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Interesting Slack and Github investors will be watching this closely! Will be interesting to see what the market thinks about a profitable company going publi

Interesting Slack and Github investors will be watching this closely! Will be interesting to see what the market thinks about a profitable company going public. 13 years from starting to going public, so those of you who join a startup going on its 4th year, something to keep in mind. You could have joined in year 5 and had your shares vest by year 9 and then be waiting for an additional 4 years for your liquidity event! > https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1650372/000104746915008450/a2226437zf-1.htm#dy77101_principal_shareholders https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1650372/000104746915... Kindof weird that their CFO resigned in October, just before they went public. That's probably something I'd want to know about in more depth if I was going to invest. I wonder if they delayed the IPO so this could happen before they filled. Seeing as they brought him in to lead them through the IPO process, this seems a bit of a weird time to leave, this is probably the busiest time for a CFO. > http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-11/atlassian-appoints-erik-bardman-cfo-ahead-of-planned-ipo http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-11/atlassian-...

whatok 11y ago
From the S1: " In October 2015, our former Chief Financial Officer, Erik Bardman, resigned from the company to focus on matters related to a past employer, including an investigation of certain accounting practices entirely with respect to such past employment." https://management-change.com/atlassian-cfo-erik-bardman-ousted-matters-with-a-past-employer/ https://management-change.com/atlassian-cfo-erik-bardman-ous...
- jackgavigan 11y ago
  Might have something to do with Logitech: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/04/logitech-investigation-idUSL5N0R51PZ20140904#2oB0AyBf1W5XsWF6.97 http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/04/logitech-investiga...
walterbell 11y ago
Atlassian had financing rounds which provided employees with liquidity, http://fortune.com/2014/04/10/atlassian-the-3-3-billion-software-company-youve-never-heard-of/ http://fortune.com/2014/04/10/atlassian-the-3-3-billion-soft... "The $150 million it recently raised isn’t going into its bank account — instead, its new investors are buying shares from past and present employees in an effort to offer workers some liquidity and retain talent ... 'the Accel Partners round was mostly about founders, and this [T. Rowe Price] one is about employees. Now neither of the founders are selling anything. So this is a little different. We’ve been profitable for 10 years, so we don’t need the cash, we have a lot of cash in the bank. It’s more a case of wanting to get a partner [that knows about public markets] on board..'"
nailer 11y ago
> 13 years from starting to going public, so those of you who join a startup going on its 4th year, something to keep in mind Atlassian started in Australia, a country where technology is generally considered a scam to separate idiots from their wallets. This significantly slowed down growth, and the founders have said they wished the company had left Australia sooner. Edit: this went from +2 to -2 very quickly. For anyone unfamiliar with Australian technology industry, here's a reference for Atlassian CEO comments: http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/557248/atlassian-ceo-gets-why-startups-want-leave-australia/ http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/557248/atlassian-ceo... The Australian government also taxes employee options in such a way to make them non-viable: http://www.techworld.com.au/article/535906/what_atlassian_move_says_about_australia_startup_scene/ http://www.techworld.com.au/article/535906/what_atlassian_mo... My own experience working in Australia (as an Australian) in innovative technology was extreme wariness of tech: it's an expense, not an investment. Local companies were cynical of technologies, even mainstream technologies in the US and UK, until there was at least one other Australian company using them.
- j_lev 11y ago
  By virtue of the fact that Atlassian chose not to list in Australia they have sent a message to government. Turnbull appears to be the kind of prime minister who could make Australia more tech-friendly, so fingers crossed. The best option for a rising tech company in Australia remains, unfortunately, to purchase outright a flailing listed mining company and invert, a la 1999. This is where the "scammy" feel of listed tech companies comes from.
  - tacticus 11y ago
    Begging a vulture capitalist who is owned by the far right of his party for help seems a bit silly.
    - Gatsky 11y ago
      Nevertheless, on this particular point, there is more reason to be optimistic about Turnbull than the last 3 prime ministers.
notanintern 11y ago
Hipchat is a horrible application. Just bad.
- notanintern 11y ago
  if you're going to downvote me at least try to prove to me that hipchat isn't bad because i could write a book about why it is so bad.
  - oldmanjay 11y ago
    HN works in the reverse. If you're going to assert your opinion, you back it up. People don't have any particular obligation to prove you wrong. Also, no one wants a conversation about votes.
jusben1369 11y ago
Interesting. "Accel bought a $60 million stake in Atlassian from the co-founders in 2010. Last year, Atlassian sold $135 million worth of employees’ shares to T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and Dragoneer Investment Group." So the founders have had a liquidity event and the employees too? They're profitable and have access to private capital. I'm trying to understand why they would IPO. Currency for M&A?

whatok 11y ago

From the S1: " In October 2015, our former Chief Financial Officer, Erik Bardman, resigned from the company to focus on matters related to a past employer, including an investigation of certain accounting practices entirely with respect to such past employment." https://management-change.com/atlassian-cfo-erik-bardman-ousted-matters-with-a-past-employer/ https://management-change.com/atlassian-cfo-erik-bardman-ous...

jackgavigan 11y ago
Might have something to do with Logitech: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/04/logitech-investigation-idUSL5N0R51PZ20140904#2oB0AyBf1W5XsWF6.97 http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/04/logitech-investiga...

walterbell 11y ago

Atlassian had financing rounds which provided employees with liquidity, http://fortune.com/2014/04/10/atlassian-the-3-3-billion-software-company-youve-never-heard-of/ http://fortune.com/2014/04/10/atlassian-the-3-3-billion-soft... "The $150 million it recently raised isn’t going into its bank account — instead, its new investors are buying shares from past and present employees in an effort to offer workers some liquidity and retain talent ... 'the Accel Partners round was mostly about founders, and this [T. Rowe Price] one is about employees. Now neither of the founders are selling anything. So this is a little different. We’ve been profitable for 10 years, so we don’t need the cash, we have a lot of cash in the bank. It’s more a case of wanting to get a partner [that knows about public markets] on board..'"

nailer 11y ago

> 13 years from starting to going public, so those of you who join a startup going on its 4th year, something to keep in mind Atlassian started in Australia, a country where technology is generally considered a scam to separate idiots from their wallets. This significantly slowed down growth, and the founders have said they wished the company had left Australia sooner. Edit: this went from +2 to -2 very quickly. For anyone unfamiliar with Australian technology industry, here's a reference for Atlassian CEO comments: http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/557248/atlassian-ceo-gets-why-startups-want-leave-australia/ http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/557248/atlassian-ceo... The Australian government also taxes employee options in such a way to make them non-viable: http://www.techworld.com.au/article/535906/what_atlassian_move_says_about_australia_startup_scene/ http://www.techworld.com.au/article/535906/what_atlassian_mo... My own experience working in Australia (as an Australian) in innovative technology was extreme wariness of tech: it's an expense, not an investment. Local companies were cynical of technologies, even mainstream technologies in the US and UK, until there was at least one other Australian company using them.

j_lev 11y ago
By virtue of the fact that Atlassian chose not to list in Australia they have sent a message to government. Turnbull appears to be the kind of prime minister who could make Australia more tech-friendly, so fingers crossed. The best option for a rising tech company in Australia remains, unfortunately, to purchase outright a flailing listed mining company and invert, a la 1999. This is where the "scammy" feel of listed tech companies comes from.
- tacticus 11y ago
  Begging a vulture capitalist who is owned by the far right of his party for help seems a bit silly.
  - Gatsky 11y ago
    Nevertheless, on this particular point, there is more reason to be optimistic about Turnbull than the last 3 prime ministers.

notanintern 11y ago

Hipchat is a horrible application. Just bad.

notanintern 11y ago
if you're going to downvote me at least try to prove to me that hipchat isn't bad because i could write a book about why it is so bad.
- oldmanjay 11y ago
  HN works in the reverse. If you're going to assert your opinion, you back it up. People don't have any particular obligation to prove you wrong. Also, no one wants a conversation about votes.

jusben1369 11y ago

Interesting. "Accel bought a $60 million stake in Atlassian from the co-founders in 2010. Last year, Atlassian sold $135 million worth of employees’ shares to T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and Dragoneer Investment Group." So the founders have had a liquidity event and the employees too? They're profitable and have access to private capital. I'm trying to understand why they would IPO. Currency for M&A?