Lenny's PodcastAn inside look at Deel’s unprecedented growth | Meltem Kuran Berkowitz (Head of Growth)
At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Inside Deel’s Explosive SaaS Growth: Cheap Channels, Speed, Discipline
- Meltem Kuran Berkowitz, Head of Growth at Deel, breaks down how Deel scaled from under $1M to nearly $300M ARR in three years while remaining EBITDA positive. Her strategy centers on nailing basics first (fast, clear website and strong product), then layering in low-cost, high-intent channels like SEO, Q&A communities, and focused partnerships before heavy paid spend. She explains Deel’s highly operational approach to content/SEO, disciplined paid acquisition tied to revenue (not leads), and a growth team structure that blends functional and regional expertise. Throughout, she emphasizes culture—“Deel speed,” default optimism, and deep care for customers—as the backbone enabling fast, sustainable growth.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasStart with basics: fast site, clear messaging, discoverability before paid
Meltem insists you must first ensure you have a fast, functional website that clearly explains what you do and is indexable by search engines; only after that—and initial organic discovery via content/SEO—is in place should you consider paid acquisition. Running ads to a slow or confusing site wastes money and data.
Use ‘where questions are asked’ as your cheap-channel compass
Early growth came from going wherever target users were asking real questions—Reddit, Quora, Twitter, closed founder/HR communities, YC, VCs—and answering them in-depth, not just dropping links. This is time-intensive but nearly free, compounds over time, and works especially well in B2B where active problems drive behavior.
Treat SEO as answering the query so the Google search is over
Rather than keyword-stuffing, Deel’s SEO strategy is to write pages that fully answer the underlying intent so users don’t bounce back to Google. They systematically prioritize keywords via a ‘traffic-light’ system (green/yellow/red by purchase intent), then craft comprehensive, simple content that resolves the entire problem.
Make content and SEO an operational engine, not just a creative function
Deel’s ~8-person content team runs like an ops org: rigorous keyword vetting, standardized briefs, freelancer management, fact-checking, ongoing updates, and tools like Clearscope to ensure clarity and coverage. They now publish ~5 new pieces and update ~5 old ones weekly, across multiple languages, with tight measurement.
Measure growth by revenue and payback, not just leads or clicks
Growth at Deel owns revenue, not “marketing metrics.” Paid channels are evaluated on full-funnel performance and 12‑month revenue, tracked in real time via data dashboards (lead → opportunity → closed-won → ARR), so budgets follow true profitability instead of vanity lead volume.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesEarly days, it's very important to just go back to the basics. You know, build the skeleton before you put on the makeup.
— Meltem Kuran Berkowitz
People don't want to be sold to, they want their problem solved.
— Meltem Kuran Berkowitz
The main thing to think about [in SEO] is, is the Google search over?
— Meltem Kuran Berkowitz
Acquisition channels just straight up don't work if you have a product that doesn't live up to the expectation.
— Meltem Kuran Berkowitz
Most of growth people assume is very difficult… It's much simpler than they think it is. It just takes a lot of discipline to execute on it.
— Meltem Kuran Berkowitz
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
Get more out of YouTube videos.
High quality summaries for YouTube videos. Accurate transcripts to search & find moments. Powered by ChatGPT & Claude AI.
Add to Chrome