NEXT announced Atlassian president Jay Simons as a keynote speaker and former University of Georgia and NFL football player Mohamed Massaquoi as a featured speaker for its annual conference, NEXT Venture Pitch, which will be held virtually over three half-days Sept. 15-17.
Simons first joined the Australian-based global software company as vice president of sales and marketing in 2008 before being promoted to president in 2011. During his time at Atlassian, the business has gone on to yield over $1.7 billion in annualized revenues represented by over 170,000 customers from across the world.
“Jay has spent decades serving, coaching, evaluating and building world-class entrepreneurial teams across the world,” said Alex Estevez, venture partner with Accel and NEXT Venture Pitch chair. “As such, Jay’s insights on growing your business are invaluable, and we are so pleased to have him join our community of entrepreneurs to share these insights for this event.”
NEXT Innovation Center raised more than $50 million in new capital investment in 2019
Simons has also served as a board member to Hubspot, a growth platform with over 78,700 total customers and entrepreneurs in over 120 countries.
Massaquoi is a graduate of the University of Georgia and Harvard Business School’s Program for Leadership Development. While at UGA, he was first-team All-Southeastern Conference as a wide receiver and an Academic All-SEC selection. In 2009, he was chosen in the second round of the NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns and played professionally for five seasons.
Massaquoi survived a 2017 ATV accident, which nearly killed him and required the amputation of his left hand. Following his accident, he shifted from the wealth advisement field and went onto found Vessol, where he offers inspirational and motivational presentations, change- and action-focused workshops, and executive coaching.
For more information or to register for NEXT Venture Pitch, visit nextventurepitch.com.
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