COVER STORY

The two young entrepreneurs beh ind BigCommerce spoke to editor JEN BISHOP about their plans to help Aussie SMEs sell online.

0 nline stores powered by three year-old Aussie business BigCommerce have

sold more than 30,000,000 items to more than 230 ,000 ,000 unique visitors

worldwide. Mitchell Harper and Eddie

Machaalani, the young entrepreneurs behind the fast-gro\ving company with offices in

Sydney and Texas , are making eCommerce easy for small businesses .

BigCommerce is a huge and ever evolving success story 'vVhile there·s some clever

business brains behind it, it's clear the two

mates complement each other as co-founders and that only employing people they'd like

to go for a beer with has served them well.

Company culture, in both the Sydney and Texas offices, is everything to them.

Following a recent $15 million financing round, the company revealed it now powers

more than 20 ,000 online stores for retailers who have processed sales of more than

$350,000. Having set up in 2009 , they now employ almost 100 people with plans

to double that number in the coming year. While the eCommerce boom is fuelling their

growth , they're aware that many Australian

businesses are still lagging behind in the online department and they're passionate about helping them compete with the big

boys, selling both here and to potential

overseas customers. The beauty of BigCommerce's offering

is that it's (pardon the cliche) a one stop

shop for businesses wanting to sell online.

"We have combined an easy

to use store builder with a suite of marketing tools and

integrations that let you do

everything from SEO, to selling on Facebook, coupon

codes, mobile commerce and multi-channel retailing. Our

platform allows even the most non-technical business owner

to really generate huge returns

from ecommerce," says Harper. "eCommerce is not a one

size fits all business and our new API allows third party

developers and integrators to

build on the BigCommerce

' In the end we decided to bite the bullet and get an office in Austin, Texas. We had six people in an office that could fit 50"

platform. Disparate systems such as accounting, ERP, email

marketing and point-of-sale can

now be tied into BigCommerce effortlessly This gives our

clients unlimited flexibility whether they're starting form

scratch or looking to integrate

COVER STORY

BigCommerce into their existing business processes .. ,

The friends basically started

BigCommerce because they were searching, unsuccessfully, for a solution for business owners to

start and run their own website

where they didn't have to use different providers for hosting,

web design, online payments, registering domains etc. "I

decided to write my own," says Machaalani. "We launched it

and then got a call from the US

saying they'd like to partner so we did that. " He and Harper

started talking to each other in

a chatroom and the rest , as they say, is history

"When we started in 2009

we probably had around 30

employees," says Machaalani . "We found a marketing

consultant after reading his foreword in a book we liked and

he happened to be in Austin , Texas. "He helped us hire our

first couple of salespeople . Texas

happened because he happened to be there and it was also a

lot cheaper to be there than in Silicon Valley As we grew the

team we had five people in the US and 70 to 80 percent of our

revenue was coming from there. "In the end we decided to

bite the bullet and get an office

there. We had six people in an office that could fit 50. " Clearly

there were always ambitious plans for growth.

The pair are now comfortable with flying back and forth

between Sydney and Texas. "We're both used to Austin now,"

says Machaalani. "'vVe have a

DECEMBER/JANUARY.12 DYNAMICBUSINESS.COM.AU 11

COVER STORY

pretty structur d routine .·· While

most of their business has always

been in the States, they're now starting to see more traction in

the Australian market and their

focus in 20 12 will be very much on Australian SMEs.

"Now we're seeing Australian

businesses starting to get eCommerce," he adds.

Harper says the reason many

Aussie SMEs have been resistant to eCommerce is because it 's

been too hard. "There are too many people involved , the

process was cumbersome and

you had to piece together so many different systems and

people. We can give everything to them in one product. We do it all. " lvlachaalani says a

lot of small businesses have

been burnt in the past too . '·They've maybe spent $5,000

on a website which they then can't make changes to and it's

too fragmented. It becomes too

hard and they give up on it. " Machaalani says stubborn

bricks and mortar retailers who whinge about online

stores stealing their business

should look at the other side of the coin. "They could be

selling online as well and

supplementing their income. Resisting it is like selling CDs in an MP3 world. You can

try and ignore it but it's not a good business model.., like

Harper adds: '·It doesn·t have

to be an either/or scenario." BigCommerce's packages start at $24.95 a month. '·You can

get a site up and running really

quickly and cheaply and test the

waters," says Machaalani.

Managing the fast growth of their own business hasn't been without its challenges. Finding

and keeping the right people and givi ng up some control to

other advisors and employees have been learning curves. "You

can't grow into a big company by

micro managing everyone," says

Harper. "It's been a mindset thing for me ," says Machaalani. 'Tve

given up some of the hands-on

leadership to look at the bigger picture but I haven't got any more time on my hands! "

Harper says culture is "the

most important thing in the company'' And it's been that

way from day one. "If you get

the right son of people you can foster that. We like people who

are smart and get things done. 'vVe only employ people we want

to have a beer with. We also

have a no jerk policy I We attract

people because they want to work in our kind of environment and that's great for retention ' ·

Machaalani adds: "We despise any kind of office politics. "

Harper and Machaalani are

optimistic about their plans to concentrate on the Australian market in 2012. "There's a big

opportunity in Australia. The

market's very fragmented and there's no one dominant player.

Vve can see an opportunity to

come in and be the leader. We can show businesses how we

12 DYNAMICBUSINESS.COM.AU DECEMBER/JANUARY.12

Culture is the most important thing. We on ly employ people we want to have a beer with and we have a no jerk policy"

can make them successful at this stuff," says Machaalani. Harper adds: "There 's a lot of

education that needs doing around certain

aspects of eCommerce . A big part of our work is around making Australian SMBs feel

more confiden t about it. "That said , business owners don't need to

be that tech-savvy anymore. There was a lot

of jargon to confuse people before but these days someone else can do it all for you ."

Their aim for the business in the next two

years7 "To double and double again ," with

200 employees by the end of 2012 .