The Cheap Growth Playbook: How Deel Built $300M in Revenue Without Ads
Meltem Kuran Berkowitz
Head of Growth, Deel
LENNY'S PODCAST
The Foundation
The Deel Growth Arc: $0 → $300M in 3 Years
$300M
ARR in 2023
2nd
fastest growing SaaS
✓
EBITDA positive
Meltem joined as employee ~20 at $1M ARR (July 2020)
Jan 2021: $4M ARR (6 months in)
Dec 2021: $57M ARR (18 months in)
Apr 2022: $100M ARR (less than 2 years)
Growth funded largely by non-paid channels
Cheap Channels Framework
Where People Ask Questions = Where You Grow
80%
non-paid early growth
50%
non-paid today
The core insight: People don't want to be sold to—they want their problems answered
Reddit setup: Set keyword alerts for when people ask about "hiring internationally" or "compliance," then personally answer with genuine help
The value-add approach: "Yes, it's doable. No, it's not doable. Here are the constraints. If you want to learn more, come chat with us."
Automated is never an option: Every interaction was manual—co-founders, growth team, all hands. Never automated responses
Meltem's first action at DeelDay 1: Set up Reddit keyword tracking. Still running 3+ years later. This single tactic seeded the entire growth machine.
The SEO Layer
SEO: The Long Game That Compounds
The SEO mistake: Shoving keywords into articles people don't want to read. Bounces kill ranking
The SEO question: "Is the Google search over?" If someone reads your article, do they go back to Google or do they have their answer?
Compliance & tax expertise: Deel hired in-house experts to answer the hardest questions (country-specific payroll, contractor vs. employee taxes, immigration rules)
Content operations: Treat content like an operational process with clear frameworks, not creative guesswork
Update cadence: Regulations change constantly—proactively update articles when answers shift
The IRS validation story
Previous company wrote a comprehensive PPP loan guide during COVID. The IRS linked to it as the definitive answer. Became a major growth driver during that window. Proof: answer the question better than anyone else, and influencers will send people your way.
What questions to answer
Not "What's the best payroll?" but "How do I pay taxes for an engineer in Turkey?" or "Contractor vs. employee in Germany?"—specific, use-case-driven questions people actually search for.
"The biggest mistake people make is they shove keywords. The main thing to think about is: is the Google search over? Are they going back to Google or do they have their answer?"
Paid Growth Playbook
How to Win at Paid
Track the full funnel, not just leads. How many leads → qualified opportunities → closed deals? How much did you actually make?
Build a real-time dashboard with your data team that tracks unit economics by channel
Creative fatigue is real. Rotate ads monthly (except Google ads, which need to be sharp and direct)
Keep messaging aligned with your product as it evolves—even if an ad works, it may be stale
Understand your CAC payback period and LTV to decide how much you can afford to spend
The paid gotchaYou can't run successful paid campaigns if your website is slow, your SEO isn't working, or your funnel is broken. Fix the fundamentals first.
Contrarian
Growth Myths Meltem Challenges
✗Start with paid adsINSTEAD →✓ Build the foundation first: fast website, searchable, organic channels proven. Then add paid on top.
✗High-volume leads = successINSTEAD →✓ Track to closed revenue and payback. A low-volume, high-conversion channel beats a high-volume noise channel every time.
✗Partner with anyone who shares your audienceINSTEAD →✓ Partner only with trusted advisors. VCs recommend portfolio companies; tech partners don't. Know who people actually ask.
✗SEO doesn't matter for fast-growing startupsINSTEAD →✓ 50% of Deel's growth still comes from non-paid channels. SEO + communities compound for years while paid is temporary.