Inside Hyper-Growth. Reflecting on my 3 years at DeepL

3 years is a good tenure, but in high-growth startups, every year counts twice, as the intensity of learning, adapting, and navigating the scale accelerates everything. It's a truly unique experience. And it's not an environment for everyone.

I've been very lucky in my career. Over the past 12 years, I've made several pivots. From tabloid journalist to commercial GTM roles in SaaS, focusing on product marketing and demand generation. This journey has given me a front-row seat to how digital products evolve at different stages - from the early days of pre-product-market fit (Seeds), through the complexity of high growth (Series A-C), to the more established environments of corporate startups, where you can enjoy the safety net of a public company while playing more the role of disruptor.

My ongoing journey at DeepL has been the most unique and rewarding of all. It's an experience that has shown me the true value of soft skills - they take you further than hard skills alone ever could.

I joined the OG marketing team just two months after it was formed in 2021, probably as the third or fourth marketer on board. By then, the company had already gained traction and established a solid reputation in DACH. On a personal note, when I moved to Germany from Poland in 2018, I had to navigate the complexities of German bureaucracy daily. DeepL quickly became my indispensable tool for translating everything from work contracts to apartment leases, and much more. If you're an expat moving to Berlin, DeepL is truly a survival tool you can't do without. I had seen the hype on the forums, tried it myself, and loved it.

But back to the story. Back then, the focus was on building product and ensuring quality. There was no social media presence, no messaging, no lead generation, no case studies, and no sales enablement - essentially a blank slate to work from. Yet with minimal marketing, it grew like wildfire - a textbook example of product-led growth.

I joined as the first B2B Product Marketer, but my role quickly expanded beyond that. In an environment like this, you need to be a doer. At least at the start. Create the "End of The Year blog post"? Absolutely! Record a quick video poll on the street, as you launch the public beta for a new product. You got it!

If you're looking for a process and structure and you can't find it - create it. Flexibility and adaptability are essential. As the business grows, you'll grow with it, maybe not in the timeline you expected. But trust me, it'll be an incredible ride.

Over the last 36 months, I've juggled both individual contributor and mid-management roles in PMM and Demand Gen, building processes and teams, all while staying hands-on, whenever needed.

Be always helpful, but know when to say "no".

I'm far from finished here and the story continues, but as someone who is naturally reflective and deeply believes in #buildinpublic, I wanted to share some observations from the last three years.

So here are 6 lessons on the transition from startup to scale-up (??).

#1 Product-Market Fit: A Milestone, Not the Finish Line

Achieving product-market fit is a remarkable milestone. Once you've reached this point, your messaging resonates with your audience, and you're able to capture demand in a more structured, repeatable way. It feels good. It feels right. The revenue game becomes more predictable and you can be more confident with your marketing dollar investments (invest X, you'll get 2X in return etc.).

However, don't set on your laurels. Look for ways to expand your use cases, reach new personas, and even venture into new categories, through multiple products, or developing a platform. Listen to customers and understand the broader market/industry context as early as possible. It will help down the line.

At this stage, you most probably will experiment with product-led growth (PLG) and leverage that usage data to open the doors to higher value expansions and enterprise deals via product-led sales (PLS) - just like on the "growth road" below.

DeepL's launch of DeepL Write is a great example of how to expand beyond your original category. By focusing on broader communication in business, we've taken on a much bigger challenge than translation alone.

What happens if you don't expand? A good example of how fragile product-market fit can be is the downfall of Kodak. Once a leader in photography (as discussed in Clayton Christensen's book), Kodak was reluctant to embrace digital photography, fearing it would cannibalize its profitable film business. This hesitation allowed competitors to dominate the market, leading to the company's decline.

Never sit still! Always innovate!

Folks at Fletch are always on point when it comes to visualizations. Here's the one I particularly like—it clearly illustrates how a startup can navigate its journey from offering a single product solution to evolving into a platform as it scales.

#2 Clarity of your GTM Plan

Make your GTM strategy visible to your people. Clarity about the company's goals and how they translate into specific team goals helps align the sales and product organizations so they are both pulling in the same direction.

I may be a little biased, but I strongly believe that product marketing should be one of your first strategic hires early on (especially if it's a complex B2B solution). Bring in a GTM PMM who's willing to do the groundwork and can connect product and sales teams from the start. They'll be responsible for market research, customer insights, persona identification ... and lots of sales slides early on. I know how PMMs hate slide work, but C'est la vie.

You can't expect your marketing team to deliver a pipeline if you don't have GTM basics figured out.

I came across this great study by McKinsey on Product Marketing Managers (PMMs) in software organizations. It proves the point brilliantly.

#3 Navigating complexity and global expansion

As your business grows beyond product-market fit, you'll start looking at ways to double down on growth. You will likely consider international expansion, tapping into new markets - hello, USA!

While many EMEA-based SaaS companies naturally look to the US for its larger market, greater access to talent, and VC, we have seen a surprising boom in Japan first.

Before we opened an office in the US, we already had a team on the ground in Tokyo, supporting large manufacturing companies in Japan that needed tools to communicate with their subsidiaries around the world.

With expansion comes complexity. More markets, more stakeholders, higher stakes. A small change to a page visited by thousands of people each month won't kill your business, but a change to a conversion form visited by hundreds of thousands of people could affect your pipeline and annual targets.

Maintain high speed with a small, cross-functional team structure. It will help you stay agile and focused, even as the complexity of your business increases.

Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, discusses it in this podcast. Great resource.

Another is understanding the local context. As you grow in new markets, the consistency of your message/brand may be affected, but a one-size-fits-all approach doesn't always work. Especially in marketing. What works in the US or EMEA may not be as effective in APAC. For example, did you know that 80% of Japanese companies use Facebook for business networking, not LinkedIn as we might assume?

Finally, remember that it takes time.

Rome wasn't built in a day, but you CAN go from a humble table at an industry event in Montreal to a fancier conference booth in Paris in about two quarters.

#4 Don't overestimate the power of brand

The 'build it and they will come' approach can generate initial traction, but a strong investment in brand awareness - particularly when entering new markets - paves the way for sustainable growth. As the SaaS market becomes saturated, it is a combination of

good product + continuous innovation + strong brand

... that will keep customers loyal.

With a strong brand, customer acquisition costs are significantly lower, sales cycles are shorter, and it is easier to win new business. It's not a new concept, but it's an important reminder:

a strong brand is what enables demand.

... being the world's most accurate AI translation product doesn't hurt either ??

#5 Adapabilty and low ego

And now a few words about the soft skills. In high-growth environments, adaptability is key. Early on, you may thrive as a generalist, scrappy and fast, where speed and passion drive success. But as the business grows, it needs domain experts with experience in scale. You can master it, if you stick around.

Put your ego in the box (and leave it there)

Be open to lateral moves that align with the evolving needs of the business. Juggling individual contributor roles and management requires a 'player-coach' mentality - learning to lead without formal authority, influencing from any position, and focusing on impact.

Many people see management as an inevitable part of a successful career path (IC → mid-management → C-suite). But management is not just a title - it's a skill and not an easy one. If management is not your thing, consider the path of "super IC" - principal/staff level. More and more companies are including this in their career frameworks.

You absolutely CAN grow (both professionally and financially) without taking the management route. Elena Verna shared some great insights on this in her newsletter.

I'm also a big fan of "The 360-Degree Leader" (from an old book published in 2005), which teaches how you can develop your influence from anywhere in the organization - leading up (with your manager), leading down (leading your direct reports) and leading across (working with your peers).

Fall in love with the craft and focus on the impact you make. And if you are a manager - don't be a boss, be a leader.

#6 Culture will c?h?a?n?g?e? evolve. And that is a good thing.

As your business grows, its culture inevitably evolves. New hires bring fresh perspectives.

Ideally, a combination of "been there, done that" expertise AND (never or!) strong cultural fit .

When hiring, don't just focus on impressive logos on CVs - be also clear about the core values you want to uphold.

At DeepL you have people from all walks of life and different sizes of companies, but they all share this special spark that makes collaboration easier (and more fun).

Aim to hire people who are smarter than you.

Embrace a little discomfort in interviews. Look for candidates who will challenge you and make you think differently while showing genuine heart and empathy.

These are the people who will drive you forward. You are who you hire. As simple as that.

Well, that is in a nutshell.?Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

I'm grateful for the experience and even more excited for what lies ahead for us. Watch this space.

If you want to dig deeper, here are some great resources that I find interesting:

• "Scaling Through Chaos" by Index Ventures. Some great insights for building teams from 0 to 1,000.
• "Crossing the Chasm" book to understand the concept of technology adoption life cycle.
• "The First 90 Days" book by Michael Watkins. Great resource, if you start/transition into a new role.
• April Dunford podcast on messaging and positioning.
• Elena Verna newsletter on everything growth-related.
• Carilu Dietrich weekly newsletter on hypergrowth leadership.