An Ode to Getting sh*t done
In late 2024, Philip and I launched Deputy - a fast, cost-effective way to scale your team. Since then, we've been fortunate to experience the kind of traction every founder hopes for: our mission strongly resonated with our early clients, they loved our solution, and we've been able to grow the business considerably on word of mouth alone.
With that, we haven't taken the time to write publicly about that mission, and many folks that discover us organically assume that Deputy is simply a recruitment firm. That's on us, and now feels like the right time to clear that up.
Deputy isn't a recruitment firm - it's an ode to getting sh*t done.
Why getting sh*t done matters
A company's ability to consistently get sh*t done is one of the most important yet underrated measures of its likelihood to succeed.
You can have heaps of funding, a great strategy, and an innovative product - but if you're not consistently executing, you're probably not going to make it. History is full of companies with less funding and even an inferior product who beat stronger competitors simply because they moved faster and got more done.
- Google beat Yahoo and AltaVista for search
- Facebook beat Myspace for social
- Whatsapp beat the telecom giants in messaging
- Zoom beat Cisco and Skype in conferencing
The formula
So how do we go about building a company that gets sh*t done? Here's an overly simplified formula:
The first two parts of our formula are well-served and have updated well with the times (CC your leadership guru and software stack of choice). The capacity portion, on the other hand, hasn't changed much since the 60s. And it's a far greater challenge than you might imagine.
The people problem
As you scale, getting sh*t done requires that you hire people - namely, Individual Contributors.
Sure; software and AI tools help you get more done with fewer sets of hands - but for all primary functions of your company, you still need to add humans into the loop as you grow.
The problem is, hiring sucks. There's the obvious: finding the right person often takes months and is resource intensive, and employing them is considerably expensive. But it doesn't stop there.
Early on, it's easy to view hiring as a one-off activity for each position. In reality, you never fill any role forever. There are many reasons behind this: you realise the person you hired wasn't the right fit, or they resign, or your requirements for the position change. Whatever the cause, you can be sure that the majority of the roles you hire for will become vacant again. This is the capacity cycle.
This cycle only spins faster over time, too. Staff attrition tends to rise as you grow, and employee tenure is trending down across the board. Multiply these factors across all the positions you'll need to fill over the years, and the problem becomes impossible to ignore.
Alternative solutions to hiring, and their pitfalls
There are a handful of options when solving the pains of hiring, but they all come with pitfalls.
Freelancers or agencies work for one-off projects, but this doesn't help you for core positions.
BPOs (Business Process Outsourcer) can take on entire functions for you, but you sacrifice control and visibility.
Offshore hiring lowers costs, but that alone doesn't address the problems of the capacity cycle.
Overcoming the capacity cycle
Philip and I were tired of seeing so many high potential companies being held back by the capacity cycle. And after many lessons hard-learned from making thousands of direct and indirect hires in our own businesses, we felt well positioned to set about building a solution.
We knew the solution wasn't a recruitment business. Recruitment helps you fill a role once, but it doesn't address any of the other pain-points. The real value lay in abstracting the most painful elements of the continuous cycle away from each position to be filled: sourcing, hiring, onboarding, employer admin, offboarding, and replacement.
Companies don't just need help finding talent - they need continuity in the job position itself. If you can keep capacity steady, you continually get sh*t done.
Introducing Deputy
And so, we created Deputy. We embed rigorously vetted remote staff into your business, and ensure that each position we fulfill remains filled.
Each hire works exclusively for you, on your schedule, while we handle everything behind the scenes.
Deputy manages all sourcing, interviews, and evaluations for you - but we don't stop there. We also take care of all ongoing employer admin and replace any hire seamlessly when necessary.
We move quickly, too. Instead of waiting months, you'll have a fully embedded team member in weeks. And because Deputy leverages offshore talent, you save up to 70% compared to local hiring - without sacrificing quality or control.
Companies of all shapes and sizes are already leveraging Deputies to get sh*t done. Whether you're running an early-stage AI business that needs data curators to ensure reliable outputs, a growth-stage edtech planning to boost your presence with marketers and video editors, or an established financial services firm looking to efficiently scale your back-office function - we've got you covered across a wide range of standard and bespoke positions.
Deputy makes scaling teams faster, more reliable, and more cost-effective. Above all, it keeps execution at the center of your business - so you can grow without getting stuck in the capacity cycle.