Interview
Life Inside an AI-Native Success Story – Donna Thomas
Ever wondered what it’s really like inside one of the world’s fastest-growing AI companies? This week we get unprecedented access to the inner workings of Leonardo AI through their Chief Commercial Officer, Donna Thomas.
Leonardo AI is a Gen AI-powered image and video generator and it’s one of Australia’s AI success stories. It scaled from zero to 19 million users in just two years before being acquired by Canva last year.
At ‘Leo’ as they call it, Donna plays a central role overseeing customer, marketing, sales and enterprise adoption, as Leo charts its evolution from a fast-growing creative AI platform to an enterprise-scale solution.
Donna takes us behind the scenes and shares what hypergrowth feels like from the inside. She says Leo has redefined her understanding of speed itself.
In such a fast moving environment, the challenges of managing and sustaining teams through constant change become critical and Donna shares the specific structures and rituals Leo uses to maintain team stability while moving faster than she’s ever experienced.
In this conversation, you’ll also discover:
- The key differences between working at a traditional tech giant versus an AI-native startup and what skills become essential
- The “listening muscle” required to synthesise signals from customers, competitors, and tech developments in real-time
- Practical strategies for managing and sustaining teams through hypergrowth and hyper-fast work rhythms
- Why Leonardo embeds AI across everything from customer service to engineering and HR, and how they manage the complexity of using multiple different AI tools internally; and . . .
- Donna’s advice for professionals wanting to become more AI-fluent and free up time for deep work.
Whether you’re curious about life inside a cutting-edge AI company or looking for practical insights on adapting and leading in our rapidly changing work environment, this conversation offers a rare glimpse into how a world-leading AI-native organisation is managing these challenges and opportunities.
Enjoy this episode!
Useful Links
