Episode 47: The Atlassian IPO
Acquired7 Nov 2017

Episode 47: The Atlassian IPO

Ben & David venture to the land down under (and reunite in-person!) to tell the story of the granddaddy of all bootstrapped tech success stories, collaboration software company Atlassian. How did two plucky college grads from Sydney, Australia go from just trying to escape working for the man to becoming two of the top 10 wealthiest people in the entire country, all without raising a dollar of venture capital? We dive in.

Sponsors:


More Acquired!

© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC


Topics Covered Include:

  • How Atlassian founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar met in college at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and their decision to bootstrap a startup as an alternative to finding a “real job” after graduation
  • Atlassian’s “no sales” model, and the resultant efficiency of their sales & marketing spend relative to other SAAS companies
  • Organic product growth and acquisitions over the years, starting with Jira and later adding Confluence, BitBucket, HipChat / Stride, Jira Service Desk and Trello
  • Rapid revenue growth and the decision to continue as a bootstrapped company, only raising secondary capital prior to going public
  • The IPO in November 2015 and subsequent stock performance (spoiler: it’s been good)

The Carve Out:

Episoder(212)

FTX (with Sam Bankman-Fried & Mario Gabriele)

FTX (with Sam Bankman-Fried & Mario Gabriele)

Note: This episode was published on Dec 14, 2021, approximately a year before FTX’s subsequent meltdown. The apparent negligence, fraud and self-dealing at FTX has given us much to reflect on after we...

15 Des 20211h 37min

7 Powers with Hamilton Helmer

7 Powers with Hamilton Helmer

You've heard us talk about him every episode for the past two years... but until now most of you have never actually heard us talk to him! We've remastered our first, canonical interview with Hamilton...

8 Des 20211h 4min

Not Boring (with Packy McCormick)

Not Boring (with Packy McCormick)

When does a creator become a company? Who says that media companies — or venture firms — have to be organizations? How high is the ceiling on one person + the internet? Acquired has the answers and th...

3 Des 20212h 48min

Complexity Investing & Semiconductors (with NZS Capital)

Complexity Investing & Semiconductors (with NZS Capital)

Of our 65+ sources for the TSMC episode, one stood above the rest: a wonderful Knowledge Project episode with Brinton Johns and Jon Bathgate of NZS Capital laying out the state of the semiconductor ma...

3 Nov 20211h 44min

Standard Oil Part II

Standard Oil Part II

We bring the epic saga of Standard Oil and John D. Rockefeller to a close (for now) with two of history's greatest second acts: Rockefeller's pioneering of modern philanthropy (and really modern life ...

18 Okt 20212h 23min

Michael Mauboussin Master Class — Moats, Skill, Luck, Decision Making and a Whole Lot More

Michael Mauboussin Master Class — Moats, Skill, Luck, Decision Making and a Whole Lot More

We sit down with the one & only Michael Mauboussin to dive deep into his incredible body of work: untangling skill and luck, measuring moats, persistence of returns in venture capital, decision making...

5 Okt 20211h 25min

Standard Oil Part I

Standard Oil Part I

It's time. We dive into the *original* American capitalist mega winner, Standard Oil, and its legendary founder John D. Rockefeller. This company and man almost defy characterization -- Elon, Bezos, G...

22 Sep 20212h 15min

TSMC

TSMC

It's time. We dive into the unbelievable history behind the quietest technology giant of them all — and as of recording the world's 9th (!) most valuable company — the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturi...

7 Sep 20212h 35min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
dine-penger-pengeradet
e24-podden
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
finansredaksjonen
pengepodden-2
utbytte
rss-sunn-okonomi
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
pengesnakk
lederpodden
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen
okonomiamatorene
rss-heftye-moter-flinke-folk
rss-markedspuls-2
rss-fa-makro