams at growth milestones. Seasoned entrepreneurs advised wholesale leadership turnover when reaching $1 million and $5 million ARR because different stages demand different skills. Bouaziz ignored that counsel and reports that 80% of his leadership remains from the company's $0 ARR days. Deel achieved unicorn status in 2021, expanded through eight acquisitions, grew headcount from 10 to 3,600, and increased ARR from $4 million in 2021 to $500 million by March, reaching a $17.3 billion valuation.
Read at Fortune
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