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It all started with a $10,000 limit on a credit card. 15 years later, university friends Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar are Australiaโs most successful tech entrepreneurs, and their company,ย Atlassian,ย is worth over $7 billion.ย
Atlassian, which develops software that helps manage projects and teams, now has more than 800 employees across the world with offices in Sydney, San Fransisco and Amsterdam. Over 60,000 customers, including giants like Tesla, Amazon, P&G and Coca-Cola, use their software. Farquhar oversees ยญengineering and research, whilst Cannon-Brookes looks after product design, sales and marketing.ย ย
However, it wasnโt all smooth sailing for the business, and the success ofย Atlassianย is a direct result of the foundersโ unwavering vision and grit.
The company was bootstrapped for the first eight years โ meaning, no money was raised in that time. Atlassian was profitable and growing rapidly, however any profits made were retained to invest back into the business. Mike and Scottโs major break came in their ninth year of business when US venture capital company, Accel Partners, invested $60 million to grow Atlassian. Since, itโs been uphill from there, however if the pair gave up when times were tough, they never wouldโve reaped the success which they enjoy today.
The pair made sure to engage their visions early on.
Image Source: www.fortune.com
The cofounders continue to stretch and challenge themselves, and push their comfort zones daily. Through embodying these behaviours, Atlassian had one of 2015โs most successful IPOs (Initial Public Offering) โ where they floated the company on the NASDAQ (US stock exchange) and became the biggest, and most successful float of an Australian form on a US market. Without eventually hardwiring these behaviours through training their brains daily, Atlassian would not be the success that it is today.
