{"id":39501,"date":"2023-10-20T15:02:54","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/mike-cannon-brookes-shares-three-vital-startup-lessons-from-atlassians-577-million-acquisition-of-trello-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:02:54","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:02:54","slug":"mike-cannon-brookes-shares-three-vital-startup-lessons-from-atlassians-577-million-acquisition-of-trello-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/mike-cannon-brookes-shares-three-vital-startup-lessons-from-atlassians-577-million-acquisition-of-trello-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Cannon-Brookes shares three vital startup lessons from Atlassian’s $577 million acquisition of Trello – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mike<\/div>\n

This week, Atlassian unveiled its eighteenth acquisition with a $US425 million ($577.8 million) deal to bring global productivity app Trello into its family<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After just five years\u2014in the eyes of many startups\u2014Trello has made it.<\/p>\n

With 18 acquisitions under Atlassian’s belt, co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes says successful acquisitions boil down to two crucial things: an outstanding product and an outstanding team.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll technology is made by people,\u201d he tells StartupSmart.<\/em><\/p>\n

On top of this, he says, having the right fit in terms of business model, mission, values and culture is critical.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can have phenomenally talented teams with different cultures and value sets\u2014that can lead to some pretty big clashes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Here are three vital\u00a0lessons from Atlassian\u2019s latest acquisition.<\/p>\n

1. A great product isn\u2019t enough<\/h3>\n

\u201c[Trello\u2019s] a phenomenal product, it\u2019s got great momentum, we used it a lot at work,\u201d\u00a0says Cannon-Brookes.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhenomenal products are usually built by a phenomenal team.”<\/p>\n

But it took something more to inspire Atlassian to fork out more than half a billion dollars for the productivity app.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere [Trello] want to go in the future is very aligned with where we want to go,” he says.<\/p>\n

Before any two companies join forces, Cannon-Brookes says this alignment must be clear.<\/p>\n

“There will always be disagreements, that’s natural [but] are you\u00a0trying to change the world in the same way?”<\/p>\n

2. Don\u2019t be fooled by big money<\/h3>\n

Cannon-Brookes says many startups open themselves up to exploitation when blindsided by dollar signs.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot making it a sales process for entrepreneurs is a really tricky thing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Startups] being acquired is no different to raising money. You need to be very rational.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t understand the position of the person on the other end of table, it\u2019s probably going to end in tears.\u201d<\/p>\n

So before anything is signed away, Cannon-Brookes says it\u2019s vital that both parties spend plenty of time with each other and are comfortable with the major changes, including to\u00a0existing product and employees, that may take place should a merger or acquisition proceed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very wary of selling someone on a dream,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spend a lot of time working with both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Is selling out really where your vision ends?<\/h3>\n

While many startups see the path to acquisition as a successful exit<\/a>, it\u2019s important to consider whether you can go bigger and greater than that.<\/p>\n

Some may consider mergers and acquisitions to be \u201cthe natural order of things\u201d in the technology and startup sectors, but it begs the question: how far can this really go?<\/p>\n

Read more: We\u2019ve mistaken \u201cthe rise of unicorns\u201d as a sign of good innovation<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

In Facebook’s early days, Mark Zuckerberg turned down a $US1 billion offer <\/a>from Yahoo, which cost him his entire management team at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a couple of years in, and we had 10 million people using the product at the time, so it wasn\u2019t as if it were obvious that we were going to succeed,\u201d Zuckerberg said in an interview with Y Combinator.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was really stressful because a lot of people really thought that we should sell the company \u2026 For them, they joined, and being able to sell a company for a billion dollars after a couple years, that was like a home run.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Zuckerberg believed in the company\u2019s mission and it went far deeper than a lump sum.<\/p>\n

A clear purpose and mission has helped Atlassian to become one of Australia\u2019s startup success stories.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone in technology gets approaches \u2026 it never really made sense to us,\u201d Cannon-Brookes says.<\/p>\n

He says it\u2019s important that founders think rationally, pragmatically and strategically when lucrative offers are thrown on the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been internally very clear on our mission,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em>\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0and iTunes<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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