CTO Wisdom with Asanka Jayasuriya | Beyond the Program
Welcome to CTO Wisdom. In this series, we interview technical leaders who have stepped into executive positions.
Today’s guest host, Eric Brooke, speaks with Asanka Jayasuriya, CTO at 8VC, where he works on their Build program, which incubates several new companies a year. In today’s episode, they discuss:
- Asanka’s career journey through big and medium tech
- Setting others up for success
- The importance of Developing Leaders and ideas (and how to do this!)
- The transition when your peers become stakeholders at the Executive level (and how to manage through the transition)
- The difference of a Private vs. Public board and its impact on technology
- What it’s like to be a portfolio CTO role
About today’s guest: As CTO at 8VC, Asanka Jayasuriya helps startups with product and engineering strategy, particularly as they scale. He also works extensively on 8VCs Build program that incubates several new companies a year. A software engineer by training, Asanka has nearly 25 years of experience building products across enterprise saas, e-commerce, collaboration software, and security products. He’s worked for industry leading companies like Oracle, Amazon, Atlassian and SailPoint.
About today’s host: Eric Brooke has a rich and varied leadership career – leading up to 21,000 people and Billions in revenue, throughout 14 countries. In their career, they have been an Executive six times (e.g. President, CEO, CMO, and CTO) and a Board member of multiple organisations. Eric has been a CTO of scaling startups from 0 to 120 engineers. As an adviser and mentor, they have helped multiple other startups scale both in Canada and the US. As well as supporting multiple startup incubators such as 1871 in Chicago and TechStars.
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Transcript
Hey, listeners, Tim Winkler here, your host of The Pair Program.
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:We've got exciting news introducing our
latest partner series Beyond the Program.
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:In these special episodes, we're
passing the mic to some of our savvy
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:former guests who are returning as
guest hosts, get ready for unfiltered
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:conversations, exclusive insights,
and unexpected twist as our alumni
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:pair up with their chosen guest.
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:Each guest host is a trailblazing
expert in a unique technical field.
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:Think data, product management,
and engineering, all with a keen
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:focus on startups and career growth.
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:Look out for these bonus episodes
dropping every other week,
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:bridging the gaps between our
traditional pair program episodes.
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:So buckle up and get ready to
venture Beyond the Program.
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:Enjoy.
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:Eric Brooke: Welcome to CTO Wisdom.
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:My name is Eric Brooke.
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:This series will talk to leaders
of technology at organizations.
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:We'll understand their career, what
was successful, and what was not,
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:and what they learned along the way.
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:We'll also look at what the
tech market is doing today.
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:We'll understand where they gather
their intelligence so they can grow
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:and scale with their organizations.
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:Um, today I'm going to talk to Asanka
and we're going to talk about, um,
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:his leadership through technology
and his, um, winding career journey
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:and all of the things he's learned.
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:Asanka, welcome.
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:Good to be here.
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:Could you give me the elevator
pitch of yourself and what you're up
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:Asanka Jayasuriya: to?
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:Sure.
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:I've spent, uh, getting close to 25 years.
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:It's a long time of my career in
software, uh, and roles starting as
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:an engineer, as an intern, working my
way up through management, uh, to exec
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:roles, but always basically in cloud
software, enterprise SAS, uh, e commerce,
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:uh, security, and more recently, uh,
in a venture firm as a portfolio CTO.
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:Thanks.
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:A lot of, a lot of different
roles, a lot of different
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:industries over the last 25 years.
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:Awesome.
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:Eric Brooke: Um, could you tell us a
bit about your journey into technology?
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:Asanka Jayasuriya: Sure.
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:Um, so I kind of did not start on a path,
uh, straight into tech, um, growing up
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:as a Southeast, uh, Asian, uh, kid, uh,
you know, being a doctor is kind of a.
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:Principle journey that a lot of us get
put on and I think I was told from a very
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:young age that was the path and kind of
working my way almost without thinking
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:towards that all through school entered
university studying molecular genetics
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:as a kind of precursor towards medicine.
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:But once, uh, after my first year,
I spent the summer, uh, in Sri Lanka
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:and got a chance to volunteer a little
bit, uh, with my uncle, spent some
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:time, uh, with him as a, he's a doctor
there and kind of realized, like, this
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:is not a, this is not a job for me.
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:Um, you know, your, your good days as a
doctor are good, but your bad days can be.
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:Really bad.
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:I mean, obviously it's, it's, I think
one of the most important professions and
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:obviously it comes with a lot of weight.
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:Um, I just didn't think that was for
me, but the whole time, you know,
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:I'd always been playing and tinkering
around with computers since I got
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:my Radio Shack, you know, handy XT
computer back when I was in grade eight.
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:And, you know, someone said, why don't
you start setting time with that?
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:So I switched over to computer science.
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:And from there, I just fell in love
with it, fell in love with building,
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:fell in love with, uh, writing code,
quickly realized in computer science
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:that I did not love any of the math or
formal proof sides of computer science,
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:but was just in love with software,
software engineering side, and that's
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:sort of how I indexed my time, uh, and
focused on that and moved into, you
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:know, loving computers and building.
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:Cool.
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:Eric Brooke: So, um, when you, you
started in science, were there aspects
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:of science that you found helpful when
you got to kind of like computers?
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:Asanka Jayasuriya: I would definitely
say the quantitative side of it.
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:So your physics, chemistry, um, and
calculus, obviously, subjects like that
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:are very across all those subjects.
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:Having that background is helpful,
uh, because ultimately, you know,
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:computers are quantitative in, in a way.
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:So I found that was generally helpful.
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:I feel like the subjects that were.
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:Less helpful biology and things like
that, which are a little bit more
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:about memorization, even genetics.
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:Uh, those courses weren't
particularly helpful, but I would
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:say the quantitative classes were
definitely useful once I moved over.
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:Oh,
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:Eric Brooke: so then tell
us about your journey.
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:Now you're into kind of software
engineering and technology.
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:Um, what was that like for you?
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:Yeah.
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:So
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:Asanka Jayasuriya: I was very fortunate
in that the university of Toronto, where
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:I went to school had what was called a
professional experience year program.
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:So you got to a 12 or 16 month internship.
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:And so in:with a Canadian, um, software
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:startup, uh, called Janus Systems
that was doing web based, uh, CRM.
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:I want to say web based, intranet
based, so this is well before SaaS
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:was a thing, but it was revolutionary
because it's deployed in the browser.
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:Customers didn't have to install,
you know, windows clients on
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:across thousands of desktops.
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:Uh, I got very lucky
for a couple of reasons.
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:So this was may:
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:I was starting and just kind of
right at the tipping point of stuff
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:starting to break in the dot com bust.
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:And you don't have
offers from general IBM.
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:And, uh, Cisco systems and, you know,
a lot of my friends were pushing to
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:go take IBM and Cisco, but this is,
you know, the startup environment.
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:And I guess it's, it's a very
different world back then.
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:I think today everyone knows
all about startups knows
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:what it's like and exciting.
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:But back in:the same level of excitement or
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:celebration around startups and everyone
was pushing me towards going IBM.
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:Uh, I ultimately turned IBM
down, worked out really well.
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:And I got super lucky because, you
know, six months later, IBM, Cisco,
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:and all those big companies, they
were letting go their interns.
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:They were downsizing.
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:Uh, sometimes you get, you get
really lucky in your career
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:and Jenna went incredibly well.
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:We got acquired by Siebel systems,
which was the largest CRM vendor,
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:uh, in the world at the time.
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:And I got to kind of continue my
career there to, you know, now
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:at Silicon Valley owned company.
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:Progressing my career and, uh, it
was, it was, it was challenging,
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:especially, uh, in about:
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:com really came to market.
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:And for those who are familiar, they
were really the 1st cloud company, in my
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:opinion, of any real scale, delivering
real software over the Internet.
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:And Siebel being the incumbent on
premise, uh, you know, it got quite
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:heated that competition and they
decided they had this team that
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:they'd acquired our team in Toronto
and they're like, why don't you guys
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:figure out how to do this cloud thing?
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:And it's 1 of those interesting things
where again, you get lucky in your career.
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:I didn't get put on the most
important project at the time.
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:Everybody thought cloud was not
really going to be a big deal.
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:It's like a fad.
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:It's for small businesses.
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:No enterprises are going to want this.
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:But I got to start figuring out
cloud stuff, you know, back in
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::happened and just really, really
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:lucky, uh, to get that opportunity.
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:What happened next?
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:So after that, um, you know, kind
of progressed up as an engineer,
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:eventually reaching the level
of a principal engineer, um, at
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:Siebel, we got acquired by Oracle.
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:So it's like a small fish that got
swallowed by a bigger fish that got
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:swallowed by I guess the biggest fish.
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:Uh, and no one was going to, I
think we were, the joke we had was
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:nobody was going to buy us now.
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:We were pretty sure that with
Oracle, that was kind of the
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:end of the acquisition chain.
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:But I continue to progress
as my career as an engineer.
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:And then about:made a shift in my career and that's
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:when I first moved into management.
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:Tell
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:Eric Brooke: us what that was like.
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:Oh, yeah.
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:So
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:Asanka Jayasuriya: a couple of
things that really drove that for me.
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:One is, well, I was a
really good engineer.
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:And when I was younger, I thought I
was a great engineer, but then you
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:kind of You learn by meeting really
great engineers where you actually
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:sit in, uh, in the ranking of things.
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:And at Oracle, um, I got to interact with
some just people that made me realize.
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:As good as I was, like, there was
just no path for me to operate
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:the level that they operate.
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:It's just, you know, sometimes
people you meet in your career and
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:they just have a different gear and
that's not necessarily a bad thing.
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:Um, I just realized, like, 1, I
was never going to achieve that
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:level of technical contribution.
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:But the other thing I also realized was.
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:It was increasingly not the part
of the job I loved the most.
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:I loved leading projects.
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:I love mentoring are
more junior developers.
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:Uh, and so, uh, my one of my
mentors at the time suggested I
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:make this switch into management.
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:And that's really what kind of
made me, uh, make that transition.
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:Eric Brooke: So your manager, were
there things that, um, as a software
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:engineer were really helpful, but got
in the way of you when you were actually
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:a manager, um, in that transition?
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:Asanka Jayasuriya: Absolutely.
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:I think that was actually probably
the hardest part is often.
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:And I think this is actually something
we do very poorly in the industry.
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:It's your best engineers who end up
becoming managers, which is interesting
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:because there's not, there's not a lot
that's related in that skill set of
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:being an extremely strong technical
person and being a good manager.
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:And I've, you know, one of the big
reasons is being a strong engineer,
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:you have your team for the first time,
you have a tendency to want to really.
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:Do a lot of showing through code and
fixing things and keeping your teams
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:from making mistakes, which is good to a
point, but it's very easy to cross over
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:that line where your team isn't really
learning and growing on their own anymore.
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:And they're basically just doing what
you tell you're jumping in and dealing,
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:doing, solving the hardest problems.
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:And I had a good talking to you from
one of my mentors who kind of noticed
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:that and said, like, you're just not
going to be able to scale and your
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:teams are not going to like working
for you if you're always the smartest
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:engineer on the project as well.
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:And that was something I took to
heart to really start creating some
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:more space and giving my team some
more room to operate, even if things
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:were not necessarily the way that I
would have preferred them to be done.
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:Eric Brooke: Yeah.
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:So you got out of your own way.
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:So that you could scale
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:Asanka Jayasuriya: out of my own way
and got out of my team's way, right?
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:It's, I mean, nobody, nobody wants
to work in a good people want
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:to have a degree of autonomy.
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:They want to feel like
they can explore a path.
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:They want to feel, you know, that
they can invent and they can make
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:mistakes in a supportive environment.
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:And I wasn't really doing that
as a, as a first time manager.
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:Eric Brooke: Um, so how did your
management career progress after that?
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:Asanka Jayasuriya: So I stayed
at, uh, my first three years
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:were Oracle as a manager.
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:Um, I had a very, very brief detour,
uh, a large Canadian bank, um, they'd
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:hired me to be part of their renaissance
or their technical revolution program.
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:And, uh, it was, it was 1 of those
situations where the, the bill, uh,
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:the, you know, the posted that role
was very different than reality.
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:Um, I, you know, I remember coming home
after my 1st week and telling my wife,
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:like, this is just not going to work.
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:And the main reason was.
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:I'd been in the profit center, right?
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:Technology as the profit center
technology as the defining factor
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:of success for the business.
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:And despite their desire to change
in that bank, it's clear that
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:technology was a cost center.
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:All I was really doing was
managing budgets, managing vendors,
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:like what I wasn't building.
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:But fortunately, uh, one of my
friends who was at Amazon at the
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:time reached out and said, Hey, like
Amazon's building a Toronto office.
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:You want to do this and help build it from
scratch and I interviewed with Amazon and
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:took a role as one of their first hires
in Canada, helping to build out, uh, the
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:Toronto, uh, Amazon engineering site.
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:Eric Brooke: Very exciting.
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:Um, what was your journey like with
Amazon and what were the, some of
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:the leading principles that you
stepped away from that organization
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:Asanka Jayasuriya: with?
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:Yeah, I, I would say Amazon was probably
the most transformative part of my career.
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:And I think you'll find a lot
of people who will say that, and
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:there's a couple of reasons for that.
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:So almost immediately when I started,
we were in what was called a Regis is a
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:real estate company that runs temporary
office space, uh, before we worked somehow
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:made that a tech problem, which I don't
quite understand how that happened.
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:You know, we were in a temporary space
in a mall, uh, with, you know, next
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:door to us and there was a massage
of people running a massage studio.
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:It was a really interesting space.
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:But Amazon, you know, they threw
us in there and I kind of quickly
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:realized like, okay, what's
the plan to building this out?
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:I was kind of waiting for like the
directives to come down like an Oracle.
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:Like, okay, this is what you're doing.
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:Here are the rules.
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:But what I realized is
there were no rules.
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:There were no directives because
Amazon pushes ownership down
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:very deep in the company.
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:Okay.
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:And expect you to execute
and figure things out.
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:Um, there can be a very stressful
environment from that perspective,
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:but for the right type of person,
it's just incredibly empowering.
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:Like they really give you a lot of
autonomy and a lot of ownership.
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:And.
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:You know, for all the negatives that
people hear about working to Amazon,
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:and I wouldn't dispute any of the
stories that you hear about people
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:crying at their desks or any of that.
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:It highly depends on the group that you
work at there, because it is so much
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:a collection of small companies that
anyone that you can work for can, you can
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:have a radically different experience.
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:I happen to work for a great, uh, general
manager who is running my business and it
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:was a fantastic environment and I just got
the opportunity to help grow that team in
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:Toronto, eventually expanding into, uh,
Seattle, uh, taking on teams in Seattle.
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:And the big part for me, there was
the core values that the company
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:used were really operationalized.
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:I think every company has core values
that are probably written down on a
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:memo, like a brochure or something
that you join to see them and you
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:probably never, ever see them or
hear them again after that first day.
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:Amazon operationalize their values into
every part of the business, whether it was
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:promotions or how you're thinking about
a business idea and those core values
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:I actually took with me for the rest of
my career and still to this day, really.
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:Push them and implement them
and how I have executed.
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:I've actually directly brought variations
of those values to new organizations.
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:I've been at the other area.
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:I would say that Amazon really
changed me is being an operational
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:leader before my career.
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:We had ops teams.
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:You know, we would build software.
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:There'd be a huge ops organization.
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:They would run it.
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:Amazon was you build it, you run
it, which I'm a huge proponent of,
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:and having operational ownership for
software, understanding how to do
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:that at scale and with quality was
just an incredible experience to get.
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:Eric Brooke: Cool.
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:There's kind of two parts
I'd love to dig into.
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:Could you give an example, one of the
Amazon principles beyond the operization
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:and the pushing down ownership?
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:I'd love to hear that.
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:Um, but give me one of those
kind of like principles or two
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:that you really do embody now.
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:Asanka Jayasuriya: So one
is customer obsession.
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:Amazon really starts from the
perspective of if you do what is
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:best for the customer, even if the,
in the short term, that may not make
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:sense in the long term, you will win.
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:And you can see that through so many
different parts of the business, you
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:know, from a consumer perspective, you
think about same day shipping, right.
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:Or next day, building the infrastructure
for that was billions of dollars
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:in fulfillment network capacity.
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:A huge loss leader for a long time.
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:However, can anyone
live without that today?
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:Like no one competes with
Amazon on that, right?
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:Like everyone loves that capability.
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:Um, so customer obsession and just that
focus on if you solve the customer's
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:need, you will, you will win as a
company, um, is one of the cores.
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:Another one is hire and develop the best.
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:Uh, when I was there, Amazon
wasn't a relentless growth pace,
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:but they intend, they kept a
very, very high bar for talent.
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:And uh, there was a program called
bar raisers where after you'd done a
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:certain number of interviews, you became
a bar raiser and a bunch of trials.
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:And the goal was.
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:In every interview loop, there would
be one of these bar raisers on the
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:loop, and the bar raiser always came
from a different organization, so they
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:had no skin in the game to the hire.
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:Like, they weren't under pressure,
like, hey, we have to fill this role,
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:and the goal was always to ensure
that every person that you hired
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:into the company was better than
half of the people in that role.
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:And if you stop and think about for a
second, what that means is if you do
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:that for long enough, your team is just
getting better and better and better.
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:It doesn't mean that the bottom 50 percent
aren't good employees, but they're saying
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:everyone you bring in, you want to be
better than half the company so that
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:they can keep pushing that bar higher.
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:And there was just a relentless focus
on one hiring from that perspective,
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:but also developing again, if
you're in the right organization.
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:And they saw your potential, like
you would get invested in to get
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:the right opportunities, the,
you know, more autonomy, more
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:scope and more responsibility.
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:It was a lot of fun, but like I said,
in the five, five ish years I was there,
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:I felt like I did 10 years of work.
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:Right.
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:Eric Brooke: Good to know.
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:Thank you.
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:Um, so carrying on with your journey,
um, you're now at Amazon building,
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:um, at the Toronto office, you're
at management at a higher level.
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:Tell us about the
continuation of that journey.
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:Asanka Jayasuriya: Yeah, so I
was a senior manager at Amazon.
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:Uh, I think my organization was
probably around 250 ish people
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:across Seattle and, uh, Toronto.
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:And Amazon has, uh, at the time anyway,
I don't know if this has changed,
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:it had a bit of a glass ceiling.
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:If you weren't in HQ, like, if I wanted
to make that next step to my career
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:at Amazon, it was, you know, my, my
leaders told me, it's like, should
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:think about getting you to, uh, Seattle.
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:So me and my family were kind of going
through that process of relocation
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:and kind of getting that figured out.
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:And I was going to join the
last mile engineering group at
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:Amazon, uh, to lead a lot of that.
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:And that's the Amazon delivery
network, which at the time was
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:just getting off the ground.
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:But in the middle of that, uh,
Atlassian reached out about
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:running Jira cloud in Sydney.
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:And, you know, I've
always loved Atlassian.
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:Uh, everyone's kind of aware of
their culture developer focus.
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:So my wife said, if we're
moving, we might as well.
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:Go down there and check it out.
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:So flew down to Sydney, uh, met with
the founders of Atlassian, a lot of the
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:leadership and absolutely fell in love
with the company, but me and my wife on
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:that trip also realized like it was just
not practical for us to move to Australia.
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:Cause once you get on that plane from
Toronto and you fly to Vancouver and
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:you will have layover and then you
fly to, you kind of realize, wait.
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:Every single vacation we have is going
to be flying back to visit family, so
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:that's all we would do, but kind of
from a more career perspective, the
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:thing that became clear to me is that
I could probably have a great four to
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:five year run at Atlassian, but there
was no other opportunity in Australia.
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:Like, it was really clear, right?
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:Like, there's Atlassian at that time,
and there was really nobody else at
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:any scale, um, solving hard computer
science problems, uh, to work for.
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:And I'd be in a situation to
go in there for 4 or 5 years.
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:My kids would be getting to high
school and then we'd probably have
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:to rip them out and at that time
and bring them back to Canada.
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:And that's something we wanted to do.
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:But when I turned down the role,
uh, the CTO, uh, there, uh, Sri,
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:who's still one of the mentors
and someone I talk to regularly.
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:Uh, he said, well, why don't you take
over our Austin engineering instead?
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:Uh, and he couldn't caution me.
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:He's like, there's a lot of problems
over there, you know, and it's going
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:to be a bit of a fixing situation.
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:And I've always actually
kind of liked fixing things.
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:So I was like, yeah.
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:And we loved Austin.
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:So we made the journey, made the, uh,
change and moved to Austin in:
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:Eric Brooke: Awesome.
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:And so describe this role.
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:You've, you had like 200 plus people in
like Amazon and you've got this role here.
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:Um, have you got to, I'm guessing you're
managing managers at this point as well?
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:Asanka Jayasuriya: Yeah.
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:Uh, Amazon was the first time I
started managing, uh, other leaders.
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:Eric Brooke: And so the transition
from being a manager to managing
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:managers, what was that like?
387
:What kind of changes did you
have to make in yourself?
388
:Asanka Jayasuriya: I think the biggest
thing that you do as you kind of make
389
:the steps is you have to as a leader
start designing mechanisms to give
390
:structure to your organization and
give you visibility so you understand
391
:what's happening in your org.
392
:And I kind of realized that.
393
:You do have to be structured about
it because you wanna give your teams
394
:kind of operating structure as well.
395
:Like if we're gonna do a regular weekly
metrics review, or if we're gonna do
396
:a, you know, quarterly planning, like
building those structures out so that
397
:you understand what your teams are doing,
you understand what their challenges
398
:are, where you can help unblock them.
399
:But you also at the same time don't
want so much visibility all the
400
:time, such that, you know, you're
in the weeds of all your teams.
401
:And again, kind of similar to my
earlier transition to being a manager,
402
:you want to give managers a lot
of scope to run their team, right?
403
:And evaluate them based on that.
404
:And it can be hard to do if you do
too much of the managing for them.
405
:Um, so really building out those
structures, you know, how often
406
:should you do skip levels, right?
407
:Arranging that so you understand.
408
:The people dynamics in the different
subteams, so as you scale, you
409
:just need to build more and more
mechanisms, I think, into how
410
:you operate and manage your team.
411
:Would
412
:Eric Brooke: you have, like, so, um,
like, we talked about visibility.
413
:Could you give us an example of
visibility that was really helpful to
414
:help your managers, but also help you
to stay connected to the your wider
415
:Asanka Jayasuriya: team?
416
:Yeah, so I think 1 of the big
things is project progress, right?
417
:Like, status reporting is.
418
:Kind of the least favorite thing I
think anybody has to do, um, but at
419
:the same time, you know, I need to be
in a position where if I'm talking to
420
:an executive and they have a question
about what a key project that one of my
421
:teams is doing, like, what is happening?
422
:So we built a, you know, a regular,
like, monthly kind of status
423
:reporting framework, a template for
how projects can be reported on.
424
:We tried to keep it as
lightweight as possible.
425
:You know, when I'm managing managers,
I was less interested in like sprint
426
:metrics and velocity and stuff like
that, because I truly believe those
427
:are the metrics that belong to the team
and the manager for it to optimize.
428
:And I, but my mechanism is much
more around business impact,
429
:delivery, key highlights.
430
:Um, I just didn't want my team
spending a lot of time, you know,
431
:just reporting status effectively.
432
:So they liked it because it was
lightweight and they weren't constantly
433
:reporting on a whole bunch of, you
know, things instead of investing in
434
:building software and building product.
435
:Eric Brooke: And then for, that's process.
436
:What about leadership development?
437
:How did you grow your managers?
438
:Were there common patterns or
things that you didn't see to
439
:begin with, but you learned later?
440
:And to help your leaders
grow as well, that
441
:Asanka Jayasuriya: that was always been
and remains a favorite part of my career
442
:has been developing other leaders.
443
:Um, I'm a position now.
444
:We're seeing multiple of the folks who've
worked for me become vice presidents of
445
:engineering at different organizations.
446
:Um, 1 is becoming a CTO of a series B
company in the next couple of weeks.
447
:So I'm really excited and kind of proud.
448
:About as well to see her making that
step in her career, but the things
449
:that I always did was look for
opportunities to push my managers, right?
450
:And I always, you know, because
because people have done this to me
451
:is, you know, when their plate is full.
452
:No, giving them just a little bit
more just to push him a little bit
453
:past that limit of like, yeah, this
is going to be hard, but it's going to
454
:force you to create your own mechanism.
455
:It's going to force you to think about
how you delegate within your teams.
456
:But it's always, I think, you know,
finding the right opportunity for growth.
457
:And I think as a leader, your biggest
responsibility is doing just that.
458
:Because if you create the right
opportunities, the stretch goals,
459
:stretch opportunities for your team
that allow them to grow their career,
460
:it's That means your organization is
going to be successful because if,
461
:especially if you tie those things to
milestones that align to the business.
462
:Eric Brooke: Cool.
463
:Thank you very much.
464
:Okay.
465
:So, um, you're at Atlassian in Atlanta.
466
:Um, where, where in Austin, thank you.
467
:Um, where did you get
to, um, winter is an exec
468
:Asanka Jayasuriya: role.
469
:So that I would really consider Atlassian
kind of my first exact type role because
470
:I reported directly to the CTO and there
were only 5 of us reporting to the CTO
471
:who ran all of engineering for Atlassian.
472
:Um, I would say that that was
actually 1 of the most fun parts of
473
:my career for a couple of reasons.
474
:One was I got to take all the
practices I learned from Amazon
475
:and apply them in a new environment
that hadn't seen them before.
476
:Um, at the time Atlassian was
really making a hard pivot from
477
:its on premise, uh, roots to cloud.
478
:Uh, that was the mandate of the
new CTO, uh, who was there and
479
:the reason I was hired as well.
480
:I was hired into, um, the hip
chat organization, which I don't
481
:know if anyone remembers hip chat.
482
:It was the, uh, predecessor to slack and
things at the time were not going well,
483
:uh, slack and immersion, the market chat
had had some high profile outages and
484
:they were in the middle of a full rebuild,
a full rebuild of the hip chat product.
485
:And that was not going well either.
486
:Um, there was no head of
engineering at the time.
487
:And so I kind of stepped
into a difficult situation.
488
:Yeah.
489
:I got to one, earn the trust
of team, start implementing
490
:some of these processes.
491
:It was really exciting to see.
492
:Some of the processes that we
implemented around technical operations
493
:in particular get pushed to all
of Atlassian, um, and help just
494
:transform how Atlassian did cloud,
but it was, it was a, it was a hard 2.
495
:5 years, but also incredibly fun
because the team was very motivated.
496
:Um, you know, we had this.
497
:Goal that no one thought we could
accomplish even inside it last year.
498
:No one thought we'd be
able to get this done.
499
:Ultimately, we did get it done.
500
:It did not end up mattering because
as Microsoft was coming to the market
501
:at the time, the company kind of
realized that this isn't going to
502
:be a market that there's going to
be a lot of revenue to be made in.
503
:It's probably going to end
up being free, which is.
504
:Exactly what has happened.
505
:And, you know, no one pays
for this stuff with office.
506
:And I think it's one of the reasons
why Slack got sold to sales forces.
507
:They saw their growth opportunities kind
of limited in the future, but it was kind
508
:of a exciting journey to be on a building,
not only building the new product, but
509
:also bringing a lot of the cloud practices
I've learned at Amazon, uh, to Atlassian.
510
:Awesome.
511
:Eric Brooke: Thank you.
512
:Um, so continue your journey.
513
:What happens next?
514
:So,
515
:Asanka Jayasuriya: after we, at
the end, towards the end of my
516
:Atlassian career, I was managing,
uh, Stride, Hitchat, and Trello.
517
:I'd also taken ownership
over the Trello product.
518
:But I kind of knew that there was no
real next opportunity for me there.
519
:I was reporting into the CTO and like,
there was no real clear next step.
520
:And I got the opportunity to work
for, uh, envision as their CTO.
521
:And when they approached me about
the role, you know, I, first I wasn't
522
:sure, but as I dug more into it, I
kind of realized that one, they were
523
:a thousand person remote company.
524
:And today that sounds like no
big deal, but back in:
525
:They were the largest doing that in
the world, and very few companies were
526
:remote, uh, back then, at least at scale.
527
:And so I wanted to understand,
you know, how can you do that?
528
:Because the biggest challenge
to any engineering that has
529
:is finding great talent.
530
:And when you're constrained
to geographies, that
531
:makes it that much harder.
532
:So I wanted to understand,
like, can this actually work?
533
:And as well, they were, uh, you
know, a unicorn, they just take an
534
:evaluation at 2 billion, I think.
535
:So, uh, you know, closing in on
a hundred million in ARR seemed
536
:like a great time to join.
537
:I joined and as always, as you
learn is like, things are never
538
:quite what they seem at any company.
539
:And I think everyone always goes
through, I think you start and you're
540
:super excited and there's this kind
of trough of disillusionment that
541
:you go through and then you come
out the other side and realize that,
542
:you know, just because you can.
543
:Hire anywhere doesn't mean you should
hire anywhere, uh, and they hadn't really
544
:maintained us high bar, I think, for
how quickly they had hired an account.
545
:And so it was the largest kind of
transformation I had to make in terms
546
:of raising the bar on hiring on talent
while executing on a product roadmap.
547
:That was just too full.
548
:There were too many priorities.
549
:And it was really, really
challenging to move that forward.
550
:And ultimately, I don't know if you
saw, Envision officially announced
551
:their shutdown a few weeks ago, which
is I think the first of many broken
552
:unicorns that we're going to see.
553
:I learned a lot about focus there
and about, you know, being realistic
554
:about where you're, where you are.
555
:Um, And we just couldn't quite make
that last pivot and roadmap that
556
:we had to as Figma was, you know,
basically just emerging and everyone
557
:knows how quickly Figma kind of took
over and learned a lot about, uh,
558
:what it means to be a fully vertically
integrated solution like Figma versus
559
:a piece of an ecosystem like Envision
was, uh, which made it vulnerable.
560
:But incredible opportunity to learn
what it means to be in the CTO seat,
561
:where you learn for the first time that
You really don't have fears anymore.
562
:You know, at Atlassian points, the CTO,
I have good friends and who made my
563
:good friends, who are my peers, who ran
the other engineering groups in your
564
:first leadership seat, you realize,
you know, you have your CRO, your chief
565
:people officer, chief product officer,
head of marketing is peers, but you're
566
:not really a team in the same way.
567
:You're really all stakeholders
in each other's worlds and you
568
:need things from each other.
569
:But I kind of realized that there's
a little bit of loneliness that
570
:job because you have people below
you who rely on you and you provide
571
:leadership to you and your peers who
need things from you, but you don't
572
:really have teammates in the same way.
573
:And it gets, it can was
surprisingly a little bit more
574
:lonely than I expected it would be.
575
:Eric Brooke: Cool.
576
:That's a great point.
577
:So let's dig into that a
little bit when you say.
578
:So, in a sense, what I heard was
like you had collaborators who
579
:are on your side, helping you be
successful, kind of probably being
580
:critical friends when needed.
581
:And then you have stakeholders.
582
:What does that feel like?
583
:What's the difference between stakeholder?
584
:Asanka Jayasuriya: So I think one
of the key differences is that, you
585
:know, when I had my peers at the last
thing, we could just go have a beer
586
:and talk about, you know, whatever,
even if it's talk about the dumb
587
:thing we think our boss did, right?
588
:Or, or, or, or everybody does that.
589
:And I'm sure all, all my directs have
done the same and gone out for a beer and
590
:talked about some dumb thing that I said
or dumb thing I told them to do, right?
591
:That kind of comes with the job.
592
:But when you're an exec, every
interaction almost feel can feel like an
593
:evaluation to a certain extent, right?
594
:Because if you're meeting with the CRO
and the CRO needs a future shift or needs
595
:your understanding to make a customer
happy, like, you know, that's part of it.
596
:And.
597
:It, it just, it creates that
sense of, you know, you're not
598
:necessarily just buddies, right?
599
:You're, you need things from each other.
600
:You need to deliver for them.
601
:And that's kind of, I think,
where that sense of loneliness
602
:comes from a little bit.
603
:And at that point, my career is also
when I realized I had to lean much
604
:more into building my network of
those people who I'd worked with,
605
:who were my friends and partners.
606
:I advocate that strongly today to anyone
in leadership is like, keep in touch
607
:with the good people you work with.
608
:Like, you know, go back to them.
609
:You know, once you haven't talked
to someone in 6 to 9 months, set
610
:up a zoom, like, just check in.
611
:And 1, it's just great to
maintain relationships.
612
:I believe, especially in this industry
and both from a personal perspective.
613
:But also for your career, uh, you
would not believe if you how powerful
614
:a tool it is to look at your network,
see it, all the great places that
615
:are adding like, oh, I have a
question about so and so company and.
616
:You know, I talked to so and so last year,
but I should reach out to them because
617
:I have a question about this company.
618
:So that's something I think as we as
engineers in particular aren't great at.
619
:I think people in the sales, marketing
organizations are so much better at it.
620
:And I think it is a superpower for
engineering leaders to really invest
621
:in building and maintaining a network.
622
:Eric Brooke: Awesome.
623
:Asanka.
624
:In terms of you being in a C suite role,
were there other dimensions at this point
625
:that you needed to understand that you
didn't need to say in the last lesson?
626
:that you're now having to learn
or that will be helpful for others
627
:Asanka Jayasuriya: to know about?
628
:Yeah, definitely.
629
:I mean, as an engineering leader
before, it's all about just
630
:shipping and delivering products.
631
:Um, you know, you have a budget
around headcount and stuff like that.
632
:Once you're the leader of a business
unit, it becomes a lot more, right?
633
:You have to understand, really
understand the revenue organization,
634
:really understand marketing, understand
the customers much more deeply.
635
:Like, even though you have a product
partner, like It's not sufficient
636
:for me to be the engineering
leader who's building stuff.
637
:You really have to understand how your
company works, the financial goals.
638
:You know, when are you raising money?
639
:What does your runway look like?
640
:What does your burn look like?
641
:All these things that I didn't really,
where I've never really concerned
642
:for me as a, um, just an engineering
leader right now became front and
643
:center, uh, just understanding the
business at a much deeper level
644
:Eric Brooke: and in terms of
like working with the board, um,
645
:how does that change the game?
646
:It's
647
:Asanka Jayasuriya: really interesting.
648
:Um, and I've been at board
exposure, both in kind of private
649
:world and in the public world.
650
:Uh, in the private side, you know,
your board is just, uh, effectively the
651
:venture firms that have invested, right?
652
:That's typically what
your board is made up.
653
:And, you know, I would say at envision,
you know, the board experience.
654
:You know, we were constantly, you
know, we present our roadmaps and
655
:stuff, but I would say the questions
were largely to the revenue team.
656
:Um, you know, we got some questions
about one product and stuff with shit.
657
:When I went to the public, uh, world
with SailPoint, the role I took after
658
:InVision, it was very different because
now your board members have significant
659
:fiduciary responsibility, obviously,
to the public markets, and it's just,
660
:the bar is much higher in terms of the
questions and expectations they have
661
:of you, um, and their responsibility.
662
:You also kind of learn that, you
know, what is the relationship I'm
663
:supposed to have with the board?
664
:And it's actually
relatively formal, right?
665
:You don't go to the board and, Tell them
everything that's going wrong with the
666
:team or your company or the beers, right?
667
:Like, no, it's, it's, it's
a very formal relationship.
668
:We talk about the goals and the metrics
that you have and just learning those
669
:interactions is what was great for me.
670
:And now I get the chance to be
an advisor, not so many boards.
671
:1 of my upcoming career goals is to
join more boards and start learning to
672
:be what it means to actually be on the
board side, which I haven't done yet.
673
:Eric Brooke: So continue
your journey onwards.
674
:Um, what's next?
675
:Asanka Jayasuriya: So after envision,
uh, I got kind of, you know, I had a
676
:career plan of what I wanted to do.
677
:And the next thing was to be the
CTO at a public software company.
678
:And that's when sale point reached
out, um, they are similar to it very
679
:similar to last year, best in breed
on premise, identity, government
680
:software, they had a cloud solution.
681
:But they were ready to go all in
on cloud and make that big push.
682
:And so I joined them to help
lead that transformation.
683
:It was also interesting because at
the time, this is in, uh, December.
684
:When T 19 that I'm interviewing
with them, I'm like, this is great.
685
:And I'm actually looking forward to
getting back into an office as well.
686
:Uh, cause after being remote for
about two years in the vision.
687
:en my start date was April of:
688
:And as you can know, obviously I
did not get to start, uh, in office.
689
:And so it, uh, COVID hit and I
joined and they went fully remote.
690
:And it actually turned out to be
very useful that I had two years of
691
:experience leading remote engineering
teams, because now I was forced to
692
:lead a remote engineering team again.
693
:Great, uh, great culture at the company
and we really just pushed hard on making
694
:that pivot from on premise to cloud.
695
:We shifted our hiring strategy,
shifted our architecture
696
:philosophy about how we're going
to invest and just went all in.
697
:It was going exceptionally well, uh,
so well, in fact, that Toma Bravo
698
:noticed and, uh, they, uh, they came
and acquired us, um, in, uh,:
699
:Uh, but it was a great journey,
grew that business tremendously.
700
:Uh, I think we more than doubled ARR, uh,
in the time that I was there, I think,
701
:and that has continued since and, uh, and
then the private world, uh, but it was a
702
:great experience to, to lead a engineering
at a, at a public software company.
703
:Eric Brooke: So you mentioned
already what you, um, see is
704
:the difference in the public.
705
:Were there any other changes in terms
of, like, yes, you have a formal
706
:relationship with the board, you have
stakeholders, that's your executive team.
707
:From that particular job, were there
things that you come away from?
708
:I learned that there.
709
:It's still
710
:Asanka Jayasuriya: fine.
711
:I think I learned the.
712
:Real focus in a public company
on quarterly reporting.
713
:Um, I mean, when you make
commitments and revenue commitments
714
:associated with product launches.
715
:And that goes to the street and to
investors, like that's significant, right?
716
:Like, you know, it's,
it's very, very different.
717
:And so I just learned that that
pressure can be pretty significant.
718
:And you have to, as a result, be a
little bit more conservative in how
719
:you plan your roadmaps and what you
announce, uh, to both very publicly,
720
:because once you announce publicly,
like there are revenue implications
721
:and, you know, Wall Street, Okay.
722
:Implications of what that means.
723
:So learning that ability to be a
bit more conservative externally,
724
:but more aggressive internally
was a little bit different.
725
:Eric Brooke: Okay.
726
:And so what's next in your career?
727
:Asanka Jayasuriya: So after the sale
point acquisition, uh, you know, I had
728
:a conversation with my leader and, you
know, if I wanted to stay on and be
729
:in, uh, continue the private equity
journey, and it wasn't really for me.
730
:Um, I've always been
much more of a builder.
731
:I like to build and
explore and private equity.
732
:So much more tends to be much more
disciplined, financially driven journey.
733
:And it just, it wasn't
a path that I wanted.
734
:I decided to take, uh, some time off.
735
:My goal is to take about a year off.
736
:Um, I spent a lot of time riding my
bike, uh, went down to Columbia with some
737
:good friends of mine, rode bikes in the
mountains, went to the Galapagos with
738
:my family, uh, traveled around quite a
bit, started playing a lot of pickleball.
739
:I'm really just kind of unwound
for about six to nine months.
740
:It's the first, first break in my career.
741
:I mean, I started my career when I was 20.
742
:Because when I took that
internship, I never actually
743
:went back to school full time.
744
:I just finished my degree part
time and stayed working full time.
745
:So I had been, you know, 23 years without
more than probably 2 weeks off at a time.
746
:And I was looking forward
to my first career break.
747
:And so I really just kind of
disconnected from everything for a while.
748
:And just a lot of pickleball,
a lot of bike riding, a
749
:little bit of travel, skiing.
750
:Yeah, it was, it was a good,
it was a good career break.
751
:Eric Brooke: Yeah.
752
:And this, um, What were the
things you would say that
753
:you got from a career break?
754
:You got to relax.
755
:What other things would you say?
756
:Um, do you think career
breaks are a good thing?
757
:Asanka Jayasuriya: Oh, I, I, I will
caveat this in a couple of different ways.
758
:I think they can be a good thing when they
come at the right moment in your career.
759
:And when I say that, like for me, it's
like financially it was in a good position
760
:where like, that wasn't really a concern.
761
:Um, my kids were at the right age
where like, You know, do a bunch more
762
:traveling and fun things with Ben.
763
:Um, and that was, was great.
764
:And it let me really recover.
765
:I mean, I, I didn't really realize
like how much kind of the pressure
766
:of being in these leadership book,
uh, you know, successively bigger
767
:leadership roles and take it.
768
:And I, I didn't realize actually until
probably about 6 or 8 weeks into my break
769
:about like how tired I actually was.
770
:And that I was losing the energy and kind
of the excitement around building things.
771
:Uh, and so it was perfect
from that perspective for me,
772
:uh, to get that rejuvenation.
773
:I see a lot of things on LinkedIn
of folks taking like career
774
:breaks in their early 20s.
775
:And maybe I'm just like an old
cynic now, but I think that's
776
:probably a little bit too.
777
:Too soon.
778
:I think you gotta, you gotta
bring some miles first before
779
:you, before you do that.
780
:Awesome.
781
:Eric Brooke: Thank you.
782
:So, Galapagos.
783
:Awesome.
784
:Um, what was next in your journey?
785
:Asanka Jayasuriya: So the next, I wasn't,
I had no real plan, um, but kind of
786
:backed into two different opportunities,
uh, through very unlikely paths.
787
:So the first was actually
through the Galapagos.
788
:Um, we were on a On a cruise of the
islands there, which I highly recommend
789
:to do at some point in your life, the
wildlife and it's just incredible, but it
790
:was a small boat, probably for 20 people
and there was another family on that boat.
791
:And the father of that family was
managing director at new mountain
792
:capital, a private equity company.
793
:No, he asked me, Hey, do you have any
interest in ever doing stuff with PE?
794
:And I said, no, not really.
795
:And then, uh, he reached out
again later and he's like, why
796
:don't you just come meet with us?
797
:You know, we, you know,
we're not like a typical PE.
798
:We, we believe in investing
and growing and it was true.
799
:And so I joined them as an executive
advisor, uh, not really a full time job,
800
:but I helped them with due diligence.
801
:Uh, technical strategy, product strategy,
um, great group to be working with.
802
:So I started dipping my toe in with that.
803
:The other thing that happened was I was
playing a lot of pickleball and two,
804
:uh, guys in my neighborhood had built a
pickleball court and one of my friends
805
:knew them and I was like, I got to.
806
:No, these guys, I want to put on
their, you know, their private court.
807
:And, uh, they introduced me and
started playing pickleball with them.
808
:And they were two of the founders of
ABC who had moved from San Francisco
809
:to Austin during the pandemic.
810
:Uh, the headquarters of the
firm had actually moved here.
811
:Uh, so Joe Lonsdale was the, was
the GP and founder of the fund
812
:and he moved, uh, headquarters
to fund here during the pandemic.
813
:And after playing with them
for a while, they just said,
814
:are you going to work again?
815
:What are you doing?
816
:I'm like, I have no real plans.
817
:And so I said, Hey, we could
use some help with some advisory
818
:stuff for some of our companies.
819
:So I started dipping my toe, you know,
advising some other companies on portfolio
820
:companies on product and engineering.
821
:Um, Yeah.
822
:Yeah.
823
:Yeah.
824
:And that kind of has grown slowly
until eventually they said, why
825
:don't you join as our portfolio CTO?
826
:And ultimately I did, uh, even
though, you know, what exactly
827
:a portfolio CTO remains, a work
in progress as we define that.
828
:Uh, but the real reason I
joined ABC is, you know, they
829
:believe in building companies.
830
:They actually incubate, you know,
seven to 10 companies a year.
831
:And just investing was not something
I thought would really appeal to me,
832
:and it still actually really doesn't.
833
:But I really get to get involved
with these companies as they're
834
:built, help them solve problems,
and that's just a lot of fun.
835
:Eric Brooke: So you're now
kind of mentoring multiple
836
:CTOs and multiple companies.
837
:Are there kind of common patterns
that you see that CTOs could either be
838
:better at, or that you see CTOs facing?
839
:Yeah, so there's 1
840
:Asanka Jayasuriya: very emergent topic
that's across, I think, most of our
841
:portfolio companies and actually in
my CTO networks is the question that's
842
:coming up more and more than ever in my
career is how productive is engineering.
843
:Uh, you know, when resources were plenty
and money was plenty, you know, often
844
:you'd see companies evaluating CTOs and
how quickly they were hiring engineers.
845
:Like, that's the success metric.
846
:Like, look at how many
engineers we hired last quarter.
847
:Well, guess what?
848
:That is no longer the success
metric, I think, for just
849
:about any company in the world.
850
:Maybe there's a handful where
that's still a success metric.
851
:But then the questions really started
to come of like, okay, we've grown
852
:engineering and product this much.
853
:What did we get for it?
854
:Like, are we going faster?
855
:Are we shipping more customer value?
856
:And the thing that everybody is
struggling with, I think, is we
857
:don't really have good frameworks as
engineering leaders to report that stuff.
858
:Um, you know, we have sprint
metrics, we have velocity.
859
:Those are, you know, you can't
put that in a board slide and
860
:say, look, here's our velocity.
861
:It's like, it's like, what does that mean?
862
:Like, are we better?
863
:Are we good?
864
:Is it bad?
865
:Like, and that is, I think the, one of
the biggest common things I see across
866
:our portfolio and other companies, even
public companies right now is how do we
867
:get better at answering the question?
868
:Of how good is engineering how
efficient is it what is more dollars
869
:into engineering and product mean and
value to customers and it can often be
870
:difficult because you know when I had
CRO partners who have intensely metrics
871
:of an organization like look there's my
quota metric why don't you give a quota
872
:to your engineers well it doesn't really
work the same way and you know there's
873
:a lot of different reasons but those
conversations are becoming more and more
874
:real and I see that everywhere right now.
875
:Thank
876
:Eric Brooke: you.
877
:Um, so like, I guess that feeds
in very well to what are you
878
:seeing in the current market?
879
:Why do them say your portfolio?
880
:But what are you seeing in technology?
881
:Asanka Jayasuriya: Yeah, I think
actually, uh, there's a blog post that
882
:a colleague of mine just pushed out on
LinkedIn, which I highly recommend just
883
:talking about the state of venture and
how different it is now than it was.
884
:Um, and so when I look broad, I see
a few different things happening.
885
:One, there is far less funding
happening right now for startups.
886
:I think it is going to be very challenging
for a lot of the later stage, like
887
:series B series C's companies that
are going out to looking for funding.
888
:It's going to be harder to get checks.
889
:I think we're going to see many,
many more companies disappear
890
:and go under for that reason.
891
:Same time, I think it's going to
be very exciting at the seed stage.
892
:There's a lot of activity there
and a lot of good founders and
893
:so it's a focus now, though.
894
:I'm not just, Hey, I have an idea.
895
:It's like, I have an idea
to build a real business.
896
:And I think that's.
897
:Honestly, that's just not something
that was there over the last 10
898
:years, especially the last few years.
899
:I have an idea to do X.
900
:Like, I don't know if
we'll ever make money.
901
:Great.
902
:Here's 10 million, right?
903
:Like, that's not really happening anymore.
904
:Um, so that, that is a big change
that I'm seeing kind of broader.
905
:And so I think we'll see venture
get smaller, uh, in terms of the
906
:number of venture firms out there,
the number of people employed
907
:in venture will get smaller.
908
:And I think also just from a product
and engineering perspective, I think
909
:the valuations for like enterprise
software companies, you know, they have
910
:come down and people say, oh, they'll
go back and like, I'm not so convinced.
911
:I actually think that the
valuations now are back to normal
912
:and back to where they should be.
913
:And I'm actually a little bit excited now
because it's kind of going back to the
914
:roots of when I started my career of like,
you don't have abundant resources, you're
915
:going to have to scrap and fight for
every dollar and making everything work.
916
:And it's going to be a
little bit more of a grind.
917
:But I think from that, we're going to
see the true, really good engineering
918
:leaders that true companies get born.
919
:Um, you know, I was saying, I think
it's true that The biggest companies get
920
:born during the hardest times, right?
921
:Like, if you think about all the
juggernauts we have in the industry
922
:today, the sales forces service now
work day, like all these guys, they
923
:all came out of the dot com crash.
924
:That's when they all cut their teeth.
925
:Um, and then in:
926
:Like, that's when they started to have
the Googles and all that comes into play.
927
:I think that's something I recommend
everyone think about is these
928
:times when things seem the worst is
often when the next wave of biggest
929
:things are going to be built.
930
:And I'm pretty excited for that.
931
:Eric Brooke: Thank you, Sonka.
932
:Is there something that you're
working through or digging into
933
:and investigating at this time?
934
:Asanka Jayasuriya: Obviously, this
is going to be a huge shocker.
935
:It's
936
:Tim Winkler: AI, right?
937
:That is,
938
:Asanka Jayasuriya: uh, uh, you
know, taking everyone's focus.
939
:And, you know, for the first time in
over 10 years, I'm actually hands on
940
:playing with this stuff to learn it.
941
:I believe that it is going to be
as big as the internet was like
942
:that transformation that happened
s, early:
943
:I believe that's what AI is going to do.
944
:I disagree with the time scale that
most people think it's going to happen.
945
:I think already we're seeing
companies raise, you know, nine
946
:figure rounds on very little ideas.
947
:You know, I think sometimes we
don't learn from our mistakes
948
:and you see that happening, but I
think what is going to happen is.
949
:There's this period of what right
now I think of extreme hype around
950
:AI, going to be followed very quickly
by a period of disillusionment of
951
:like, oh, this can't do everything.
952
:But over the next two to three years,
I do expect to change the world.
953
:I just think right now everyone's
expecting too much of it too soon.
954
:But it is going to come.
955
:It's, it's very clear that it's going
to change how we build software.
956
:It's going to change how I think
every service gets delivered.
957
:It's going to change education.
958
:Um, I think it's the most important
area to invest in learning and
959
:having a foundation right now.
960
:Yeah,
961
:Eric Brooke: I concur.
962
:It's um, this is like an
industrial revolution for, as
963
:you say, moving us to next step.
964
:Thank you for sharing your journey.
965
:Um, so just checking in.
966
:What are the things that have helped
you grow or scale as you have?
967
:You mentioned earlier that mentors,
um, you mentioned kind of community,
968
:um, there may be books, podcasts, but
what would you recommend to either
969
:prospective CTOs or CTOs now as a
source or recon of intelligence?
970
:Asanka Jayasuriya: So again, once
you get to the CTO level, I really do
971
:believe it's about networking, uh, both.
972
:Years, so people who are solving
and dealing with similar problems
973
:to you, but also maintaining a few
people that have gone further than
974
:you, that you can go to for advice.
975
:And I was really lucky to have kind of
those people throughout my career, just
976
:a few steps ahead on the path than you.
977
:So they can give you that feedback.
978
:But I believe as a CTO, that is just
absolutely the way you have to do it.
979
:You have to invest in building and.
980
:Network of people that you can
reach out to rely on, but also you
981
:have to pay that forward, right?
982
:A big part of.
983
:My belief is like, anytime somebody
asks me for help, I do my best to
984
:say yes, because I think that all
comes back to you at some point.
985
:Like, I don't, that's not why I do it,
but I do believe that, you know, doing
986
:your best to help people, it ultimately
will come back to you, uh, down the road.
987
:And so, as much as you look out to build
your network, someone reaches out to you
988
:to ask you a question for something or
some career advice are about the time.
989
:You don't know when that pays dividends
for you down the road, and you are
990
:going to need to do that yourself.
991
:guys.
992
:Ciao.
993
:Awesome.
994
:Eric Brooke: Thank you, Saka.
995
:So you've described a
lot of what you've done.
996
:What do you do for fun?
997
:Um, so I
998
:Asanka Jayasuriya: have two boys, uh, two
teenage boys that keep me pretty busy, but
999
:outside of that, uh, pretty athletic, uh,
like, you know, weightlifting, running.
::
I was a huge cyclist for a long time.
::
I've been off the bike for a little
while, uh, and tendonitis in my
::
elbows, you know, getting old.
::
All these injuries start to creep
up a little bit, but I'm a big
::
cyclist, also love snow sports,
snowboarding, wake surfing is a big
::
hobby of mine, and then just movies
and kind of all the typical stuff.
::
Endurance sports is another one.
::
I did Grand Canyon, the rim to rim hike.
::
It was supposed to be rim to rim to rim,
but when we got to the far side, the
::
prospect of going back another 26 miles,
we decided we'd rather just go get a beer.
::
Um.
::
But yeah, that's pretty much,
uh, what I, what I do for fun.
::
Eric Brooke: Is there a movie
you're looking forward to?
::
Asanka Jayasuriya: You know what, I have
been really disappointed in movies lately.
::
I just saw Godzilla Zero.
::
I don't know if you've seen that.
::
It was fantastic.
::
It is, it's, uh, it's hard to
describe, but it's like a low
::
budget movie, but Godzilla is in
it, but it's not a Godzilla movie.
::
It's more about the Japanese
struggle during World War Two.
::
Absolutely fantastic.
::
But in terms of anything coming
up, like, I used to be so
::
hyped for all the Marvel stuff.
::
And I don't know if it's just me or
like, but we kind of got to this fatigue
::
level where we just kind of all of
a sudden stopped watching all of it.
::
Like all the shows on Disney plus, we
were like, oh, yeah, we haven't even
::
looked at Disney plus in a while.
::
Like, I think we got the peak marble.
::
But outside of that,
I'm trying to think of.
::
And, oh, a Jordan Peele's new movie,
uh, Monkey Man, uh, looks really good.
::
It's, um, I think it's an action
movie set with, uh, Dev Patel
::
from, uh, Slumdog Millionaire.
::
That one looks pretty good.
::
I am looking forward to that.
::
Eric Brooke: Awesome.
::
I'm looking forward to Dune 2.
::
Um, I love expansive science fiction,
but Ahsoka, thank you very much
::
for your time today and for sharing
your thoughts and your wisdom.
::
Greatly appreciate
::
Asanka Jayasuriya: it.
::
Yeah, it was great being here.
::
Thanks for having me.
::
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