$1 Billion – The Atlassian Ecosystem

The General Partner of a16z once said, “As investors in Airbnb, Instacart, and many others, it’s no secret that we’re bullish on (if not obsessed with) marketplace companies”.

Over the past decade, marketplaces like Atlassian, Airbnb, Uber, Alibaba, Amazon, and the App Store have become some of the most revolutionary tools in our economy. But the reality? These marketplaces are effectively operating as their own functioning economies.

A third of Unicorn-valuation companies also happen to be marketplace businesses. Whether that’s a coincidence or not (we lean towards the latter), this has prompted a wave of VC investment in similar business models in recent years.

Why? Because millions of people and thousands of businesses make a living on these platforms. Billions of dollars are exchanged within these companies. In fact, the Atlassian Marketplace alone recently passed $1 billion in lifetime sales.

Atlassian’s strength is that they can deliver a product that doesn’t inundate and overwhelm the users with features. What works for one team might not work for another – so the product doesn’t come pre-prepared with tools that could be frivolous for your company.

However, many companies do need extra tools and functionalities to supplement their work. Instead of forcing these upon everyone, Atlassian made a marketplace where individual developers could share and sell additions to people who might benefit from them.

For the developer, if you create and supply additional functions and services within the Atlassian Marketplace, you have instant access to all the large companies that use Atlassian. As 83% of Fortune 500 companies use Atlassian products, developers who create these apps instantly have access to a market that contains 83% of Fortune 500 companies!

According to Atlassian, “More than 60% of our customers use at least one app or integration from the Marketplace, and as we look towards our largest customers, that number is well over 80%”. It’s no wonder that the Atlassian ecosystem continues to pique the attention of investors (many of whom now back a variety of these applications).

Create something truly useful for Jira users and your quiet Marketplace side-hustle will quickly be catapulted to a full-time role.

Developers use code to make their lives easier. Many of these developers have realized that that same code can also make other people’s lives easier. They could create software, place their work on the Atlassian Marketplace, then get paid for making other’s work experiences simpler and more streamlined.

Millions of work hours have been saved thanks to automated workflows and marketplace apps that tailor Atlassian’s products to fit your specific company’s needs. Atlassian is smart to recognize that users who take advantage of these marketplace apps are becoming more engaged with the base product over time.

Case in Point:

A truly incredible number of problem-solving functions are available on the Atlassian Marketplace. It’s considered a marketplace, in part, because users can leave reviews. Candid evaluations of an app’s value can signal to other companies that this app is (or isn’t) a worthwhile investment.

At Nextup.ai, we can use these reviews to better understand our user base.

AND

Atlassian has created incentives for companies to develop programs on the Marketplace. They’ve created an ecosystem that grows everyone’s share of the pie. It’s clear that marketplace companies like Atlassian are here to stay. We intend to continue building solutions that make the marketplace worthwhile.

If you’re not already making use of these apps, you’re missing out on increased productivity.

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