[mhp]

Thank you for the kind words.

I promise you Atlassian understands why Trello is so successful. You described Trello's core strength perfectly - and this one of the reasons they are committed to keeping it as a standalone service.

(disclaimer: I'm the CEO of Trello)

[farkas]

I want to add to what Michael said above.

In meeting with Michael, and discussing how we could work together, Michael could not be more clear that Trello's success is predicated on is breadth and its appeal to many different use-cases.

This is most clearly displayed in their inspiration page, that includes many, many use-cases:

  https://trello.com/inspiration

Keeping this strength alive will be key to Trello's long-term success.

Scott, CEO Atlassian

[ilaksh]

Hello, you received a reply in another comment about adding more time tracking and reporting to Trello.

This goes right to the core of all of the issues/conflicts bundled into this acquisition from UX details up through to target users and culture clash.

Time tracking is a manager-oriented feature, not a producer-oriented feature. The users producing the work usually resent things like fine grained time tracking and comparitive producer reporting because it distracts from actual work, treats creative or complex processes as though they are part of an assembly line, encourages micro-management, pits quality against time, and emphasizes wage servitude.

Managers can use Trello to stress out their employees too, but not to the extent that JIRA-ish tools enable.

The problem is you are selling to managers who love to micromanage their employees and have nothing better to do than fiddle with configuration, reports, or have meetings with the people they hired to do that.

This is why developers who are smart will probably try to protect themselves by pre-emptively replacing Trello with one of the dozens of free or inexpensive clones before you can start corporatizing it and their company.

[eastindex]

Be it for the general use cases or for the software team collaboration, time tracking and reporting features are always useful. As a user of both JIRA & Trello, I hope Trello soon gets all the time tracking and reporting love that JIRA team could add. Congrats and good luck!

[winterweather]

I wonder what founders who have sold their companies for a significant amount end up doing in the days after. It would be really interesting to know what's going on in your head right now.

[mhp]

omg, I'm going to have a boss! I'll be working at Atlassian. Lots of stuff to still do in the future to reach our (and my) goals. And now we're going to have a lot more fuel for our engines to get there.

[rushabh]

SAAS founder here. Firstly congrats on such a great exit, you and your team certainly deserve it! I would love to know what "more fuel for our engines means"? How much cash you are you looking to burn? From most listed SAAS companies spend upward 80% on sales and marketing. Are you planning to do more enterprise sales?

[cookiecaper]

I'm sure it doesn't mean anything. He just has to sound excited to keep everyone happy.

I obviously have no idea how Trello is structured and whether Michael has any real ownership or not, given its unique history, but in the case of most SaaS founders, when their golden handcuffs expire, they call in rich, because duh, why wouldn't they? Especially after watching the bureaucracy at the acquirer kill their baby.

[ConfuciusSay02]

You'd have to check his "Current Thoughts" Trello list :p

[TheOneTrueKyle]

Thanks for an awesome product. How long was this acquisition on your Trello board?

[runnr_az]

Hey... congrats, dude.