According to various media reports, Atlassian co-founder and billionaire CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes told employees via pre-recorded video message last week that the firm would eliminate 150 employees from its workforce. According to a Sky News story, the message was delivered early on July 30 and showed the 45-year-old software tycoon speaking from what looked to be his home office while casually wearing a faded green hoodie.
Cannon-Brookes’ Video Message Raises Eyebrows
According to the story, Cannon-Brookes clarified in the video that the corporation was moving towards a new innovative business strategy, which included the elimination of some roles. However, other employees found the impersonal delivery to be more startling.
According to Sky News, affected employees were only notified via email of their fate and were apparently forced to wait an additional fifteen minutes after the video to find out if they were among those being let go. According to the report, impacted staff members were locked out of their laptops in the hours that followed.
Response from Atlassian
In an exclusive email interaction with Startuptalky, Atlassian spokesperson stated, “We have made the hard decision to let a small cohort of customer service and support (CSS) employees go. We made this decision after implementing improvements to the customer experience across our platform and tools, resulting in a significant reduction in support needs. While we’re proud of this momentum, it leaves us with more capacity than needed to deliver strong customer support. These improvements include reducing the time spent on support tickets with more efficient ways to route work to the right experts who can resolve issues more quickly, better identification and resolution of error codes and more.”
Further clearing the romours on replacing human workforce with AI, spkoesperson added, “The aforementioned roles are not being replaced by AI. For each impacted employee, we’re providing a generous severance package, healthcare benefits for them and their families, six months access to our EAP and mental health services, visa support if needed, internal mobility and outplacement services.”
Jet Purchase, Billionaire Status Draw Criticism
Reaction to Atlassian’s layoffs has come from both inside and outside the organisation, especially in light of Cannon-Brookes’ questionable investments and substantial personal wealth—estimated at $13.9 billion. The CEO has been actively investing in renewable energy projects, such as an underwater cable project connecting Darwin to Singapore to export solar energy, at the same time that the decision to eliminate jobs in favour of AI was made.
However, his recent purchase of a gas-guzzling private jet in March has drawn harsh criticism, according to a Sky News report. As per the report, Cannon-Brookes justified his contentious purchase of a $75 million long-range jet, the Bombardier 7500, back in March by claiming on LinkedIn that it enables him to be a “present dad” while managing a multinational company.
According to the report, he acknowledged that the action presented ethical concerns, saying, “I’m not denying I have a deep internal conflict on this.”
The CEO provided justification by stating, “I bought a jet for a few reasons. According to the Sky News story, “Personal security is the main reason (an unfortunate reality of my world), but I also want to be able to run a global business from Australia and still be a constantly present dad.”
Farquhar: AI is ‘Essential for the Future’
According to the media reports, the layoffs occurred right after Scott Farquhar, Atlassian’s other co-founder, spoke at the National Press Club of Australia and hailed artificial intelligence as crucial for the future.
First, according to Farquhar, most people don’t consider the source of their power or water, nor do they consider the origin of artificial intelligence (AI) or the AI they use on a daily basis on their phones. He went on to say that the construction of data centres for the area is booming, and that the use of AI in daily life is also booming.
He emphasised that everyone should use AI on a regular basis for as many purposes as possible. He stated that, similar to any new technology, it will be uncomfortable to use at first, but every businessperson, business leader, government leader, and bureaucrat should be utilising it.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Atlassian.
Imagine the following: It’s 2002, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man is now in theatres, the term “Facebook” has no meaning, and smartphones are nothing more than futuristic gizmos. However, two recent college grads in South Wales, Australia, are probably chugging a few drinks, unwilling to dress up for a job they don’t want to get up for, and in the middle of it all, a startup concept is simmering. Mind you, back then, startups were hardly household names in the US, much less in Australia.
College friends turned business partners, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar founded Atlassian, a company that the Sydney Morning Herald referred to as “a tech giant nobody understands” just a few years ago. It was founded in an aspect of the market that was scarce in Australia at the time, and to top it all off, what it produced wasn’t particularly ‘sellable,’ as some may put it.
At present, Atlassian has more than 10 offices worldwide, employs over 7,000 people, and serves more than 200,000 clients. Today, 83% of Fortune 500 firms use Atlassian’s products. Because its history defies what you may refer to as “regular,” we might like to think of Atlassian as the Forrest Gump of startups.
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, many businesses now operate online. This is made feasible by digital remote work tools, and one of the most popular tools used by businesses is project management software. Atlassian is a company that has made remote working more convenient and interesting.
Here’s the success story of Atlassian that covers all about the company, the Startup Story and Growth, its Products, its Competitors, its Revenue, its Business and Revenue Model, and more, you can check ahead!
Atlassian is a technology company based in Australia that creates tools for software engineers, project managers, and other application development projects. The corporation has its legal residence in the UK, its international headquarters in Sydney, Australia, and its US headquarters in San Francisco.
For teams, Atlassian is a dominant producer of software for communication, development, and ticket management. They are extending the collaboration power with solutions including Jira, Jira Service Desk, Jira Ops, Confluence, Bitbucket, Trello, and more.
The organisation is on a journey to unlock the power of every team thanks to its authentic principles, incredible culture, and steady revenue progress. Jira, a project-tracking platform that supports software teams in addressing internal issues and evaluating progress, is the product for which Atlassian is best remembered. HipChat, which enables employees to talk anonymously and in groups, and Confluence, a platform that makes it simpler for teams to collaborate, share projects, and communicate across both mobile and desktop devices, and Stride, a new workplace communication tool developed by the corporation, enables teams to interact effectively and achieve their goals as a group, are some other products of Atlassian.
In addition to having over 2,000 plugins for developers, Atlassian has over 200,000 customers, 7,000+ employees globally, and a commitment to contributing 1% of company ownership and profit to charity.
Atlassian – Industry
In 2021, the project management software market generated US$5,359.6 million in sales. The project management software market is anticipated to reach $20,420.6 million in revenue by 2032, expanding at a CAGR of 13.1% between 2022 and 2032.
Nearly 35% of sales in the whole business process optimization industry are presently made by software for project management. Using a set of integrated tools like task management, collaboration tools, budget management, and document management that are highly customizable based on enterprise business requirements, project management software incorporates features like planning, working collaboratively, supervising, and delivering a project.
The market is anticipated to grow significantly in the upcoming years as businesses use automated project management software to carry out fundamental project management duties and functions automatically.
In addition, all businesses, regardless of their size, are constantly utilising the advantages of enterprise project management to enhance productivity, increased communication, raise project quality, and lower total budget estimates.
Mike Cannon-Brookes – Co-founder and Co-CEO of Atlassian
Mike Cannon-Brookes is the co-founder and co-CEO of Atlassian, a collaboration software startup that assists teams in organising, debating, and completing shared work.
Mike is a board member of Zoox and a technology investor outside of Atlassian, with interests in software, finance, agriculture, and energy. He is a board member of Room to Read and has a solid commitment to giving back. Mike, a fervent advocate for sustainable energy, played a key role in the “Fair Dinkum Power” movement as well as Australia acquiring the largest lithium-ion battery in the world.
He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Information Technology from the University of New South Wales in Australia and works as an adjunct professor there in the School of Computer Science and Engineering.
Scott Farquhar- Co-founder and Co-CEO of Atlassian
The co-founder and co-CEO of Atlassian, Scott Farquhar, is a developer of collaboration tools that aid teams in planning, debating, and completing shared work. A corporate philanthropy initiative called Pledge 1%, which aims to make the community a significant shareholder in every firm, was launched in 2015 with Scott’s assistance.
Along with co-founder and co-CEO, Mike Cannon-Brookes, Scott received the Ernst & Young award for “Australian Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2006 as the youngest recipient ever. The Australian Financial Review recognised Scott and Mike Cannon-Brookes’s “Australian Business Person of the Year” in 2016, and Forbes included them on their list of “Global Game Changers” in 2017.
Outside of Atlassian, Scott co-founded Skip Capital. This private investment fund concentrates on rapidly expanding technology firms and has a special interest in the nexus between big data and health. Scott graduated from the Australian University of New South Wales with a BSc in Business Information Technology.
Atlassian – Startup Story
We are all aware of startups in the year 2020. If you don’t work for one or have a close buddy who does, you’re living under a rock. However, when university grads Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar established Atlassian in 2002, the reaction they got from other tempting offers wasn’t as common. And it was virtually unheard of in Australia, a nation that was reluctant to catch on to the digital revolution.
Like many strong friendships, Mike and Scott’s cooperation began in college. At the University of New South Wales in 1998, they were both enrolled on the same scholarship fund. They formed an intellectual and ambitious friendship and collaboration. They were required to join one of the Australian corporations funding the programme, much like the rest of the program’s students.
Instead, they developed Atlassian.
The majority of startups receive funding from cash that is sought out from outside investors. After all, venture capital now constitutes a separate business. Scott and Mike decided against going in that direction.
They borrowed money to pay for their endeavour; $10,000 of it was put on credit cards. The majority of people who incur large amounts of credit card debt do not emerge as ground-breaking billionaires, but they have demonstrated that they are not typical of most people, much as Atlassian has distinguished itself from the majority of businesses.
This also applies to the way they promoted their new product. Instead of having a large sales team, Atlassian relies on online sales. Going to developer meetings and buying them beer with an Atlassian sticker on the bottle was the first marketing tactic.
Their marketing approach depended on offering a high-quality product at a competitive price and positive customer reviews. And it succeeded. That stayed the case when Atlassian took off. Even now, Atlassian only spent 19% of revenue on sales and marketing, a much lower percentage than other software businesses in a comparable position.
The name Atlassian is derived from the Greek mythological figure Atlas, a titan destined to hold up the heavens or sky forever.
The Atlassian logo represents two folks giving each other a high-five, a mountain that is ready for teams to climb, or even the letter A made up of two pillars supporting one another.
Atlassian’s mission statement says, “Atlassian believes in the power of teamwork. Behind every great human achievement, there is a team. From medicine and space travel to disaster response and pizza deliveries, our products help teams all over the planet advance humanity through the power of software. Our mission is to help unleash the potential of every team.”
Atlassian – Products
The following Atlassian-owned and operated products are included in the Atlassian product family, together with any associated web applications and mobile applications:
Atlassian Cloud Products
Jira Software
Jira Service Management
Jira Work Management
Confluence
Bitbucket
Atlassian Access
Atlassian Cloud Apps
Trello
Trello Power-Ups
Statuspage
Halp
Jira Align
Opsgenie
Atlassian Server / Data Center Products
Jira Software
Jira Service Management
Jira Work Management
Confluence
Bitbucket
Analytics for Confluence app (Data Center)
Crowd
Automation for Jira (Server and Data Center) and Icons for Jira (Server)
Its solutions may be utilised in many ways across various business activities within the same company since Atlassian has a mass market business model with a multi-sided market. The majority of its consumer segments reflect specific business operations rather than sectors. The firm has benefited from this by creating software ecosystems for different business segments, each of which represents a unique business function.
IT (JIRA Software, IRA Service Desk, Confluence, HipChat) – The JIRA suite, which includes JIRA Software and JIRA Service Desk, enables IT, teams to swiftly respond to the needs of their organisation by maintaining effective feedback channels (through the Service Desk) and enabling efficient and managed workflows (through the Software).
Marketing (JIRA Core, Confluence, HipChat) – Marketing teams may handle data and marketing materials using the company’s project management tools, such as JIRA Core and Confluence.
Legal (JIRA Core, Confluence, HipChat) – JIRA Core enables legal teams to produce and manage legal materials, such as contracts and policies, and Confluence can be used to share these materials.
Finance (JIRA Core, Confluence, HipChat) – JIRA Core is used to handle financial activities including procurement and financial reporting by some of the top financial institutions in the world.
Software (JIRA Software, BitBucket, Bamboo, Confluence, HipChat) – JIRA Software, the company’s main product offering, is designed to speed up software development. A few of the company’s other products, such as Bamboo and Bitbucket, are especially geared toward programmers and software engineers.
Atlassian – Revenue Model
Direct online sales through Atlassian’s website are the company’s only sales channel. It spends only 15% to 20% of its income on sales and marketing and lacks a sales force. Contrast this with the typical average of over 100% of sales spent by IT companies on marketing expenses during the first few years following an IPO.
Atlassian’s primary method of customer assistance is self-service; the website offers a variety of self-help resources, such as product manuals and live training. Additionally, it relies on the community by maintaining an experts programme that allows independent expert partners to sign up to help Atlassian clients while promoting their goods or services, as well as by providing a community Q&A forum where users can post questions that can be answered by other users or by Atlassian’s staff.
For individualised help, Atlassian provides enterprise support services that charge a fee and enable technical account management through direct contact with top engineers within the business.
The development and upkeep of an integrated platform that clients may utilise for a range of business operations is Atlassian’s primary activity.
The founders haven’t become less grounded as a result of their success. Within the first four years of operation, the Atlassian Foundation was established along with a commitment to contribute 1% of business profits, employee time, and stock to charitable organizations.
Mike, the founder, has personally donated USD 350 million to groups working to combat climate change. He aspires to be more than just a successful philanthropist and is convinced that Australian businesses must put sustainability at the forefront of their strategies going forward. Given how quickly infrastructures are developing, he believes that those with the power to bring about meaningful change ought to acknowledge their obligation and seize control before it’s too late.
Human relationships have always been the most important thing to the founders. What their brand initially set out to be gradually evolved into an image with certain ideals at its heart that was presented during a meeting in the early days of the firm.
The notion of a community emerged from the principles that guided Atlassian’s gradual expansion. The business turned into a community-powered engine and became incredibly people-centric.
Stephanie, the Head of Global Community at Atlassian said in an interview, “If you don’t invest in things, you can’t expect them to do well. The reason that we’re successful now is that we put our money where our mouth is, and there’s actually an investment being made by the company.”
FAQs
What does Atlassian do?
Atlassian develops software that helps teams to work together more efficiently. It provides collaboration, development, and issue-tracking software to teams.
Who founded Atlassian?
Atlassian was founded in the year 2002 by Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar.
Is Atlassian a public company?
Atlassian went public in the year 2015 and is listed on NASDAQ as TEAM.
Is Jira owned by Atlassian?
Jira is an issue-tracking product, developed by Atlassian. It allows you to plan, track, and manage your agile and software development projects.
