Atlassian: Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar

How I Built This · 8 Feb 2021 · 1h 12m

What this episode covers

Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, co-founders of Atlassian, explain how they pivoted from a failed tech support service to building Jira, a project management tool that became a $50 billion enterprise. They discuss their early days in Sydney, Australia, where lack of venture capital forced them to build a product-led, self-serve business model and use guerrilla marketing tactics like leaving flyers at conferences. The founders also detail their unique leadership approach, including using rock-paper-scissors to resolve disputes and their decision to remain independent despite acquisition offers.

Mentioned

Companies
Atlassian, Blink, Bay Networks, Nortel Networks, IBM, PWC, ASX, Shopify, U.S. Bank
Products
Jira, Bookmark Box, Dropbox, Slack

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