Atlassian
Atlassian: Supporting the World with Legendary Service
Dr. Tatiana Zalan, University of South Australia, Olga Muzychenko, University of Adelaide and Sam Burshtein, Swinburne University of Technology prepared this case solely as the basis for class discussion, rather than to illustrate an effective or ineffective handling of a business situation. The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of Carl Hedberg of Babson College who collected the interview and other data in 2006. In late February 2009, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, co-founders of Atlassian Software, a global technology company, were sipping beer on the deck of their office in downtown Sydney. Only days ago Mike was chosen by the World Economic Forum from a world-wide pool of 5,000 candidates as one of the 230 Young Global Leaders for his professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world. Mike and Scott, both in their late 20s, had all the reasons to feel proud that their efforts had been validated. Starting in 2002 as a consulting business, the founders, then fresh IT graduates, soon realised that they needed an issue and task tracking tool enabling them to manage their own consulting projects effectively. JIRA, Atlassian‘s first product, was soon to be followed by several other team collaboration products. By 2009, Atlassian had become one of Australia‘s fastest growing technology ventures, had revenues of $35 million (nearly all of them outside Australia), in excess of 15,000 customers in some 110 countries and nearly 200 employees worldwide, with offices in Sydney, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Kuala Lumpur and Poland. Throughout the years Atlassian remained highly profitable and privately owned with no institutional or venture capital investment and spent 40% of its revenues on R&D. The company was equally well known for its transparent, vibrant and informal, yet highly professional culture. It received a sweep of
Dr. Tatiana Zalan, University of South Australia, Olga Muzychenko, University of Adelaide and Sam Burshtein, Swinburne University of Technology prepared this case solely as the basis for class discussion, rather than to illustrate an effective or ineffective handling of a business situation. The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of Carl Hedberg of Babson College who collected the interview and other data in 2006. In late February 2009, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, co-founders of Atlassian Software, a global technology company, were sipping beer on the deck of their office in downtown Sydney. Only days ago Mike was chosen by the World Economic Forum from a world-wide pool of 5,000 candidates as one of the 230 Young Global Leaders for his professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world. Mike and Scott, both in their late 20s, had all the reasons to feel proud that their efforts had been validated. Starting in 2002 as a consulting business, the founders, then fresh IT graduates, soon realised that they needed an issue and task tracking tool enabling them to manage their own consulting projects effectively. JIRA, Atlassian‘s first product, was soon to be followed by several other team collaboration products. By 2009, Atlassian had become one of Australia‘s fastest growing technology ventures, had revenues of $35 million (nearly all of them outside Australia), in excess of 15,000 customers in some 110 countries and nearly 200 employees worldwide, with offices in Sydney, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Kuala Lumpur and Poland. Throughout the years Atlassian remained highly profitable and privately owned with no institutional or venture capital investment and spent 40% of its revenues on R&D. The company was equally well known for its transparent, vibrant and informal, yet highly professional culture. It received a sweep of