EP 84: Dev Ittycheria’s (CEO, MongoDB) Leadership Lessons From Scaling MongoDB to $25B
The Logan Bartlett Show
Rebuilding a Company and Monetizing Open Source
This chapter discusses the process of rebuilding a company after layoffs and the challenges of monetizing open source technology. They also highlight the success of AWS in monetizing open source based on usage.
Dev Ittycheria is the president and CEO of MongoDB, his third public company as CEO. In this episode, Dev discusses his take on AI, the importance of hiring, how to build an A-plus culture, and many other leadership lessons from scaling MongoDB to $25B. Overall, a really fun conversation with one of the absolute best operators in tech.
(0:00) Intro
(0:38) Taking the CEO job at MongoDB
(2:34) First things Dev changed at MongoDB
(5:53) When unicorns were actually rare
(7:50) Overcoming Monetization Challenges of Open Source
(9:54) MongoDB Atlas and the license change?
(19:18) What is the job of the CEO?
(22:49) Vulnerability is a strength
(27:03) The power of self-awareness as a Leader
(29:37) Building an A+ culture
(32:43) Holding people accountable
(35:04) Keeping feedback loops tight
(36:22) How hybrid work helps MongoDB thrive
(38:09) RIFs
(40:20) 3 steps for holding people accountable
(42:03) Why you should always be recruiting
(43:55) Dev’s unique recruiting tactics
(45:56) Favorite interview questions
(46:53) Hiring internally vs externally
(50:53) Finding passion for sales
(52:58) The perfect job doesn’t exist
(55:00) Running BladeLogic
(57:18) Ben Horowitz, Mark Andreessen, and John McMahon
(1:02:36) How does AI compare to past tech trends?
(1:05:47) Conventional Silicon Valley wisdom Dev disagrees with
Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky
Produced: Rashad Assir
Executive Producer: Josh Machiz
Music: Griff Lawson
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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.
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