Jean-Michel Lemieux

Jean-Michel Lemieux has an incredible profile.

• Former VP of Engineering at Atlassian
• Former CTO at Shopify
• Founder of DevDegree at Shopify
• Restaurant owner of Arlo in Ottawa
• Author of an upcoming book "Build Right Side"
• Founder of SeaPeople

Takeaways

- Early Ottawa tech scene.

- Moving to Australia to work for the iconic company Atlassian.

- Building trust when leading a new team.

- Being a product expert as a CTO is key.

- Moving back to Ottawa and joining Shopify.

- Scaling Shopify's engineering team from 50 to 3,000.

- Work with Founders as an executive like Tobi at Shopify and Mike and Scott at Atlassian.

- JML's take on Founder Mode.

- Background behind DevDegree.

- JML's take on effective communication as a leader.

- A strong opinion on technology tools is essential as a CTO.

- Launching and starting Arlo one of Canada's top 100 restaurants.

- Similarities behind starting a restaurant and tech.

- Building a boat and JML's plan to tackle a massive sailing trip.

- Power of writing and his book.

- SeaPeople, one of his latest ventures.

Chapters

00:00 The Early Ottawa Tech Scene

02:23 Career Trajectory and the Move to Atlassian

05:15 Lessons from Atlassian

08:03 Transition to Shopify

10:50 Scaling Teams at Shopify

15:44 Working with Founders

18:58 The Concept of Founder Mode

21:24 DevDegree: Bridging Education and Industry

24:25 Traits of a Modern CTO

26:33 Optimizing Technology Teams for Speed and Efficiency

27:43 The Intersection of Food and Technology: Starting a Restaurant

29:42 Navigating Life After Shopify: A Personal Journey

31:36 Exploring the Seas: Building a Boat and Community

34:07 Finding Product-Market Fit: Lessons from Entrepreneurship

37:20 Writing as a Passion Project: Insights from Building a Book

39:04 Embracing a Growth Mindset in Business and Life

41:10 The Sneaker Phenomenon: Unexpected Lessons from Shopify

47:22 Looking Ahead: Personal and Professional Aspirations

Keywords

Ottawa tech scene, Atlassian, Shopify, tech leadership, founder relationships, scaling teams, DevDegree, modern CTO, technology, CTO, product design, entrepreneurship, restaurant, growth mindset, Canada, sailing, community, product-market fit