CRO Atlassian, Cameron Deatsch: Exploring Atlassian’s Unorthodox Strategy

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 Deatsch
  • LinkedIn
• Connect with Joubin
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email: gtmg@kleinerperkins.com
• Learn more about Kleiner Perkins