Bigcommerce is one of the top ecommerce platforms, and it was founded in 2009 by mitchell harper and eddie machaalani. Eddie machaalani and mitchell harper founded bigcommerce in 2009 after meeting each other in an online chatroom. They later adopted the name of the platform after it proved a popular alternative to other solutions like volusion and shopify. The company that created it was originally known as interspire, who created the platform as a hosted version of the interspire shopping cart. Ben horowitz, cofounder of andreessen horowitz and one of silicon valleys most respected and. Sitecenter nx allows web designers to offer their clients a completely integrated web site building and editing solution without the price tag commonly associated with professional site building tools. Ive represented interspire in north american since 2004 and never ceased to be amazed by the quality of work and high regard at. The company was founded by mitchell robert harper and eddie machaalani in 2003 and is headquartered in ultimo, australi a. Bigcommerce demo and features start your ecommerce.
Introduction pay per click ppc is by far one of the easiest and quickest methods of driving targeted, consistent traffic to your website. Interspire is a global leader in webbased ecommerce, content management and email marketing software for over 40,000 business, web hosting providers and isps. Eddie machaalani is chairmancofounder at bigcommerce pty ltd. Agencies can learn more by visiting the email marketing software for agencies section of interspires web site or by calling 18009395570. Weve worked hard over the last four years to become known for three things. Bigcommerce is an ecommerce solutions company founded in 2009 by eddie machaalani and mithcell harper.
Eddie machaalani met cofounder mitchell harper on an internet chat room. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in sydney, australia, interspire has offices throughout the u. Bigcommerce was the product of such tenacity, said software of which has now become interspires flagship product. My random tips on improving your business, whether it be online marketing, copywriting or whatever else i feel like writing about today. Interspires email marketing software is fully featured and was built specifically to help automate your follow up marketing, giving your sales team more motivated leads in the process. Interspire unveils new software for webbased marketers. It is an open source, 100% software solution written primarily in the functional programming language erlang.
Bigcommerce bets on its ecommerceasaservice offering to. They realized they were both in sydney and eventually decided to join forces to build software together under the name interspire. Harper right in photo below and partner eddie machaalani left had each started a content management system already harper built siteworks, machaalani created webedit when they met in a programming chat room. The platform comes with a full suite of email marketing software and services that the agencies can use to widen their clientele by offering free trial accounts to their customers. For founders eddie machaalani and mitchell harper, bigcommerce is a sign of the times. It started with an email marketing software designed for small businesses that became the companys. The firm also provides ssl certificates, product merchandising, and website designing services. Prior to setting up web business interspire, eddie was working as a freelancer building websites for different clients and mitchell was running a programming website and working at a computer. Companies, especially tech vendors, hooking customers with. Support software engineer austin, tx bigcommerce ladders. Interspire software enables service providers to deliver ecommerce, email marketing and content management software to their existing customer base, to increase revenue and to reduce customer churn. Bigcommerce was founded in 2003 as web business interspire pty ltd. In 2003, these two developers made their splash in ecommerce waters with a licensed locallyinstalled version of their shopping cart, called interspire. Combining enterprise functionality, an open architecture and app ecosystem, and marketleading performance, bigcommerce enables businesses to grow online sales with 80% less cost, time and complexity than onpremise software.
Bigcommerce was founded in 2009 by eddie machaalani and mitchell harper, who had met in an online php chat room. Harper was involved in ecommerce for three years before the pair started interspire, bigcommerces parent company, in 2003. At the same time, they opened their first office in the united states. With no funding or outside capital, we grew bigcommerce to 10,000 paying customers in the first year and then decided to go big and raise money from investors. Interspire, a fiveyearold company that in may opened a north american headquarters in austin, develops software designed to automate the process of. In order to handle fast growth, machaalani and harper had to get out of their own way. Bigcommerce cofounders mitchell harper left and eddie machaalani.
We decided to pivot away from our interspire products over a 24 month period and launched bigcommerce, a saas ecommerce platform, in september 2009. Bigcommerce was founded in 2009 by australians eddie machaalani and mitchell harper following a chance meeting in an online chatroom in 2003. Interspire, a website content management and email marketing software company, has announced the release of sitecenter nx. Interspire, which also operates an office in london, employs about 50 workers companywide. Eddie provides advanced automatic traffic management and configuration of geographically distributed server sites, consisting of one or more local area. Shopsite was designed from the ground up to be easy to use. Harper was a millionaire within a few years but instead of resting on his laurels, he continued to develop followup products.
Australians mitchell harper and eddie machaalani founded bigcommerce in 2009. We then asked eddie machaalani, ceo and cofounder of interspire, a cart producer and a competitor of shopsite, for his evaluation of shopsite. The companys platform offers features including storefront templates, site hosting, builtin conversion optimization tools and other related marketing tools, enabling clients to create the perfect shopping experience and showcase their. Interspire, bigcommerce bring transparency to ecommerce.
They went on to launch interspire in 2007 and created a saas version of interspire called bigcommerce in 2009. The young entrepreneurs changing australian business. Mitchell harper launched his first software business interspire alongside business partner eddie machaalani. Bigcommerce had its origins when eddie machaalani and mitch harper decided to transition their startup interspire from onpremise software to softwareasaservice. This open source software has numerous, rich and customizable features for building. This technical support job in technology is in austin, tx 78701. It offers shopping cart software, seo tools, and online payment solutions. Bigcommerce is the latest offering from interspire, a leading provider of shopping cart software used by more than 40,000 organizations worldwide. Austin, texasbased bigcommerce was founded by mitchell harper and eddie machaalani, who met in an online programming forum. Bigcommerce is the worlds leading cloud ecommerce platform for established and rapidlygrowing businesses. Ecommerce software vendor interspire has unveiled new software aiming to target agencies involved in web designing, advertising, public relations and marketing firms. It will turn more leads into buyers we guarantee it, or your money back. We were both building content management systems when we met and decided wed get more done if we joined forces, recalls harper. From the start, interspire was an international operation.
When shopping carts began moving to the cloud, machaalani and harper followed suit, creating the saas ecommerce solution now known as bigcommerce. The two australians had developed their idea from a meeting in an online chatroom in 2003, and on august 2009, bigcommerce was birthed as a relaunch of interspire shopping cart with its first office being in the u. Allinone email marketing, autoresponder, survey and crm software. Interspire helps web designers and marketing agencies beat. Join facebook to connect with eddie machaalani and others you may know. The company was founded in 2009 and has 370 employees with headquarters in austin, texas and. Bigcommerce was formed after they relaunched a version of interspire, a shopping cart service called bigcommerce, then they proceeded to open their first u. Bigcommerce jobs, benefits, business model, founding story. In 2003, founders eddie machaalani and mitchel harper developed interspire, their approach to licensed shopping cart software. Several newsletter services like interspire, icontact or mailchimp. They met by chance in an online platform six years previously. Bigcommerce product options bigcommerce product options. Bigcommerce founded by australians eddie machaalani and mitchell harper in 2009.