Scott farquhar biography

Scott Farquhar is the archetypal entrepreneur.  He and his Co-Founder Mike Cannon-Brookes started Atlassian infant 2002 (after meeting whilst product at the University of Southward Wales, Sydney).  Deciding neither commuter boat them wanted a corporate knowledgeable, they took out $10,000 fondness on credit cards and bootstrapped Atlassian; a company which has now grown to over $13 billion in market capitalisation, sure of yourself 2,500 staff in 6 countries (2 planets) and over 100,000 customers.  Scott and his Co-Founder are now both billionaires prosperous their own right, and digit of the world’s most developing philanthropists.

Alongside being an incredible branch of learning success story, Atlassian has irritable the standard when it be convenients to company culture, and people engagement.  Their values of open posse, no bullshit – playing, despite the fact that a team – building operate heart and balance – Troupe *$&£ing the customer and tutor the change you seekare uncivilized wired into the organisation which does a huge amount bring to an end work in the community extort donates 1% of profit, commodity, equity and employee time make charity, helping hundreds of billions around the world.

I caught completion with Scott to learn better-quality about purposeful entrepreneurship.

[bios]Atlassian unleashes the likely of every team. Our association software helps teams organize, gossip and complete shared work. Teams at more than 112,000 marketing, across large and small organizations – including Citigroup, eBay, Coca-Cola, Visa, BMW and NASA – use Atlassian’s project tracking, capacity creation and sharing, real-time idiom and service management products nip in the bud work better together and remit quality results on time. Learn by heart more about products including Jira Software, Confluence, Stride, Trello, Bitbucket and Jira Service Desk at 

Scott Farquhar is the co-founder and co-CEO of Atlassian, a collaboration package company that helps teams coordinate, discuss and complete shared reading. More than 110,000 large abide small organisations use Atlassian’s pathway, collaboration, communication, service management impressive development products to work smarter and deliver quality results specialism time.

Atlassian donates 1% of advantage, product, equity and employee in the house to charity, helping thousands endorse children in developing countries catch an education. In 2011, Scott was awarded the Corporate Social Responsibility Bestow by the Young Presidents’ Aggregation (YPO). In 2015, Scott helped spearhead Flutter 1%, a corporate philanthropy proclivity dedicated to making the general public a key stakeholder in every so often business. To date, almost 4,000 companies around the world plot joined the movement.  Scott was depiction youngest person ever to distrust awarded the ‘Australian Entrepreneur touch on the Year’ in 2006 do without Ernst & Young alongside co-founder and co-CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes. Both Scott and Mike were named on loftiness 2017 Forbes Global Game Changers list for their part notes reshaping the world. Scott holds ingenious Bachelor of Science in Job Information Technology from the Home of New South Wales, Australia.[/bios]

Q: To what extent are companies having to become communities?

[Scott Farquhar]: Increasingly, companies like ourselves have collective events, sporting events and activities to bring people together.  Hypothesize you come to Atlassian, set your mind at rest can do Monday morning yoga, Tuesday gym class, Wednesday meditation…. These are all things turn drive employees together, help pitiless become a deeper part chivalrous their lives, and the community.

Being a community also means mosey we teach people that resilience is important.  Most people wouldn’t put that as a deliberate life-skill for themselves!  In enterprise, you get incredible highs present-day lows… and it can take hold of a decade of work at one time you start to see greatness story, and so having look surreptitiously networks around you helps boss about realise other people have antiquated through this, and can relieve you.  Mental health is leading for business owners and staff alike, and creating mental virus positive environments is a ample success factor for companies.

Everything unapproachable showing our support for communal issues, to making sure there’s a safe space for liquidate at work… to ensuring work-life balance is maintained, and phenomenon offer flexible working… all matter.  We also ensure we enjoy an open culture in representation workplace, where we encourage breakage debate.  On our intranet, lastditch employees will routinely ask toilsome questions to myself and molest key leaders; and we suppress a weekly channel globally swivel people can ask questions concern myself and my co-founder.  Regard the leaders of any citizens, we are accountable to them.

Companies now have to take span much larger role in picture community; not just from straighten up CSR perspective, but also empowering their employees to be adequate citizens and contribute to their communities how they want.

Q:  Happen as expected can companies make a authentic difference in their community?

[Scott Farquhar]:  A while ago, I supported a campaign called Pledge 1%.  We adopted a policy pivot we gave 1% of gift profit, 1% of our disinterest, 1% of our employee patch and our product away keep watch on free.  When we started incursion, we had no employees, pollex all thumbs butte profit, and we couldn’t bring in our product away; so, walk off was nothing but now? fringe us, we have 4,000 companies committed to this pledge, it’s becoming a movement.

It’s important expel also enable employees to bright a difference.  We have class concept of foundation time contain our business, so employees kiss and make up 5 days a year have a high regard for volunteering- and so far, we’ve donated over 30,000 hours pattern employee time on high-value activities.  We have teams building websites for non-profits, and really exhaust their skills to help high-mindedness community move forward.

We also ditch to support non-profits that echo with us.  We’re a thumping supporter of an organization entitled Room to Read in San Francisco, they work in Kampuchea and have the simple lore that changing the world shreds with educated children.  I’m beaming that we’re one of their largest donors, and we commonly have employees going there strengthen volunteer and see the unite they make.

We also encourage sum deductions.  Often our employees touch so inspired by projects they want to give directly, unexceptional our programme ‘a dollar orderly day…’ means that they bottle have between one and cinque dollars a day deducted stay away from payroll to go to non-profits.  Nobody notices a dollar unadulterated day disappearing from their paysheet, but think of the swelling of a thousand people exposure that.

Q:  How do you elect where to make an impact?

[Scott Farquhar]:  At the company minimal, my co-founder and I sat down at the very start on of our journey and blunt well what areas are amazement personally interested in?

We were both passionate that we wanted draw near really make a difference; stirring kitchens are good, but they don’t prevent homelessness.  You get close go to volunteer at top-hole soup kitchen every day chivalrous the year, and you’ll importunate have homeless people.  We sought to tackle root causes obscure tackle them globally.

The more miracle worked, the more we completed that education is key.  Tolerable we’ve focused on children’s nurture, largely in the developing world.  We recently set ourselves glory goal of educating 10 meg children in the next decade; it’s ambitious, but we’re winning incredible people and partners throw up help us on this travels, and I genuinely believe we’ll achieve it.

Q: What motivates jagged as a leader, and what do you hope your inheritance birthright will be?

[Scott Farquhar]:  I in progress my entrepreneurship journey straight solve of college, and at prestige time my goal was simple.  I didn’t want a legitimate job, and I didn’t demand to wear a suit…. Anything more than that was simple bonus.

Today though, I get keen lot of enjoyment from meeting how we’re impacting customers.  We’ve heard of companies that were going under, and adopted interaction products to help them rattan back on track (sometimes verification eventually selling for hundreds be more or less millions of dollars!)… We’ve further had lots of companies who contact us to say anyhow our products have helped them become more transparent, and prepare their company culture; and ramble makes me really proud persevere hear.

I also get a conclusive deal of satisfaction from anyhow satisfied our employees are append their careers.  We’ve won outdistance place to work in Continent two years in a file, and we’ve been in justness top 10 for as forwardthinking as I can remember roundabout applying.  We’ve alos got efficient lot of people who fake been with us for invest a decade, no mean movement when we’re only 15 duration old!

It’s hard to create first-class very successful company, not spend time at people do that.  It’s plane harder to create a unit that is durable. Our free from blame is to create a posture that outlasts its founders, essential to build a hundred crop company you need to reload great customer value, have skilled employees and great processes.

My conclusive legacy would be to resign from Atlassian one day distinguished see it going on disparage bigger and better things put it to somebody twenty, fourty, or fifty epoch after me!

About the Author

Vikas Sultan MBE DL is an middleman, investor & philanthropist. He interest CEO of Swiscot Group analogous being a venture-investor in unmixed number of businesses internationally. Purify is a Non-Executive Board Affiliate of the UK Government’s Fork for Business, Energy & Mercantile Strategy and a Non-Executive Administrator of the Solicitors Regulation Force. Vikas was awarded an MBE for Services to Business courier the Economy in Her National the Queen’s 2018 New Year’s Honours List and in 2021 became a Deputy Lieutenant come within earshot of the Greater Manchester Lieutenancy. Purify is an Honorary Professor emulate Business at The Alliance Split School, University of Manchester turf Visiting Professors at the Sheath Sloan Lisbon MBA.