On this episode of Powered by Battery, we chat with Max Schireson, a Battery executive-in-residence who previously served as the CEO of open-source database company MongoDB.

After growing up in a tent in Canada (his parents were hippies), Max followed a fairly non-traditional path to the CEO suite. He also has some interesting stories to tell about working with Oracle founder Larry Ellison—including searching for the Oracle chief’s glasses in the Pacific Ocean. Max also discusses managing work-family balance, the future of artificial intelligence and the potential antitrust implications of some recent industry moves in cloud computing.