Alex Bouaziz retains acquired founders by having them report directly to him
Alex Bouaziz · Deel Hits $1.4B+ in ARR | CEO Alex Bouaziz Shares Growth Playbook · Sourcery with Molly O'Shea · Mar 17, 2026 · at 36:05
Alex Bouaziz, co-founder and CEO of Deel, explains his founder-retention playbook following M&A transactions.
0:00 / 0:19exact quote · 19.1s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“One thing I do which works decently well for us is I actually usually have the founders reporting to me directly for a while. So, you know, one, they have more freedom, and second, they know we care, right? And it's important because they're smart people. They could go and build a new business within a year, right? And if you want some retention there you need to show you care.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Alex Bouaziz
AI-native new graduates will 10x output and displace older workers
“I actually think most of those people, most of the new grads, they're gonna be so good at using those AI tools. They're gonna put all the people that are in the older range out of business and be able to do tenx more just by having lived through, like, this re…”
Silicon Valley insiders manufactured narratives to devalue Deel's rapid growth
“I think a weird thing that happened with us is the combination of having really good numbers on the board plus not spending time with non-internal investors allowed for other people in the ecosystem to try to give reason to justify Our growth, right? Like, oh,…”
Alex Bouaziz believes Deel is undervalued at its current valuation
“I still think the business personally is, is undervalued, right?”
Multi-floor offices function effectively as remote companies, according to Bouaziz
“Most companies are remote. As soon as you start being on two floors, three floors, you don't know the people in your company. Whether they're sitting on the third floor or they're at home, it doesn't really make a difference to you, right?”
Bouaziz: Deel's regulatory infrastructure protects it from pure AI disruption
“Clearly we have AI tailwinds in terms of what we can offer our customers, right? And if you combine this with the regulatory work that we've done, which is really hard to reciprocate, like, you can see that it's the foundations of the business are really hard …”