Since 2007, the Smart50 list has showcased the 50 fastest-growing SMEs in Australia. Every year, SmartCompany profiles these successful companies and their founders, and keeps an eye on their progress — their origins, their expansions, acquisitions, pivots, new developments, and highs and lows. Well, Smart50’s back in 2024.
Entries are open and information can be found here . While we wait to see what excellence is in store this year, let’s take a look at some Smart50 alumni who went from big..
. to even bigger. Atlassian Atlassian founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar.
Source: supplied. Atlassian started out in 2002 when founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar launched their own business instead of taking graduate positions. It has become one of the biggest success stories in Australian IT.
In 2008, it hit the Smart50 with $35 million in turnover. What followed would turn the founders into two of Australia’s wealthiest people. The company became a champion of the future of work when, during the worst of the pandemic, it pledged to make remote work permanent .
Co-founder Scott Farquhar even took aim at Elon Musk on Twitter, after the Tesla tycoon emailed employees about a 40-hour minimum commitment to on-site office work. Farquhar went on to spruik Atlassian’s flexible work options and call out to Musk’s disgruntled mob: “Any Tesla employees interested?” In August 2022, Atlassian came in third in its category in Great Place to Work’s Austral.
