An inside look at Deel’s unprecedented growth | Meltem Kuran Berkowitz (Head of Growth)
Brought to you by Miro—A collaborative visual platform where your best work comes to life | LMNT—Zero-sugar hydration | AssemblyAI—Production-ready AI models to transcribe and understand speech — 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: Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Google, Overcast, and YouTube. Find the transcript for this episode and all past episodes at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/episodes/. Today’s transcript will be live by 8 a.m. PT. Where to find Meltem Kuran Berkowitz: • Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/meltemkuran • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meltem-kuran-berkowitz-4721114b Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/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: https://www.deel.com/ • Clearscope: https://www.clearscope.io/ • Notion: https://www.notion.so/ • Geoff Charles on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/velocity-over-everything-how-ramp-became-the-fastest-growing-saas-startup-of-all-time-geoff-charl/ • Amp It Up: Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity: https://www.amazon.com/Amp-Unlocking-Hypergrowth-Expectations-Intensity/dp/1119836115 • Snowflake: https://www.snowflake.com • How Will You Measure Your Life?: https://www.amazon.com/How-Will-Measure-Your-Life/dp/0062102419 • Oppenheimer: https://www.oppenheimermovie.com/ • The Summer I Turned Pretty on Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NF4J7XW • Library stamps on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/library-stamp/s?k=library+stamp • Bloody Caesar recipe: https://www.liquor.com/recipes/bloody-caesar/ Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. You're currently a free subscriber to Lenny's Newsletter. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. |
Older messages
The ultimate guide to JTBD | Bob Moesta (co-creator of the framework)
Thursday, August 24, 2023
Listen now (70 mins) | Brought to you by Sidebar—Catalyze your career with a Personal Board of Directors | Merge—A single API to add hundreds of integrations into your app | Eppo—Run reliable,
How to hire your first growth team
Tuesday, August 22, 2023
Practical advice from 12 world-class growth experts, including Lauryn Isford, Casey Winters, John Egan, Adam Fishman, Melissa Tan, Laura Schaffer, Hila Qu, Adam Grenier, and Ben Williams
Monetizing passions, scaling marketplaces, and stories from a creator economy vet | Camille Hearst (Spotify, Patre…
Sunday, August 20, 2023
Listen now (64 mins) | Brought to you by Merge—A single API to add hundreds of integrations into your app | Coda—Meet the evolution of docs | Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security. — Camille
How to validate your B2B startup idea
Tuesday, August 15, 2023
Part two of my seven-part series on how to kickstart and scale a B2B business
Relentless curiosity, radical accountability, and HubSpot’s winning growth formula | Christopher Miller (VP of Pro…
Monday, August 14, 2023
Listen now (91 mins) | Brought to you by Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security | Sidebar—Catalyze your career with a Personal Board of Directors | Merge—A single API to add hundreds of
You Might Also Like
I'm blue
Saturday, November 23, 2024
Hey, tl;dr – I've decided to delete all my Twitter posts, lock down my account, and leave the platform. And I'm going all-in on Bluesky, which (in the last month) has become 1000x more fun
🚀 Globalstar to the Nasdaq
Saturday, November 23, 2024
Plus $RKLB CEO becomes a billionaire, DIRECTV $SATS debt deal called off, TEC's $160M Series B, and more! The latest space investing news and updates. View this email in your browser The Space
Theory Two
Friday, November 22, 2024
Tomasz Tunguz Venture Capitalist If you were forwarded this newsletter, and you'd like to receive it in the future, subscribe here. Theory Two Today, we're announcing our second fund of $450
🗞 What's New: AI creators may be coming to TikTok
Friday, November 22, 2024
Also: Microsoft's AI updates are helpful for founders ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
behind the scenes of the 2024 digital health 50
Friday, November 22, 2024
the expert behind the list is unpacking this year's winners. don't miss it. Hi there, Get an inside look at the world's most promising private digital health companies. Join the analyst
How to get set up on Bluesky
Friday, November 22, 2024
Plus, Instagram personal profiles are now in Buffer! ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
10words: Top picks from this week
Friday, November 22, 2024
Today's projects: Remote Nursing Jobs • CopyPartner • Fable Fiesta • IndexCheckr • itsmy.page • Yumestudios • Limecube • WolfSnap • Randomtimer • Fabrik • Upp • iAmAgile 10words Discover new apps
Issue #131: Building $1K-$10K MRR Micro SaaS Products around AI Search Optimisation, Fine-Tuning Image Models, AI-…
Friday, November 22, 2024
Build Profitable SaaS products!! ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
(Free) Trial & Error— The Bootstrapped Founder 357
Friday, November 22, 2024
Today, I'll dive into the difference between a trial user and a trial abuser and what you can do to invite the former and prevent the latter. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
💎 Specially for you - will never be repeated again!
Friday, November 22, 2024
The biggest Black Friday sale in Foundr history...but it won't last forever! Black Friday_Header_2 Hey Friend , We knew our Black Friday deal was amazing—but wow, the response has been so unreal