Unexpected Career Paths: From IT Engineer to Product Marketing

#260 Product Marketing | Dave is joined by Matt De Vincentis, VP of Product Marketing at Atlassian. With a background that spans engineering, product marketing, and leadership at companies like VMware and Palo Alto Networks, Matt shares how Atlassian structures its product marketing team, prioritizes work, and stays tied to business outcomes, even at massive scale.

Dave and Matt cover:

• How Atlassian connects product marketing to revenue and pipeline (and why PMMs need to “own the outcome”)
• How to build high-trust, high-impact marketing teams, drawing on lessons from firefighting and enterprise leadership
• The async work philosophy Atlassian uses to eliminate unnecessary meetings and increase productivity across a global team

Whether you lead a team or want a seat at the table, this episode breaks down how to structure, scale, and lead product marketing the Atlassian way.

Timestamps

• (00:00) - – Intro
• (03:37) - – Matt’s path from engineer to Atlassian VP
• (06:52) - – Why technical backgrounds can be both a strength and a curse in PMM
• (10:37) - – What product marketing looks like at a $5B company
• (11:37) - – “Own the outcome, not the task”: tying PMM to revenue
• (13:57) - – Why product marketers should care about pipeline (even if they don’t own it)
• (15:22) - – How brand and creative marketers can still align to business outcomes
• (17:52) - – Measuring inputs vs. outcomes (and how to stay focused on the right one)
• (18:37) - – How Matt applies firefighting lessons to leading marketing teams
• (20:17) - – Triaging “fire drills” and protecting your team’s focus
• (22:07) - – How to prioritize ruthlessly (and what real prioritization means)
• (24:37) - – From IC to VP: how your mindset and responsibilities shift
• (28:38) - – Why leaders should double down on strengths—not fix weaknesses
• (30:53) - – How self-assurance became Matt’s superpower as a leader
• (33:53) - – The StrengthsFinder approach Matt uses with his team
• (35:53) - – The value of executive coaching for marketing leaders
• (37:23) - – The goal: build the best marketing team anyone’s worked on
• (38:53) - – Why trust and 10x thinking unlock great marketing work
• (41:23) - – Where product marketing sits inside Atlassian’s org
• (42:53) - – How Atlassian uses Loom and async work to eliminate unnecessary meetings
• (45:23) - – What qualifies as a real meeting at Atlassian
• (46:53) - – Why async work helps global teams move faster
• (49:53) - – How Atlassian balances async with intentional in-person gatherings
• (51:53) - – Why trust changes how Slack and email are interpreted
• (52:38) - – How Atlassian thinks about AI’s role in marketing
• (54:53) - – Why it’s hard to stand out in an “AI-washed” market
• (56:08) - – Matt’s mission: help make work suck less
• (57:23) - – Final thoughts and wrap-up

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