20VC: Deel CEO Alex Bouaziz on Raising $300M+ at a $17BN Valuation | Deel vs Rippling: WTF is Going On | Management Lessons from Ben Horowitz and Nik Storonsky | Deel's M&A Playbook: Lessons from 13 Acquisitions: What Works & What Doesn't

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

The Twenty Minute VC

Business, Investing, Tech News, News

4.4 • 693 Ratings

🗓️ 20 October 2025

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Alex Bouaziz is the Co-Founder and CEO @ Deel, the $17BN global payroll juggernaut that just last week announced their latest $300M fundraise led by Ribbit, a16z and Coatue. Deel has been on the most insane journey, they do $1BN+ in ARR, they just had their first $100M revenue month and they have been profitable for over 3 years.

AGENDA:

03:38 Announcing $300M Fundraise at a $17BN Valuation

06:24 Rippling vs Deel: WTF is Going On? Where is the Lawsuit?

14:01 Why 1-1s Are BS and Leaders Should Stop Doing Them

17:31 Do Rich Leaders Make Better Leaders

28:33 Biggest Lesson from Ben Horowitz? Why Most CMOs Are Bad?

34:48 Lessons from Nik @ Revolut and Why Companies Need to Make Their Own Software

42:23 Deel's Acquisition Playbook: Lessons from 13 Acquisitions

45:17 How to Price Acquisitions? How to Align Incentives with Founders?

55:45 Deel is Profitable and Growing Fast: When is the IPO?

01:01:35 Best Acquisition Ever + Worst Ever: What Did We Learn?

Transcript

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0:00.0	I feel pretty confident that the same way we've been winning in the marketplace will win in the court of laws. So it's just we just need to play it out. I think I'm in constant wartime, sadly. As well, that September was our first 100 million revenue month, which is a very exciting milestone for the business. This round, these new investors, our board has always been with us, kind of shows for where we stand as a company towards this type of litigations.
0:21.4	This is 20VC with me, Harry Stebbings, and I'm so excited to welcome back.
0:25.0	What I think is one of the great founders of our generation, Alex Booziz, at Deal.
0:29.8	Now, Deal is the $17 billion global payroll juggernaut that just last week announced their
0:35.8	latest $300 million fundraiseise led by Ribbitt,
0:39.4	Andresen and Co2.
0:41.1	Deal has been on the most insane journey.
0:43.4	They now do over a billion in annual revenue.
0:46.0	They just had their first 100 million revenue month and they've been profitable for over
0:52.1	three years.
0:53.4	I'm very touched by this show. I freaking hate
0:56.4	podcasts where there's like a podcast tour. And Alex chose to do one podcast to announce this round
1:03.7	and he chose 20 VC. That meant a huge amount to me. This show was fantastic and I cannot
1:09.0	wait to hear your thoughts. But before we dive into the show today, I love seeing the team come together to make this
1:14.9	show happen.
1:15.6	What I don't love is trying to keep track of all the information, the data and the projects
1:19.8	that we're working on across dozens of platforms, products and tools.
1:23.4	That's why we use Coda, the all-in-one collaborative workspace that's helped 50,000 teams all over the world get on the same page.
1:31.8	Offering the flexibility of docs with the structure of spreadsheets, Coda facilitates deeper teamwork and quicker creativity.
1:38.9	And their turnkey AI solution, the intelligence of Coda brain, is a game changer.
1:43.8	Powered by Grammally, Coda is
1:45.5	entering a new phase of innovation and expansion, aiming to redefine productivity for the AI
	...

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