Sharing the way to success
AUTHOR: Mike Butler DATE: 06.09.07 ISSUE 1, 2007
When NASA, Deutsche Bank, Boeing and BMW need information-sharing systems they look to Atlassian, the company founded by alumni Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar.
Five years ago, fresh out of UNSW, a pair of 22-year-olds had the sort of idea that makes a corporate analyst cough up their Corn Flakes; to start a business based on software they were yet to create, with $1,000 collateral from a credit card loan.
| Mike Cannon-Brookes (left), pictured with Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar, says UNSW's emphasis on working in groups taught him the importance of hiring the right people. |
Five years on, with more than 7,000 customers in 65 countries, 100 employees on three continents, no debt and the benefit of hindsight, it’s clear Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar had more than a wild idea.
Their company, Atlassian, built on wikis – the new information-sharing Internet tool that captures collective wisdom – has consistently doubled or tripled its revenue annually, with FY06 revenue of $US12.2 million.
As UNSW Business Information Systems Co-op scholars, both Cannon-Brookes and Farquhar worked in a range of companies while studying, and it was during this time they realised project management systems for software developers weren’t up to scratch. "Everything was either too expensive or didn’t work,” Mr Cannon-Brookes says. So they developed Jira, a program that allows developers to share information and send status reports to stakeholders, which they sent free to other developers. It was so good it was embraced by entire organisations.
Not long after, Atlassian built its blockbuster product; Confluence, a knowledge-sharing tool for teams in large companies, and today NASA, Boeing, Citibank, BMW, and hundreds of corporations use their products.
The company’s business plan has stuck to basic principles; make excellent software, price it to make it widely available, be open with customers and, from that, the product essentially sells itself.
So did UNSW play any part in their success? Mr Cannon-Brookes insists the University’s emphasis on working in groups “was incredibly frustrating” but taught them the importance of hiring the right people.
The pair maintains its links with the Australian School of Business, lecturing for the IS (Information Systems) degree and sponsoring about 12 Co-op students a year. This makes good business sense. "We know the type of person who is on the program, they’re smart and have energy, and it gives us an entry into the student market. We’ve gone on to hire about half of them."
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