# Eddie Machaalani

> Eddie Machaalani is a Sydney-based software entrepreneur, co-founder and former CEO of BigCommerce, and co-founder and CEO of Zarla. His work spans early website editing software, Interspire’s shopping cart, BigCommerce’s hosted commerce platform and AI-assisted tools for small businesses. He graduated from UTS in 2000 and shared a 2012 NSW Pearcey entrepreneurship award with fellow recipients.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Zarla
- **Organizations:** Zarla, BigCommerce, Interspire
- **Nationality:** Australian
- **Education:** Bachelor of Science in Computing Science, University of Technology Sydney
- **Known for:** Co-founded BigCommerce in Sydney in 2009., Helped build Interspire’s website tools and shopping cart before the hosted BigCommerce service., Joint recipient of the 2012 NSW Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year award.

## Career timeline

- **2000** — Graduated from UTS; in a later personal account, dated his first Sydney web agency to this year.
- **2004** — Early software collaboration with Mitchell Harper launched in January, according to his 2011 account.
- **2008** — Led Interspire, whose licensed shopping cart was profiled by Practical Ecommerce.
- **2009** — Co-founded BigCommerce with Mitchell Harper, bringing hosted commerce software to merchants.
- **2011** — BigCommerce raised US$15 million from General Catalyst in its first outside funding round.
- **2012** — Shared the NSW Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year award with Mitchell Harper and Jo Burston.
- **2015** — Brent Bellm succeeded him as BigCommerce CEO; Machaalani became executive chairman.
- **2019** — Co-founded Zarla with Adam Seabrook.
- **2020** — BigCommerce began public trading on August 5, after his CEO tenure.
- **2026** — Zarla relaunched on September 2; announced its next-generation AI website builder and business workflows on September 23.

## Achievements

- Co-founded BigCommerce in Sydney in 2009.
- Helped build Interspire’s website tools and shopping cart before the hosted BigCommerce service.
- Joint recipient of the 2012 NSW Pearcey Entrepreneur of the Year award.
- Co-founded Zarla with Adam Seabrook in 2019.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Zarla relaunched on September 2, according to its newsroom.
- **2026-09** — On September 23, Zarla announced an AI website builder and integrated business workflows; Machaalani was identified as co-founder and CEO.

## Links

- Website: https://about.me/eddiemachaalani
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/machaalani/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/eddiemachaalani

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/eddie-machaalani
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-20