”We Hire For Default Optimism”: Deel Co-founder & CEO, Alex Bouaziz on Arsenal, His Father, and Video Games

2026-07-09

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Today, we're back with Alex Bouaziz, co-founder and CEO of Deel, to talk about his life lessons.Alex Bouaziz is the co-founder and CEO of Deel, the global payroll and HR platform he's grown from zero to a $17 billion business in just a few years. Tommy Stadlen talks to Alex about the mindset behind building Deel, from why he calls himself a "wartime CEO" to how a chance encounter on Reddit led to his first hire. Alex opens up about running the business alongside his father, why he thinks his generation's gaming habits...

Today, we're back with Alex Bouaziz, co-founder and CEO of Deel, to talk about his life lessons.

Alex Bouaziz is the co-founder and CEO of Deel, the global payroll and HR platform he's grown from zero to a $17 billion business in just a few years. Tommy Stadlen talks to Alex about the mindset behind building Deel, from why he calls himself a "wartime CEO" to how a chance encounter on Reddit led to his first hire. Alex opens up about running the business alongside his father, why he thinks his generation's gaming habits made remote-first culture feel normal rather than crazy, and the moment of seeing Deel's logo on Arsenal shirts around London.

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Music credits: Bubble King written and produced by Cameron McLain and Stevan Cablayan aka Vector_XING.

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