Why two of Australia's hottest tech exports Atlassian and BigCommerce love Austin

It's Friday morning at Atlassian's workplace in Austin, Texas, and the enterprise software maker's staff are huddling in the "Eatlassian" kitchen snacking on complimentary breakfast tacos and listening to team announcements.

Later in the day they'll have the option to migrate to the nearby internal drinks bar or outside patio with views of the city, which has rapidly expanded into one of America's emerging technology hubs.

Known as Silicon Hills, Austin is now a go-to city for tech start-ups trying to escape San Francisco's uber expensive real estate prices, exorbitant labour costs and the hustle and bustle of a coastal city stretched at the seams.

Australian-founded firms such as Atlassian, e-commerce software company BigCommerce and other smaller start-ups are among the companies to have expanded there in recent years.

BigCommerce chief executive Brent Bellm, a former Silicon Valley veteran, says Austin is "radically different" to San Francisco.

"You can hire and keep good people and build a business in a place where people want to live," he says in an interview at the firm's Austin office. Read more

John Kehoe - Financial Review - 19 Feb 2018