This edition is brought to you by Gamma

Good morning to all new and old readers! Here is your Saturday edition of Faster Than Normal, exploring the stories, ideas, and frameworks of the world’s most prolific people and companies—and how you can apply them to build businesses, wealth, and the most important asset of all: yourself. 

Today, we’re covering Atlassian and their journey to transforming the software industry with innovative products, a unique business model, and a commitment to empowering teams worldwide.

If you enjoy this, feel free to forward along to a friend or colleague who might too. First time reading? Sign up here.

What you’ll learn:

• How Atlassian’s unique approach led to global success

• Lessons on buck convention, making big bets early, and opening up your platform

Cheers,

Alex

P.S. Send me feedback on how we can improve. We want to be worthy of your time. I respond to every email.

Atlassian

In 2002, two Australian university students, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, started a company with $10,000 in credit card debt. They weren't in a Silicon Valley garage, but a shared house in Sydney.

"We had a hunch early on that sales people break software companies," Cannon-Brookes once said. This insight led to their unique business model: no sales team, just great products sold directly online.

Their first product, Jira, was born out of frustration with existing bug-tracking software. They built it, priced it competitively, and waited. The wait wasn't long. One morning, they woke up to find an order from American Airlines on their fax machine.

"Did you talk to them?" "No, did you?" They looked at each other in disbelief. "Holy shit! American Airlines saw Jira on our website and bought it just like that!"

But success wasn't instant. They faced skepticism from potential mentors and investors. "Almost everyone we spoke to would say well done, but you can't sustain that and grow without sales people," Cannon-Brookes recalled.

The turning point came in 2010 when they secured a $60 million investment from Accel Partners. This was no ordinary deal. Farquhar emphasized, "They shared Atlassian's values and our founders' point of view on how to lead a company, and wouldn't ask us to upend our model or our culture."

With funding secured, Atlassian expanded rapidly. They acquired Bitbucket in 2010, launched Atlassian Marketplace in 2012, and went public in 2015 with a market cap of $5.8 billion.

But growth brought challenges. In 2012, they faced high employee turnover. "We were doing everything. There were fires burning all over the place all the time," Cannon-Brookes admitted.

They overcame this by doubling down on their values and culture. "We want to build a 50-year company. Going public is one step on that journey," Farquhar stated.

Today, Atlassian serves over 260,000 customers worldwide and generates over $3.5 billion in annual revenue. Their market cap has soared to over $40 billion.

But for Cannon-Brookes and Farquhar, success isn't just about numbers. "Atlassian exists to unleash the potential in every team," they declare.

There aren’t many products that feel like magic when you first use them.

But Gamma passes with flying colours. 

I used Gamma to create a full pitch deck based on my website in < 1 minute:

My favourite parts:

1. Generate images directly in your presentations—no more scouring the web for what to include

2. Instantly redesign, colour, and style your entire presentation

3. Chat directly with your presentation to make finicky changes

The future looks fun with Gamma.

Lessons

Lesson 1: Don't be afraid to buck convention. Atlassian chose not to have a sales team, which was unheard of for enterprise software. They relied on word-of-mouth and a self-service model. Scott Farquhar recalled, "Almost everyone we spoke to would say well done, but you can't sustain that and grow without sales people." They proved the naysayers wrong. Sometimes, the best way to succeed is to ignore what everyone else is doing.

Lesson 2: Make big bets early. Atlassian learned the hard way that timing is crucial in tech. When they acquired HipChat, they didn't go all-in immediately. "We didn't go big on group chat right away and, in retrospect, we should have," Cannon-Brookes admitted. By the time they pivoted to build Stride, Slack had already dominated the market. Don't be afraid to make big bets early. The cost of being too late is often higher than the cost of being too early.

Lesson 3: Open up your platform. Atlassian created a marketplace for third-party apps, turning their products into platforms. This move made their products more valuable and created a whole ecosystem of developers building on top of them. It's a win-win: customers get more functionality, and Atlassian gets a cut of the sales. As Cannon-Brookes put it, "We built a legal and finance framework and offered a native licensing system, payment, invoicing, taxes, subscription renewals, etc. so developers could focus on the things they love, like building great plugins."

Lesson 4: Be transparent, even when it's uncomfortable. In 2016, Atlassian released their first diversity report, even though their numbers weren't great. They did it because of their value of "open company, no bullshit." Cannon-Brookes explained, "By sharing our data publicly, we were holding ourselves accountable." This transparency has helped build trust with employees and customers alike. Sometimes, admitting your flaws can be a strength.

Further Readings

• Scott Farquhar - Wikipedia

• Work Life by Atlassian - Unleashing the potential of all teams with insights

• Connecting business strategy to development reality - Atlassian

• Atlassian: Analysis and strategic recommendation (PDF)

• 20 years of Atlassian, 20 lessons learned

• How to build a company culture that sets you apart - Atlassian

• Company Culture Collection - Work Life by Atlassian

That’s all for today, folks. As always, please give me your feedback. Which section is your favourite? What do you want to see more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know.

Have a wonderful rest of week, all.

Recommendation Zone

⎯

There aren’t many products that feel like magic when you first use them.

But Gamma passes with flying colours. 

I used Gamma to create a full pitch deck based on my website in < 1 minute:

My favourite parts:

1. Generate images directly in your presentations—no more scouring the web for what to include

2. Instantly redesign, colour, and style your entire presentation

3. Chat directly with your presentation to make finicky changes

The future looks fun with Gamma.

---

Alex Brogan

Find me on X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok

Offshore Talent: Where to find the best offshore talent. Powered by Athyna.

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