Australian and New Zealand startups are expanding globally faster than ever, and Deel’s SMB Manager, Alex Palmer, has a unique vantage point from working with startups who are doing just that.
Palmer joined global payroll, compliance and HR platform Deel in 2024 after nearly six years at Uber. As an Earlywork and Inspiring Rare Birds mentor and former Airtree ‘Explorer’, he’s helped startups find clarity as they go to market – and the world.
“Founders are increasingly looking offshore for two reasons: access to a far larger customer base and wider access to talent,” Palmer tells Startup Daily.
“Some Aussie and Kiwi startups might say, for example, I want to get some developers, but it’s too expensive or there’s not enough people to do it in Australia and New Zealand.”
Others are looking to go where the customer demand is. For example, roughly 27 million potential customers in Australia versus more than 300 million in the United States.
The real change he’s seeing is that founders are making these decisions earlier, and many are thinking strategically from day one. He says the companies that get it right tend to start with the same step: a clear diagnostic of where they are today, how they are hiring, and what they want to build next.
The first step: Your ‘decision tree’
When working with founders exploring global growth, Palmer often uses a structured “decision tree” to help them get the setup right. His first step is simple: “Understand exactly where you’re at today, what got you there, and where you’re trying to go next.”
From there, decisions get more technical. “For example, a company may realise a contractor overseas is, in practice, a full-time employee. How to make that conversion and reduce risk to your future operations in that country is the type of question the tree allows you to answer before inadvertently doing it wrong and risking fines or other consequences.”
“The tree becomes a structured set of questions that narrow down the right path,” Palmer says. “It’s really about helping people see around the corner before they get to the corner so they can make educated decisions rather than stumble into risk.”
While every company has a different mix of markets, priorities and legacy decisions, and every country has its own rules, what stays constant is the framework. It helps founders understand what is working, what may need to change and what risks they may be carrying.
The booby trap: Hello, compliance
Uneducated risk-taking is a common pitfall Palmer has seen throughout his work with startups.
“People don’t actually know that the decision they’re making today is going to set them up for a failure down the line,” he shares.
And those risks can be significant.
Paying someone overseas directly from Australia is a common example. “Is that compliant? Is that going to leave you with skeletons in the closet down the line? You bet it is.”
The consequences vary widely. Palmer explains: “Some countries fine a percentage of your revenue in that country. Other countries you might get banned from trading, or even have your operations ceased.”
Another common example? Founders setting up foreign entities too early.
“It’s really easy to think, I’ve got a couple of people in the Philippines. Why don’t I incorporate and set up an entity there? But if headcount never grows, you’ve made a long-term decision for a short-term problem,” he says. “It’s very expensive, hard to keep up with compliance, and potentially even more expensive to try and wind down at the end.”
Global workforce building: Autonomy is king
Building a successful global workforce takes careful consideration and forward planning.
“If you’re building a workforce that is either fully or semi-remote, you’ve got to make sure the people that you get are the right people,” Palmer says.
Successful remote workers share “a degree of rigour, authenticity and autonomy”, he adds.
“You’re not there as a manager to tap them on the shoulder at the water cooler to tell them what to do. They’ve got to be autonomous people that can find a way to fix their own problems,” he says.
“They need to be very structured in their day-to-day… And as a leader you’ve got to provide very clear expectations. Priorities need to be aligned and time-bound.”
Another potential issue when scaling is documentation gaps. What if all your knowledge is trapped in one person? What happens if they leave?
Palmer recommends building standard operating procedures early so critical knowledge is never lost. Without this, founders can easily create operational debt – legacy processes that become harder to untangle the more global they get.
For remote teams, he says culture is often shaped through practical systems, giving an example of how Deel helps foster a sense of belonging in new remote hires with a simple approach to equipment selection.
“Consider the difference. A founder buys laptops and ships them overseas, hoping everything arrives and does the job. Deel instead lets employees choose the equipment they need using allocated credits, which helps the new hire feel included and part of the organisation from day one,” he says.
It’s the kind of small operational detail, he says, that creates culture far more effectively than words on a values poster.
The bottom line
Palmer’s advice for founders is simple: get ahead of the decisions that matter.
Start with clarity on how you’re hiring today, check whether your current setup would still work as you expand overseas, and fix anything that won’t hold up as you grow.
And if you realise something isn’t right? Palmer says the starting point is always a conversation.
“The first thing to do is have a chat,” he says. “Understand exactly where you’re at today, what got you there, and where you’re trying to go in the future. After that initial chat, it’s a case of working through the decision tree to de-risk your operations.”
Deel has helped 35,000+ companies expand globally with speed, flexibility and compliance. Get a 30-minute free demo of their all-in-one Global People Platform here.
This article is brought to you by Startup Daily in partnership with Deel.
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