Interview with Alex Bouaziz (co-founder & CEO of Deel) and Anish Acharya (General Partner at a16z)

Back in 2018, Alex Bouaziz and his co-founder Shuo Wang picked up on the trend of remote work and founded Deel, a startup that helps companies of all sizes compliantly hire and pay talent remotely all around the world. Over a year into COVID, it's clear that remote work is here to stay and has become a new norm, particularly for tech companies. With this shift in work behaviour, Deel has seen their business explode with 20X growth in the past year, reaching a $1.25 billion valuation after a $156 million Series C funding led by the YC Continuity Fund and existing backers Andreessen Horowitz and Spark Capital.In this episode, we dive into the story of the newly-minted unicorn with its co-founder Alex and one of its first investors, Anish Acharya of Andreessen Horowitz. We discuss the future of work, learn about their VC-founder encounter, and —with Alex and Anish both having founded successful companies— pick up lots of founder wisdom along the way.Topics:00:23 — Introduction with Cindy Yang01:24 — Alex Bouaziz on the origin story of Deel03:16 — Anish Acharya's macro-analysis of work and employment04:14 — How Alex and Anish met through Ryan Hoover (Product Hunt, Weekend Fund)06:34 — Growth and unicorn status07:10 — Trends in remote work: contractor vs. full-time09:13 — Best practice for cross-timezone collaboration11:16 — How to find the best talent geographically12:10 — Working in a physical office vs. in remote14:01 — Anish and Alex on the future of work20:04 — The relevance of starting a company in Silicon Valley today23:15 — Anish's investment scope at a16z23:58 — Alex on how VCs perceive remote teams23:27 — Anish on FinTech and FinTech-adjacent companies25:32 — Alex on how Deel falls into the FinTech spectrum26:04 — How Deel helps companies compliantly employ and pay talent in so many countries28:15 — What Anish looks for in founders at a16z and what struck him about Alex and Shuo29:44 — Companies that Anish and Alex are excited about32:09 — Advice for early-stage foundersThis episode is supported by TikTok, hosted and produced by Cindy Yang. Art is by Gaëtan Lefebvre. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Om Podcasten

Welcome to Entrepreneur Talks by STATION F, a podcast to inspire and support entrepreneurs in their journey!STATION F is the world's largest startup campus, with 1000+ startups working on-site. Located in Paris, STATION F gathers all the services an entrepreneur might need under one roof, including 350+ VC funds, 30+ public administrations, and mentorship offices by leading tech companies like Apple, Google, AWS, and OVH.We are here to help bring ambitious ideas to life and, in this podcast, you'll be able to meet some of the most brilliant entrepreneurs and personalities, discover exciting projects, and learn from their experiences. Failures, regrets, tips, learnings, emotions - no topic will be avoided. We will address all questions to learn the best from our guests.Sit tight, listen carefully, and take notes, because you're about to get inspired. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.