Atlassian

In this sponsored bonus episode, NLW is joined by Atlassian co-founder and CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes for a conversation about how to build AI native teams. They discuss what separates enterprise AI leaders from laggards, why context is becoming a critical layer of AI adoption, how agents and MCPs are changing the way people work with software, and why 2026 may be the year AI moves beyond chat into more natural product experiences. This episode is presented in partnership with Atlassian, and includes a companion quiz to help you find out what kind of AI team you are. Sponsored by Atlassian https://www.atlassian.com/ Find our what kind of team you are: The AI Native Team Quiz - https://play.aidailybrief.ai/episodes/ai-team-archetypes/

Mike Cannon-Brookes

Cofounder and CEO

Atlassian

Alex Rampell and Erik Torenberg speak with Mike Cannon-Brookes, cofounder and CEO of Atlassian, about how to make sense of the SaaS selloff, why not all software companies face the same AI-driven risks, and how Atlassian is thinking about the shift from records to processes. They also examine the real design challenge of getting everyday users to trust and benefit from AI agents in enterprise workflows.   Resources: Follow Alex Rampell on X:  https://twitter.com/arampell Follow Erik Torenberg on X:   https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Follow Mike Cannon-Brookes on X: https://twitter.com/mcannonbrookes Stay Updated: Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube Find a16z on X Find a16z on LinkedIn Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Mike Cannon-Brookes

Cofounder and CEO

Atlassian

“I don't worry about being replaced by AI. I worry about being replaced by someone who's really good at using AI.” Atlassian has 10,000+ engineers currently split-testing the world’s top AI coding tools, from GitHub Copilot and Cursor to Claude Code. In this episode, Co-Founder & CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes joins Lukas Biewald to share what their data reveals about the world's best AI tools today. Hear how 24 years of building a tech giant and a massive internal study on AI productivity have shaped Mike's vision for the future of dev jobs. Connect with us here: Mike Cannon-Brookes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcannonbrookes/?originalSubdomain=au Atlassian: https://www.linkedin.com/company/atlassian/?viewAsMember=true Lukas Biewald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lbiewald/ Weights & Biases: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wandb/ 00:00 Trailer 01:08 Introduction 03:11 Connecting Technology and Business Teams 07:22 The Impact of AI on Business Workflows 13:26 Developer Productivity and AI 21:03 Measuring Developer Efficiency 25:41 Future of AI in Development 34:59 Legacy Technology and Code Changes 39:29 AI's Role in Developer Productivity 47:40 AI and Junior Developers 52:30 Product-Led Growth and Business Strategy 01:00:29 Core Metrics for Sustainable Growth 01:06:56 Staying Creative in the Tech Industry

Mike Cannon-Brookes

Cofounder and CEO

Atlassian

Sherif Mansour, Head of AI at Atlassian, discusses bridging AI agents with massive-scale enterprise software deployment, drawing insights from Atlassian's millions of non-technical users. He shares his framework for avoiding "AI Slop" using Taste, Knowledge, and Workflow, and explains Atlassian's "Teamwork Graph" for complex enterprise queries beyond RAG. The conversation also explores the evolving relationship between AI and UI, and the shift from humans as workers to architects of AI-driven processes. This episode offers practical wisdom for both AI engineers and business leaders navigating the future of AI-enabled organizations. Sponsors: Framer: Framer is the all-in-one tool to design, iterate, and publish stunning websites with powerful AI features. Start creating for free and use code COGNITIVE to get one free month of Framer Pro at https://framer.com/design Tasklet: Tasklet is an AI agent that automates your work 24/7; just describe what you want in plain English and it gets the job done. Try it for free and use code COGREV for 50% off your first month at https://tasklet.ai Shopify: Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, handling 10% of U.S. e-commerce. With hundreds of templates, AI tools for product descriptions, and seamless marketing campaign creation, it's like having a design studio and marketing team in one. Start your $1/month trial today at https://shopify.com/cognitive PRODUCED BY: https://aipodcast.ing CHAPTERS: (00:00) About the Episode (03:56) Atlassian's AI Vision (08:27) Trust, Authenticity, and Slop (14:10) Taste, Knowledge, and Workflow (Part 1) (17:33) Sponsors: Framer | Tasklet (20:14) Taste, Knowledge, and Workflow (Part 2) (Part 1) (29:51) Sponsor: Shopify (31:47) Taste, Knowledge, and Workflow (Part 2) (Part 2) (31:48) Technicals: RAG vs. Graphs (40:48) Forgetting, Cost, and Optimization (52:28) The Model Commoditization Debate (55:12) The Future of AI Interfaces (01:02:44) How AI Changes SaaS (01:09:43) Debating the One-Person Unicorn (01:16:17) Becoming a Workflow Architect (01:21:39) The Browser for Work (01:33:23) How Leaders Drive Adoption (01:39:26) Conclusion: Just Go Tinker (01:40:08) Outro SOCIAL LINKS: Website: https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai Twitter (Podcast): https://x.com/cogrev_podcast Twitter (Nathan): https://x.com/labenz LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nathanlabenz/ Youtube: https://youtube.com/@CognitiveRevolutionPodcast Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-cognitive-revolution-ai-builders-researchers-and/id1669813431 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6yHyok3M3BjqzR0VB5MSyk

Sherif Mansour

Head of AI

Atlassian

Spotify, Oracle, and Comcast have each recently announced they’re going with co-C.E.O.s. In this 2023 episode, we dig into the research and hear firsthand stories of triumph and disaster. Also: lessons from computer programmers, Simon and Garfunkel, and bears versus alligators.     SOURCES:Jim Balsillie, retired chairman and co-C.E.O. of Research In Motion. Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder and C.E.O. of Atlassian. Scott Farquhar, co-founder and former co-C.E.O. of Atlassian. Marc Feigen, C.E.O. advisor. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, professor of management studies and senior associate dean at the Yale School of Management and founding president of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute. Laurie Williams, professor of computer science at North Carolina State University.   RESOURCES:"Scott Farquhar to resign as joint CEO of Atlassian," by Jonathan Barrett (The Guardian, 2024). "Is It Time to Consider Co-C.E.O.s?" by Marc A. Feigen, Michael Jenkins, and Anton Warendh (Harvard Business Review, 2022). "The Costs and Benefits of Pair Programming," by Alistair Cockburn and Laurie Williams (2000). "Strengthening the Case for Pair Programming," by Laurie Williams, Robert R. Kessler, Ward Cunningham, and Ron Jeffries (IEEE Software, 2000).   EXTRAS:"The Secret Life of a C.E.O.," series by Freakonomics Radio (2018). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jim Balsillie

Retired Chairman and Co-C.E.O.

Research In Motion

Mike Cannon-Brookes

Cofounder and CEO

Atlassian

Scott Farquhar

CEO

Atlassian

Mike Cannon-Brookes is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Atlassian, the $50BN software giant behind products like Jira, Confluence, and Trello. Since founding the company in 2002, he has scaled it to over 300,000 customers globally, generating more than $5BN in annual revenue. Atlassian now employs over 10,000 people across 13 countries and is one of the most successful bootstrapped-to-IPO stories in tech history. Mike is also a leading climate investor and co-owner of several major sports teams. AGENDA: 00:00 Why Unreasonable Men Win in Startups 07:22 How to Make Co-CEOs Work 13:22 Are We in an AI Bubble? Is Everything Overvalued? 26:46 The Future of Software Development: More or Less Devs 32:53 Do Margins Matter in a World of AI 34:02 The Future of Vibe Coding… 36:35 Does Defensibility Exist in a World of AI 42:09 Is Per Seat Pricing Dead in a World of AI 49:01 The Founder Journey and Leadership 54:28 Quick Fire Round: Parenting Advice, Relationship to Money

Mike Cannon-Brookes

Cofounder and CEO

Atlassian

The option to work from home means that work truly works for everyone, says Avani Prabhakar, chief people officer of a large tech company. She explains how flexibility and asynchronous collaboration in a distributed workplace can unlock diverse global talent, level the playing field for introverts and actually increase productivity — without damaging company culture. (Made in partnership with Atlassian) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Avani Prabhakar

Chief People Officer

Atlassian

Scott and Wes talk with Alex Reardon from Atlassian about developing drag-and-drop libraries, specifically the challenges with creating efficient and accessible drag-and-drop functionalities for the web. They also explore what it takes to build and implement a system that works seamlessly across various frameworks. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 01:18 Brought to you by Sentry.io. 01:51 What Alex does at Atlassian react-beautiful-dnd Pragmatic drag and drop 04:38 What makes drag and drop tricky. 06:38 Use-cases. 10:54 What security is in place? 12:30 How to make it feel native. 19:20 Is the drag and drop spec ongoing? 20:03 How do you build this headless? 21:33 How does drag and drop work with frameworks? 23:48 Making drag and drop feel the same across mobile and desktop. 26:09 What’s the key to really good drag performance? 29:58 How do you make drag and drop accessible? 34:57 Pragmatic drag and drop code vs application code. Shoelace shadcn 40:00 How does testing work? Playwright Cypress 43:15 Internal adoption at Atlassian. 44:27 Working on high-impact projects. 49:15 Versioning and internal adoption at Atlassian. 51:29 Sick Picks + Shameless Plugs. Sick Picks Alex: Coffee, James Hoffmann YouTube Channel. Shameless Plugs Alex: Dom Events. Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads

Alex Reardon

Software Engineer

Atlassian

Tanguy Crusson is the product lead for Jira Product Discovery at Atlassian. In his more than 10 years at the company, he has been instrumental in taking several new products from zero to one, including HipChat, Statuspage, and Jira Product Discovery. In this episode, we dive deep into the struggles of innovating and building new products inside a large company. Tanguy shares candid stories about what worked, what didn’t, and his many hard-won lessons learned about how to successfully build 0 to 1. We cover: • Why large companies with so many advantages still fail at creating new products • Lessons learned from building HipChat • How to avoid common pitfalls like competitive myopia and premature scaling • Lessons learned from the acquisition and integration of Statuspage • Insights from the success of Jira Product Discovery • Tactics for protecting your “ugly babies” • The power of “lighthouse users” • The importance of having a “why now” • Much more — Brought to you by: • Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security • WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs • Coda—The all-in-one collaborative workspace — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-0-to-1-inside-atlassian-tanguy-crusson — Where to find Tanguy Crusson: • X: https://x.com/tanguycrusson • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanguy-crusson-99832a — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Tanguy’s background (02:30) Tanguy’s journey at Atlassian (07:03) The challenges of innovating in large companies (10:42) Atlassian's high bar for excellence  (12:58) The HipChat story: successes, failures, and lessons learned (20:47) Lessons learned from building HipChat (33:49) Statuspage: a journey of perseverance (39:48) Acquisition challenges and lessons (47:22) Strategic decisions: build, buy, or partner? (48:17) Learning to articulate "why now" (54:08) A quick summary of lessons in this episode (55:40) The success and pain of launching Jira Product Discovery  (58:10) Incubating new products: the Point A program (01:00:13) Failure is the most likely outcome (01:04:15) Atlassian's four-phase approach to launching new products (01:09:20) Breaking rules without breaking trust (01:16:16) Early success and team autonomy (01:17:22) Innovating without disrupting existing customers (01:23:17) The Lighthouse Users program (01:30:00) Protecting and nurturing new ideas (01:36:14) Balancing innovation with personal well-being (01:38:17) A reminder to look after yourself (01:42:06) Lightning round — Referenced: • Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/ • HipChat: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Hipchat/ct-p/hipchat • Stride: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Stride/ct-p/stride • Statuspage: https://www.atlassian.com/software/statuspage • Opsgenie: https://www.atlassian.com/software/opsgenie • Jira Product Discovery: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/product-discovery • HipChat billboard: https://x.com/HubSpot/status/654696998126272512 • Announcing our new partnership with Slack: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/announcements/new-atlassian-slack-partnership • Slack shows it’s worried about Microsoft Teams with a full-page newspaper ad: https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/2/13497766/slack-microsoft-teams-new-york-times-ad • What Is ‘Dogfooding’?: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/14/business/dogfooding.html • Jira: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira • Confluence: https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence • PagerDuty: https://www.pagerduty.com/ • New Relic: https://newrelic.com/ • BigPanda: https://www.bigpanda.io/ • Transparent Uptime: http://www.transparentuptime.com/ • Vision, conviction, and hype: How to build 0 to 1 inside a company | Mihika Kapoor (Product at Figma): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/vision-conviction-hype-mihika-kapoor • Figma: https://www.figma.com/ • Lessons from Atlassian: Launching new products, getting buy-in, and staying ahead of the competition | Megan Cook (head of product, Jira): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-atlassian-launching • Noah Weiss on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noahw/ • Tanguy’s LinkedIn post about “lighthouse users”: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tanguy-crusson-99832a_lighthouse-users-one-of-the-pm-techniques-activity-7176654510801502210-hWNi/ • Pixar Chief: Protect Your ‘Ugly Babies’ (Your Unsightly Ideas): https://www.forbes.com/sites/andyboynton/2014/03/17/pixar-chief-protect-your-ugly-babies-your-unsightly-ideas/ • Atlas: https://www.atlassian.com/software/atlas • Point A: https://www.atlassian.com/point-a • Scott Farquhar on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottfarquhar • Who: A Method for Hiring: https://www.amazon.com/Who-Method-Hiring-HC-2008/dp/B004C79SRS/ • Hakim’s Odyssey: Book 1: From Syria to Turkey: https://www.amazon.com/Hakims-Odyssey-Book-Syria-Turkey/dp/1637790007 • Living with the Earth, Volume 1: Permaculture, Ecoculture: Inspired by Nature: https://www.amazon.com/Living-Earth-Gardeners-Permaculture-Ecoculture/dp/1856232603/ • INRIA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Institute_for_Research_in_Computer_Science_and_Automation • How a Hydrofoil Works: https://web.mit.edu/2.972/www/reports/hydrofoil/hydrofoil.html • What Is Kitefoil or Foilboarding?: https://www.whenitswindy.com/wp/?page_id=534 • Freediving: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freediving • Tanguy’s freediving stats: https://www.aidainternational.org/Athletes/Profile-00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000a45 • Perplexity: https://www.perplexity.com/ — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Tanguy Crusson

Head of Jira Product Discovery

Atlassian

Andrew has worked in many roles, including as Executive Manager at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, where he established and grew a platform engineering function that supported 7,000 engineers. You can find him on LinkedIn here. You can learn more about Compass, a developer experience platform, here. Shout to Amelio for earning a stellar question badge and helping over six hundred thousand people with this gem: Getting the name of a variable as a string See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Andrew

Atlassian

Megan Cook is the head of product for Atlassian’s Jira software, which is used by 75% of Fortune 500 companies, has over 125,000 customers globally, over 15 different products, and is by far the most popular project management tool in the world. Megan has been at Atlassian for just under 11 years, and before this role, she was an analyst, a developer, and an Agile coach. In our conversation, we discuss: • How to get buy-in for your ideas • The value of starting small • How, and why, creating space for play is so essential • How Jira stays ahead of endless competition • Atlassian’s approach to launching new product lines • Tactical tips for making remote work, work • A personal failure and the lessons learned from it — Brought to you by: • Teal—Your personal career growth platform • Sprig—Build a product people love • Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security. — Find the transcript for this episode and all past episodes at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-atlassian-launching Today’s transcript will be live by 8 a.m. PT. — Where to find Megan Cook: • X: https://twitter.com/meganwcook • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cookmegan — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Megan’s background (03:50) Creating space for play and psychological safety on teams (07:36) Peer feedback groups (10:30) Sharing stories of failure (13:33) The “10 dollar” game for priorities (15:24) Advice on making remote work, work (24:16) Getting buy-in for your ideas (28:33) The importance of staying open-minded (34:05) A quick summary of how to get buy-in (36:45) Fighting the good fight (38:15) Identifying customer pain points (43:04) Starting small and showing success (46:08) Launching new product lines (53:35) Atlassian’s gated process for new product ideas (58:00) How Jira stays ahead of competitors (01:04:28) Learning from failure (01:08:30) Fight club (01:10:08) Lightning round — Referenced: • Jira: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira • Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/ • Bitbucket: https://bitbucket.org/product • Ben Crowe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-crowe-67299714/ • Ash Barty on X: https://twitter.com/ashbarty • Atlassian’s blog, Work Life: https://www.atlassian.com/blog • Lessons learned: 1,000 days of distributed at Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/distributed-work/distributed-work-report • New research: How to make time for the work that matters: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/distributed-work/calendar-redesign-experiment • Atlas: https://www.atlassian.com/software/atlas • Confluence: https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence • Lenny’s swag store: https://lennyswag.com/ • What is CSAT and how do you measure it?: https://www.qualtrics.com/experience-management/customer/what-is-csat • The UX research reckoning is here | Judd Antin (Airbnb, Meta): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-ux-research-reckoning-is-here-judd-antin-airbnb-meta/ • Charlie Sutton on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliesutton/ • Nokia 6100: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_6100 • Compass: https://www.atlassian.com/software/compass • Jira Product Discovery: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/product-discovery • Canva: https://www.canva.com/ • Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love: https://www.amazon.com/INSPIRED-Create-Tech-Products-Customers/dp/1119387507 • Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building: https://www.amazon.com/Scaling-People-Tactics-Management-Building/dp/1953953212 • Foundation on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/foundation/umc.cmc.5983fipzqbicvrve6jdfep4x3 • Foundation book series: https://www.amazon.com/Foundation-3-Book-Boxed-Set-Empire/dp/0593499573 • Traeger smoker: https://www.traeger.com/shop/wood-pellet-grills — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Megan Cook

Head of Product, Jira

Atlassian

The backlash against remote work is in full swing, with 90% of CEOs reportedly rewarding in-office workers with more promotions and raises. But to Scott Farquhar, co-CEO of Atlassian, that’s a big mistake — and in a just-released study, he’s got hard numbers to back him up. Scott talks with Rapid Response host Bob Safian about how the 10,000-person collaboration-software company — Australia’s premier tech startup — is defying the trend with a bold gambit called Team Anywhere. Adhering to an Atlassian core value (“no bullshit”), Scott shares insights about work flexibility, productivity, and the unexpected power of sporadic, but intentional gatherings. To prepare for the future of work, he says, business leaders need to take risks. If you're interested in learning more from Atlassian and Scott be sure to check out "Lessons Learned," a report about how Atlassian has navigated distributed work at scale, including experiments they've run, data they've collected, and stories Atlassian employees have shared: https://www.atlassian.com/solutions/distributed/lessons-learned Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.com Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Scott Farquhar

CEO

Atlassian

Scott Farquhar is the Co-Founder & Co-CEO @ Atlassian. Scott co-founded the company with his university friend, Mike Cannon-Brookes, in 2002 from Australia. Over an incredible 20-year journey they have grown to a market cap of $50BN today, over 11,000 staff globally and serving over 260,000 customers. Scott is also a co-founder of Skip Capital, a private investment fund with a portfolio including Figma, Snyk, Canva and more. In Today's Episode with Scott Farquhar We Discuss: 1. The 20-Year Journey to $50BN Market Cap: How did Scott first make his way into the world of tech and come to co-found Atlassian? What does Scott know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning? From 20 years with Mike, what is Scott's biggest advice on choosing your co-founder? 2. The Fundraising Masterclass with Atlassian: An emergency phone call, a honeymoon cut short; how did the first funding round for Atlassian come to be? Where was the business revenue-wise at the time? Why did Scott not like the traditional fundraising process? What did he do to add game theory and ensure that they got the best deal as a company? Why did Scott choose Accel with their offer? How did Peter Fenton lose a $3BN deal with Atlassian? 3. Lessons Scaling Atlassian to $4BN in Revenue: What does Scott believe are the 4 core roles of the CEO? Is resource allocation the most important? What are the single biggest acts of commission and omission that Scott regrets? What are the biggest lessons Scott has from shutting down Stride, their Slack competitor? 4. Scott: The Father, Husband and Philanthropist: What does great fatherhood mean to Scott today? What is the secret to a truly successful marriage? How does Scott assess his relationship to money today? How has it changed with time? How does Scott think about bringing children up in a world of affluence and abundance? Fun Fact: Every single 20VC episode is recorded with Riverside.FM. It is the one product that I could not live without. Try it today here (https://creators.riverside.fm/20VC) and use the code 20VC for 15% off.

Scott Farquhar

CEO

Atlassian

This Week in Startups is brought to you by… Squarespace. Turn your idea into a new website! Go to Squarespace.com/TWIST for a free trial. When you’re ready to launch, use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Supergut is the only nutrition brand clinically-proven to improve digestion, balance blood sugar, sustain energy, and manage weight. Save 25% on their delicious shakes, bars, and prebiotic mix at Supergut.com with code TWIST. Miro. Working remotely doesn’t mean you need to feel disconnected from your team. Miro is an online whiteboard that brings teams together - anytime, anywhere. Go to https://miro.com/startups to sign up for a FREE account with unlimited team members. * Today’s show: Atlassian Co-CEO Scott Farquhar joins Jason to break down how he and his Co-Founder bootstrapped Atlassian to an IPO (1:34), his lessons from acquiring, growing and eventually selling HipChat (13:43), thoughts on product-led growth (29:27), generative AI tools for the enterprise (39:43), and more! * Time stamps: (0:00) Atlassian Co-CEO Scott Farquhar joins Jason! (1:34) Atlassian origins, bootstrapping to IPO (12:22) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://Squarespace.com/TWIST (13:43) Lessons from HipChat: Acquiring and growing the service, selling to Slack, what Scott would do differently (19:39) Atlassian's two playbooks: bootstrapping and aggressive growth (27:57) Supergut - Get 25% off with code TWIST at https://supergut.com (29:27) How product-led growth leads to a sharper product team, how Atlassian is thinking about LLMs and generative AI (38:20) Miro - Sign up for a free account at https://miro.com/startups (39:43) Remaining flexible re: AI tools, utilizing customer data, when to expect major knowledge work breakthroughs in AI (47:27) How Scott thinks about AI, remote work, and efficiency (1:01:39) Staying motivated in Atlassian's third decade * Check out Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com FOLLOW Scott: https://twitter.com/scottfarkas * Read LAUNCH Fund 4 Deal Memo: https://www.launch.co/four Apply for Funding: https://www.launch.co/apply Buy ANGEL: https://www.angelthebook.com Great recent interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland, PrayingForExits, Jenny Lefcourt Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis * Follow Jason: Twitter: https://twitter.com/jason Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jason LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis * Follow TWiST: Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin * Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.founder.university/podcast

Scott Farquhar

CEO

Atlassian

Kevin Egan is the Global Head of Enterprise Sales at Atlassian and brings more than 25 years of enterprise sales experience and leadership to the company. Prior to his current role, Kevin served as the Vice President of North America Sales at both Slack and Dropbox and has held various senior sales leadership positions at Salesforce. In Todays Episode With Kevin Egan We Discuss: 1. The Makings of a Truly Great Enterprise Sales Leader: How did Kevin first make his way into the world of enterprise sales? What does Kevin know now that he wishes he had known when he entered sales? What advice would Kevin give to a new sales leader today starting a new role? 2. The Sales Playbook: How does Kevin define "the sales playbook"? Does the founder have to be the one to create the sales playbook When is the right time to hire your first salespeople? Should they be senior or junior first? What are the different types of reps to hire in the early days? Should you hire two at a time? 3. PLG vs Enterprise: Does Kevin believe it is possible to run both PLG and enterprise playbook at the same time? How does one know when they are ready to scale from PLG into enterprise? What are the signs? What do companies need to change in the way their sales team, is structured to make the transition from PMG to enterprise sales? What are the single biggest mistakes Kevin sees founders make in the scaling from PLG to enterprise? 4. Hiring the Sales Team: What non-obvious characteristics and attitudes should we look for in sales reps? How does Kevin structure the hiring process for all new additions to sales and revenue teams? What makes good PLG sales leaders? How are they different from enterprise sales leaders? What questions and case studies are most revealing for you in identifying them? What have been some of Kevin's biggest lessons on comp structure for these early rep hires? 5. Making the Machine Work: How does Kevin build trust with his early sales rep hires? What works? What does not? How does Kevin balance hitting the quarterly revenue target with longer-term pipeline strategy? How does Kevin manage when a quarter is missed? What is the right approach? How does Kevin approach post-mortems and deal reviews? How often? What do the best entail?

Kevin Egan

Global Head of Enterprise Sales

AtlassianSlack

Jay Simons is a General Partner at BOND Capital and former President of Atlassian. Jay ran Atlassian between 2012-2020 taking them from pre-IPO to about $3B in revenue. Jay is known for being one of the earliest SaaS leaders to adopt and implement a product-led growth strategy. In this episode Jay shares his background, stories from the early days at Atlassian, building two products at once (Jira & Confluence), and his philosophy on management and leadership. Jay has since joined BOND Capital investing alongside Mary Meeker - he shares his investment strategy and what BOND looks for in the companies they invest in. (0:00) Intro (1:19) Welcome Jay Simons (10:15) BEA Acquired by Oracle (14:19) Joining Atlassian (16:58) What was the company growing at when you joined? (22:10) Divorcing the success from the tactics (34:48) Control your destiny of what the market is going to take (40:22) How do you orient your team? (46:42) Having two products early on (55:07) Seeding the community (1:07:29) Crucible moments at Atlassian  (1:22:11) Path to advising  (1:33:28) Soft diplomacy in decision making   Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky Produced: Rashad Assir Executive Producer: Josh Machiz Music: Griff Lawson   🎙 Listen to the show Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/three-cartoon-avatars/id1606770839 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5WqBqDb4br3LlyVrdqOYYb?si=3076e6c1b5c94d63&nd=1 Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9zb0hJZkhWbg   🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1   Follow on Socials 📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow 🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow   About the Show Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes. Executive Producer: Rashad Assir Producer: Leah Clapper Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA 🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1 Follow on Socials 📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow 📱 X - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow 🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow About the Show Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode of The Logan Bartlett Show, we sit down with the people behind today’s most important startups and extract the tactics, lessons, and frameworks they’ve learned the hard way. Conversations span hiring to GTM, product, growth, fundraising and everything in between - collectively forming the ultimate playbook to make you a better CEO, investor or board member. Tap follow and enable notifications to stay ahead of the game.

Jay Simons

General Partner

Bond CapitalAtlassian

How did the largest product-led growth enterprise company in the world find success? In this week's episode of CRO Confidential, Cameron Deatsch, CRO of Atlassian, shares his wisdom with Founders Fund Partner Sam Blond. Atlassian is trading at over $40B with revenue north of $3B. When the company started 20 years ago, it didn't hire salespeople. Not because they planned to start as a product-led company but because they couldn't afford to. So what should earlier-stage companies do: immediately build out a big sales team or focus on product-led growth? Video: https://youtu.be/s897t3MSAxM Want to join the SaaStr community? We're the 🌎largest community for B2B software. Subscribe for weekly updates: https://www.saastr.com/subscribeform Twitter: https://twitter.com/saastr LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2724976 Quora Group: https://www.quora.com/q/cloud Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaaStr/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saastr/ Our North American Event: https://bit.ly/2OXeAYh Our European Event: https://bit.ly/2OZTad8

Cameron Deatsch

Chief Revenue Officer

Atlassian

Building a flexible platform for your products and a strategic ecosystem around them is the key to fueling sustained growth. But when you're in the throes of putting it together, it's challenging to track the countless workstreams, investments, and partnerships involved – not to mention bringing all these pieces into alignment. Join Atlassian's Chief Revenue Officer, Cameron Deatsch, to learn how to invest in an ecosystem, how to optimize your platform for innovation, and why long-term thinking is crucial to becoming a $10 billion company. Full video: https://youtu.be/eVDucwrUgq8 Want to join the SaaStr community? We're the 🌎largest community for B2B software. Subscribe for weekly updates: https://www.saastr.com/subscribeform Twitter: https://twitter.com/saastr LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2724976 Quora Group: https://www.quora.com/q/cloud Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaaStr/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saastr/ Our North American Event: https://bit.ly/2OXeAYh Our European Event: https://bit.ly/2OZTad8

Cameron Deatsch

Chief Revenue Officer

Atlassian

How do you rediscover a happier, more purpose-driven (and less productivity-obsessed) self in the wake of the pandemic? Quiz yourself alongside work futurist Dominic Price as he lays out a simple yet insightful four-part guide to assessing your life in ways that can help you reconnect with what's really important. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dominic Price

Work Futurist

Atlassian

The SaaS world is competitive, and standing out in a highly saturated market takes remarkable hard work and skill. However, the companies that adapt and create transformational change tend to survive. COO Anu Bharadwaj's years of experience at Atlassian have shaped her outlook on how to thrive in the market. In this session, Boast.AI Co-Founder Lloyed Lobo interviews Bharadwaj as she shares Atlassian's five building blocks to win. This podcast is an excerpt of the full interview, which you can find here: https://youtu.be/zQCdwoT7Kak Want to join the SaaStr community? We're the 🌎largest community for B2B software. Subscribe for weekly updates: https://www.saastr.com/subscribeform Twitter: https://twitter.com/saastr LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2724976 Quora Group: https://www.quora.com/q/cloud Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaaStr/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saastr/ Our North American Event: https://bit.ly/2OXeAYh Our European Event: https://bit.ly/2OZTad8

Anu Bharadwaj

COO

Atlassian

20 years ago, Atlassian pioneered the direct-sales model in the B2B software space based on the belief that software should be bought, not sold. Join Cameron Deatsch, Atlassian's Chief Revenue Officer, in conversation about the challenges and benefits of building a flywheel powered by word of mouth and amplified by data-driven touchpoints.

Cameron Deatsch

Chief Revenue Officer

Atlassian

Jay Simons is a General Partner @ Bond Capital, with their $1.25Bn debut growth fund in 2019 they made their mark on the venture landscape and have since made investments in the likes of Revolut, Canva, NextDoor, IronClad and my favourite, On Running. As for Jay, prior to entering venture, he spent an incredible 12 years at Atlassian including 9 years as President, playing an instrumental role in their hyper-growth journey. Jay is also a board member with both Zapier and HubSpot, two of my favourite SaaS companies. In Today's Episode with Jay Simons You Will Learn: 1.) How Jay made his way into the world of startups following a stint as a pianist in Asia and how that startup journey led to his joining Bond on the venture side? 2.) Why does Jay believe the best companies build economies around themselves? What does this look like in reality? When is the right time for the company to start building these economies? As an investor, what are the signs that a founder is proactively thinking about this? What are some of the biggest mistakes people make when building economies? 3.) Why does Jay believe Partner/Channel networks can be so powerful? When is the right time to build out channel partners? What is the training framework for these partners before they can represent your products in market? How do channel partners change the internal structure and resource allocation for a company? What mistakes do people make with these partners? 4.) How does Jay think about when is the right time to build a second product? What were the biggest takeaways from his time at Atlassian on building product suites? How does Jay determine when is the right time to move upmarket into enterprise? How does this change in a world of product-led growth? 5.) Why did Jay decide now was the right time to move into venture with Bond? For what reasons did Jay choose Bond, over all the other firms? What have been the biggest surprises for Jay from his first 100 days in venture? What have been the most challenging elements? How did Jay embrace the common challenge of building the conviction to write the first check? Item's Mentioned In Today's Episode with Jay Simons Jay's Favourite Book: The River Why Jay's Most Recent Investment: Sentry As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

Jay Simons

General Partner

Bond CapitalAtlassian

Nilay Patel talks with Atlassian CEO Scott Farquhar about Australia's Media Bargaining Code, which requires social platforms and search engines to pay news publishers for linking to their work. They also discuss how to run a global company in an increasingly fractured world and why understanding public policy is now key to running a tech company. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scott Farquhar

CEO

Atlassian

In 2001, Mike Cannon-Brookes sent an email to his college classmates in Sydney, asking if anyone was interested in helping him launch a tech startup after graduation. Back then, entrepreneurship wasn't a popular career path in Australia; and Mike's only taker was Scott Farquhar, a fellow student who shared Mike's passion for computers and his frustration for the corporate grind. Together they launched Atlassian, a two-man tech support service that they managed from their bedrooms at all hours of the night. Unable to make money, Scott and Mike decided to pivot and sell some of the software they'd developed for themselves. Out of that grew Jira, a project-management tool that's used in all sorts of endeavors, from pizza delivery to the exploration of Mars. Today, Atlassian is valued at over $50 billion and Scott and Mike are Australia's first startup-to-IPO tech billionaires. HIBT Virtual Event with Jay Shetty - information and tickets at: https://nprpresents.orgSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mike Cannon-Brookes

Cofounder and CEO

Atlassian

Scott Farquhar

CEO

Atlassian

Atlassian is one of the most unorthodox technology companies in the world. Almost everything the company does is completely different than what you would expect. And yet, the organization has been massively successful and efficient in achieving growth. In this episode of Go to Market Grit, Joubin and Cameron discuss how Cameron built a $44 billion business without a sales team, and some of the company’s key growth levers. In this episode of Go to Market Grit, we cover:  Cameron’s role as CRO of Atlassian, and what he does on a daily basis. Some of the factors that make Atlassian unique. For example, the company spends more on R&D than sales and marketing.  Why price transparency plays a key role in Atlassian The various positions that Greg has held at Atlassian, and how they influence his current role as CRO. The difference between customer advocacy and sales at Atlassian. How Atlassian defines success across various roles. Why Atlassian has one of the most efficient go to market strategies in the history of go to market enterprise software. Atlassian’s workflow, and how the company drives customers forward. Cameron’s thoughts on product-led growth models, and why it works for Atlassian. Atlassian’s strategic approach to managing around target numbers — and why the company is firm about not giving discounts to drive deals. How geographic location tends to impact software purchasing. How Atlassian manages to navigate and manage risk, and operate with a very unorthodox business model — and how their leadership helps ensure success. Cameron also talks about how the company maintains this model as a publicly traded organization. Atlassian’s primary growth levers — and why there will most likely never be another Atlassian. Some key failures that Cameron and his team have worked through — including how they turned a massive failure into one of their biggest successes.  The ethos that exists in Silicon Valley around building products from within, and how Atlassian has bucked that trend through M&A. The characteristics that have made Cameron so successful. How Cameron defines grit. Links:  Connect with Cameron DeatschLinkedIn Connect with JoubinTwitter LinkedIn Email: gtmg@kleinerperkins.com  Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

Cameron Deatsch

Chief Revenue Officer

Atlassian

In today's SaaStr insider episode SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin catches up with Michael Pryor, the Co-Founder of Trello to talk about going upmarket, and how things have changed in the last decade as Trello crosses 50M+ users. Video and blog post: https://www.saastr.com/going-upmarket-and-how-things-have-changed-in-a-decade-at-trello-with-founder-michael-pryor/

Michael Pryor

Co-Founder

TrelloAtlassian

Kevin Egan, Slack's VP of North American Sales and Dannie Herzberg, Slack's Director of Sales as discuss their strategies for going from Freemium to Enterprise at Slack. Find the video and full transcript on our blog.

Kevin Egan

Global Head of Enterprise Sales

AtlassianSlack

Dannie Herzberg

Partner

SlackSequoia Capital

Have you ever doubted your abilities, feared you were going to be discovered as a "fraud"? That's called "impostor syndrome," and you're definitely not alone in feeling it, says entrepreneur and CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes. In this funny, relatable talk, he shares how his own experiences of impostor syndrome helped pave the way to his success -- and shows how you can use it to your advantage, too. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mike Cannon-Brookes

Cofounder and CEO

Atlassian

Michael Pryor, Co-Founder & CEO @ Trello, now Head of Trello Product with Atlassian following their recent acquisition. Kolton Andrus is the Founder & CEO @ Gremlin, the failure as a service startup finds weaknesses in your system before they cause problems. Dylan Serota, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer @ Terminal, the startup that helps you create world-class technical teams through remote operations as a service. Rachel Carlson, Co-Founder and CEO @ Guild Education, the leader in education benefits offering the single most scalable solution for preparing the workforce of today for the jobs of tomorrow. Sid Sijbrandi, Founder & CEO @ Gitlab, a single application for the entire software development lifecycle. Jeppe Rindom is the Founder & CEO @ Pleo, the simple spending solution for your company automating expense reports and simplifying company expenses. In Today's Episode We Discuss: How should founders think about the debate between all remote vs part remote teams? How does life and operations change with each? What are the pros and cons? Is it possible to move between the two overtime? What can one do to maintain culture with remote teams? What processes need to be in place to ensure a cohesive and streamlined communication process? What technical architecture needs to be in place? Where are the breakpoints when it comes to communication? How often does one need to do in person off-sites? How does being remote or part remote impact fundraising? How do VCs think about this new structure of operations? What is the right way to present it? How does being outside a core tech hub impact one's ability to raise? How should one run a fundraising process if outside a core hub? How important is it for your team to be near your customers? How does this change according to sector and customer base? How important is it for your team to be near your investors? Does having an exec and sales team in one place and the rest of the team elsewhere work? Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings SaaStr Read the full transcript on our blog.

Michael Pryor

Co-Founder

TrelloAtlassian

Kolton Andrus

Founder & CEO

Gremlin

Dylan Serota

Founder & Chief Strategy Officer

Terminal

Rachel Carlson

Co-Founder and CEO

Guild Education

Sid Sijbrandij

Co-Founder and CEO

GitLabKilo Code

TWIMLcon brought together so many in the ML/AI community to discuss the unique challenges to building and scaling machine learning platforms. In this episode, hear about changing the way companies think about machine learning from a diverse set of panelists including Pardis Noorzad, Data Science Manager at Twitter, Eric Colson, Chief Algorithms Officer Emeritus at Stitch Fix, and Jennifer Prendki, Founder & CEO at Alectio, moderated by Maribel Lopez, Founder & Principal Analyst at Lopez Research.

Pardis Noorzad

Data Science Manager

Twitter

Eric Colson

Chief Algorithms Officer Emeritus

Stitch Fix

Jennifer Prendki

Founder & CEO

AlectioAtlassian