How to Build an AI Native Team with Mike Cannon-Brookes
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/
Atlassian CEO on the SaaS Apocalypse, AI Agents & What Comes Next
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:
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What a $42B Software Co. Really Spends on AI Tools
“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
Are Two C.E.O.s Better Than One? (Update)
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).
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20VC: Atlassian CEO on Why Everything is Overvalued & Are We in an AI Bubble | Do Margins Matter & Does Defensibility Exist in an AI World | Is Per Seat Pricing Dead & The Future of Vibe Coding with Mike Cannon-Brookes
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
Atlassian: Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar
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:
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How you can use impostor syndrome to your benefit | Mike Cannon-Brookes
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.
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Recode Decode: Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-CEO, Atlassian
Atlassian co-CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about co-founding an enterprise software company in Sydney, Australia, in 2002. Cannon-Brookes reflects on Atlassian's successful American IPO and the differences between his team and tech companies that start in other parts of the world. Rather than trying to beat Silicon Valley at its own game, he says, the right approach for Australia is to nurture its own tech talent while building bridges across the ocean.
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