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Atlassian sold $320M worth of software with no sales staff

bloomberg.com

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Re: Atlassian sold $320M worth of software with no sales staff

#11

Post by aresant »

This is one of Atlassian's go to PR pieces - here's one example a year, you can find multiple:

- April 2014 "Australian tech company Atlassian valued at $3.5 billion despite having no sales staff" (1)

- August 2015 "Atlassian ignored bad advice, avoided sales staff and grew fast" (2)

- February 2016 "How Atlassian built a $4.4 billion business without sales staff" (3)

And while it's true that they have a different sales "culture" I wonder if the people they interviewing for Head of Sales Ops, Loyalty Advocacy, and Field Enablement may consider themselves salespeople?

"Head of Sales Ops" - https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/131036087

"Loyalty Advocate" AKA "Sales Retention" - https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/136717830

"Head of Field Enablement" - https://www.smartrecruiters.com/Atlassian/92170329

(1) Australian tech company Atlassian valued at $3.5 billion despite having no sales staff

(2) http://www.afr.com/technology/startup-war-story-atlassian-ig...

(3) http://www.sugarux.co/blog/how-atlassian-built-a-44-billion-...

Re: Atlassian sold $320M worth of software with no sales staff

#13

Post by cialowicz »

Atlassian does have a sales team, but it's an external one, their "Experts"[1]. These companies get a cut of each Atlassian license sold, and also charge for setup, configuration, and custom add-on development. Personally, I think it's a brilliant strategy... external, technical salespeople!

[1]: https://www.atlassian.com/resources/partnerList

Re: Atlassian sold $320M worth of software with no sales staff

#15

Post by madeofpalk »

stevebmark wrote: post #2

Atlassian has a sales staff. Atlassian has a sales staff. Atlassian has a sales staff. Atlassian employs many people whose job it is to be on the phone all day with potential customers. This is just marketing. Take it with a grain of salt.

Of course Atlasssian has a sales team.

They have quite a big sales team and 'evangelists/consultants' that will come out to you, give you nerf guns and convince you to buy more Atlasssian products. Hell, when they caught wind that our company ditched Hipchat for Slack, they were over the next day to find out why and how they could get us back.

Of course Atlasssian has a sales team.

Re: Atlassian sold $320M worth of software with no sales staff

#16

Post by md224 »

stevebmark wrote: post #2

Atlassian has a sales staff. Atlassian has a sales staff. Atlassian has a sales staff. Atlassian employs many people whose job it is to be on the phone all day with potential customers. This is just marketing. Take it with a grain of salt.

> This is just marketing.

I mean... if your assertions are true, this seems more like "straight-up lying."

Re: Atlassian sold $320M worth of software with no sales staff

#18

Post by cowmix »

cialowicz wrote: post #13

Atlassian does have a sales team, but it's an external one, their "Experts"[1]. These companies get a cut of each Atlassian license sold, and also charge for setup, configuration, and custom add-on development. Personally, I think it's a brilliant strategy... external, technical salespeople! [1]: https://www.atlassian.com/resources/partnerList

As a "Platinum Expert" I can tell you our sales are a fraction or a fraction Atlassian's total sales.

Re: Atlassian sold $320M worth of software with no sales staff

#19

Post by maroonblazer »

trjordan wrote: post #10

They don't have a sales team, but don't think for a minute they don't have humans helping out. They invest heavily in their customers success, and they do this by hiring people to talk to the customers. Yes, on the phone, and sometimes even in person. They're closely in touch with how to sell to developers, and one of the best ways to drop the idea of big-up-front sales. If you can get one small zero-friction sale, t…

>They might not be called sales, but there are people at Atlassian who's primary job it is to talk to people and sell them software.

And we're through the looking glass...

Re: Atlassian sold $320M worth of software with no sales staff

#20

Post by dublinben »

cialowicz wrote: post #13

Atlassian does have a sales team, but it's an external one, their "Experts"[1]. These companies get a cut of each Atlassian license sold, and also charge for setup, configuration, and custom add-on development. Personally, I think it's a brilliant strategy... external, technical salespeople! [1]: https://www.atlassian.com/resources/partnerList

This has been Microsoft's model for many years. It's not clear whether it works very well for anyone in the relationship other than Microsoft.
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