The a16z Show Atlassian CEO on the SaaS Apocalypse, AI Agents & What Comes Next
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Mar 6, 2026 
Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder and CEO of Atlassian, leads the company through AI and product strategy. He discusses the SaaS selloff and which software businesses face AI-driven pricing risk. He reframes software from records to processes and explores where AI agents can be safely inserted. He also tackles trust, design, and how to make AI work for everyday users in enterprise workflows.
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Markets Miss Different AI Risks For SaaS
- Public markets broadly punished SaaS without distinguishing which businesses AI threatens or enhances.
- Mike warns risk has risen and companies must prove adaptation rather than expect markets to assume it.
Three SaaS Types Explain Survival Odds
- Alex Rampell defines three SaaS types: seats tied to outcomes (vulnerable), seats as pricing proxies (stickier), and hybrids like Adobe.
- He emphasizes public markets can't tell which will survive AI-driven change.
Businesses Are Process Orchestration Machines
- Businesses are collections of processes, not just static systems of record; coordinating processes is the core value.
- Mike reframes modern companies as knowledge-era process orchestrators with edge-case rules embedded over time.
