Atlassian Doubles; Leprino Dominates; Wal-Mart Leads; Elite SEM on Today Show

"...insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

Atlassian's Value Doubled -- in just under 18 months since it's Dec 10, 2015 IPO, Atlassian's market cap has doubled from $4.2 billion to $8.4 billion. I'm just saying! Congrats to Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes for continuing to lead one of the best run companies in the world. Discipline and focus are key, as Scott notes on the back of Scaling Up.

Fortune 500 List Ratios -- the latest Fortune list is out and Wal-Mart still tops with $486 billion in revenue, more than twice Berkshire Hathaway and Apple, sitting at #2 and #3 respectfully. With a combined revenue of $12 trillion and profits of $890 billion, average profit is 7.4% for the Fortune 500. Mid-market firms, if they dominate a narrow niche, should be 3x this - are you? And with a combined workforce of 28.2 million, average revenue per employee sits at almost $426,000/employee, over four times that of mid-market firms.

Pricing and Process -- Better strategic pricing (branding drives pricing power) and lean processes are two main reasons big firms crush scaleups in revenue/employee. Building brand (owning a word or two, like "pizza cheese" - see below) and annually cleaning up processes, like cleaning out closets, will increase your revenue/employee, a KPI to watch closely.

Chick-fil-A 3x KFC -- the iconic fast food chain Chick-fil-A, famous for not being open on Sundays, generates over 3x the revenue per store as competitor KFC -- $3.1 million vs. $960,000. Reasons:

1. Customer Service - #1 on Consumer Reports for all restaurants
2. Employee Training - "the better we train the longer people stay"
3. Fulfill Dreams - paid to have an employee take photography classes

It's comes down to showing that you care. And when employees feel cared for they care for your customers and company. This Business Insider UK article article provides more details. Thanks to John DiJulius, customer service guru, for sharing this story in his latest blog.

85% Market Share -- Forbes manages to get an interview, but still no photo, of camera shy James Leprino, the 79-year-old billionaire founder of Denver-based Leprino Cheese which owns 85% of the "pizza cheese" market with Pizza Hut, Domino's, and Papa John's as clients. Notes the article:

Leprino takes out his beat-up black leather wallet, removes the rubber band holding it shut and reveals a card featuring the four company watchwords: quality, service, price, ethics. "I've got everybody keeping one in their pocket," Leprino says. "The company was growing so fast they were missing this important message."

Please take 2 minutes to read this case study of how to dominate a niche! What is your niche in which you'll own 85%?

Ben Kirshner on Today Show (Gazelles Case Study) -- congratulations to Elite SEM's CEO for his appearance on the Today Show with Al Roker discussing the misconceptions about millennials and work. Elite SEM was named by Fortune as the #1 place for millennials to work last year (#5 this year) and is coached by Gazelles Certified Coach Matt Kuttler. FYI, Ben is going to give a ScaleUpX talk at the fall Summit and then lead a longer session at the Scaling Up User Conference the following day (Oct 19, St. Louis). This is one of the best run companies in the US.

Strategy Guru Frances Frei Joins Uber -- Harvard prof and author of my favorite strategy book Uncommon Service has made a bold move and is joining Uber, not as COO, which they are still looking for, but as their first SVP in leadership and strategy. This Recode article will fill in the details as she goes in to clean up a real leadership mess. Can't wait to check back a year from now.

"Quality, Service, Price, Ethics" -- James Leprino built a pizza cheese dynasty by consistently innovating and delivering on these four drivers. What are your drivers? Pick a few and then deliver!

COACHING:

Have you ever wondered if working with a coach might accelerate your company's growth, exponentially? Do you have what it takes to move the dial from good to great? Click here to watch Gazelles International President Keith Cupp describes the four most important attributes of successful clients. Contact us at [email protected] for more information.

And if you're interested in becoming a world-class certified Gazelles International coach, please go to gicoaches.com/becomeacoach for more information. If you determine that we're a fit and wish to join our premier organization, we invite you to contact our Dir. of Coach Engagement at [email protected] or 877.217.2253 ext.700.

TECHNOLOGY:

Create Accountability – Drive Execution
Click Here to Watch a video example.

Align is your cloud based business operating system designed to keep you on your path to executing your goals. See, in real time every person in your organization and how they are progressing on their priorities - alongside how they Align to the Company Priorities! Scale Up your Rockefeller Habits implementation with www.alignwithgazelles.com - on your computer, tablet or phone. $5.00 per month gets you started.

Better Book Club -- What's your team reading? Increase your books read per team member. Easy, Proven, and in the Cloud at http://www.BetterBookClub.com.