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Slack is a popular team communication and collaboration platform that allows users to easily communicate and share information in real time. With Slack, you can create channels for different topics or projects, and have team members join the channels that are relevant to them. You can also direct message other team members for quick, one-on-one conversations.
Slack also offers a wide range of integrations with other tools and services, such as Google Drive, Trello, and Jira, making it a versatile and flexible solution for teams of all sizes. Additionally, Slack offers robust search capabilities, making it easy to find the information you need. Overall, Slack is a great tool for improving team communication, productivity, and organization.
With over 2,000 apps and a robust API, the Slack platform team works with partners and developers globally to build apps and integrations that streamline their client’s work, automate mundane tasks and bring context into their clients’ conversations in Slack.
Slack – Company Highlights
| Startup Name | Slack Technologies |
|---|---|
| Formerly Called | Tiny Speck |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Industry | Software |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Founders | Stewart Butterfield, Eric Costello, Cal Henderson, Serguei Mourachov |
| CEO | Stewart Butterfield (Mar 2009–Present) |
| Acquired By | Salesforce (January 2021) |
| Area Served | Worldwide |
| Website | www.slack.com |
Slack – About and How it Works?
Slack – Recent News
Slack – Logo and its Meaning
Slack – Founder and History
Slack – Mission
Slack – Business Model
Slack – Revenue and Growth
Slack – Funding and Investors
Slack – Investments
Slack – Acquisitions
Slack – Competitors
Slack – Future Plans
Slack – About and How it Works?
Slack Technologies is an American international software company that designs and develops a communication platform that provides real-time messaging, file sharing, archiving, and searching services for teams. Slack offers a team communication tool that consists of a set of open, documented application programming interfaces (APIs), developer tools, and an App Directory that lists apps that have met the guidelines.
Organizations on Slack use its platform to create internal applications and integrations, ranging from simple notifications to complex internal workflows. Third-party developers build integrations and applications that make it easier for their existing customers to engage with their products as well as find new customers.
Slack is a layer of business technology, where people work together to connect all their other software tools and services and find the information they need. Slack users communicate with one another by posting messages to a channel or sending direct messages to a person or a group of people. Slack’s core organizing principle is the channel, which brings the right people together to collaborate, share information, and get work done. Channels offer flexibility and can be organized by project, topic, team, or whatever makes sense for a specific task or situation.
Slack enables communication and collaboration among organizations via shared channels and guest accounts. Shared channels securely connect the Slack workspaces of different organizations, enabling the same level of communication and collaboration between enterprises that Slack brings to teams within an organization.
Slack – Logo and its Meaning
Slack’s logo resembles a hashtag or octothorpe. The hashtag is an organizing element in the platform, signaling the beginning of the channels where teams can talk about individual projects.
Slack – Founder and History
Slack is famous for reaching a valuation of $1B after just eight months without spending a penny on traditional advertising or a Chief Marketing Officer. Slack was a runaway success because it had a multi-year head start on everybody else.
Slack founder and CEO Stewart Butterfield and his team set out to create something new and original for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) market. As it turns out, they revolutionized how companies communicate at work instead.
Video game developers might not seem like the most logical group to make a sticky, engaging communications tool for today’s workplace, but Tiny Speck’s expertise in gaming was a major competitive advantage. Butterfield and his team already knew how to make repetitive tasks fun and engaging, as this is core to the gameplay experience of the MMORPG genre. Making work-based communication fun and engaging would be the secret sauce that made Slack so wildly successful.
ATHUL C K
Slack – Mission
Slack’s mission statement says,
” We live by our mission, and improving people’s working life starts with our own company. We’re building a platform and products we believe in – as well as a strong, diverse team of curious, creative people who want to do the best work of their lives and support each other in the process. ”
Slack – Business Model
Slack advertises that it is completely free to use for as long and with as many people as you want. So how does it make money?
Well, a percentage of organizations pay premiums for special features. Such features include access to an unlimited communication history, unlimited app integration, additional file storage, screen sharing, statistics, and more. With no apparent plans to run ads shortly, Slack relies on a simple business model, charging monthly fees of $7.25 per user for the standard subscription and $12.50 per user for the plus subscription. It has also launched Enterprise Grid for larger organizations that have tens of thousands of users.
Slack – Revenue and Growth
For the Q1 Fiscal year 2022:
- Total revenue was $273.4 million, representing year-over-year growth of 36%.
- GAAP gross profit was $234.1 million, or 85.6% gross margin, compared to $176.0 million, or 87.3% gross margin, in Q1 FY21.
- Non-GAAP gross profit was $238 million, or 87.1% gross margin, compared to $179.2 million, or 88.9% gross margin, in the first quarter of FY21.
- GAAP operating loss was $55.3 million, or (20.2)% of total revenue, compared to a $76.2 million loss in the first quarter of FY21, or (37.8)% of total revenue.
- Non-GAAP operating income was $10.8 million, or 4.0% of total revenue, compared to a $16.6 million loss in the first quarter of FY21, or (8.3)% of total revenue.
- GAAP net loss per basic and diluted share was $0.05. Non-GAAP net income per diluted share was $0.08.
Vibhavari Madki
Slack – Funding and Investors
Slack has raised a total of $1.4B in funding over 13 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Jan 28, 2019, from a Secondary Market round. Slack is funded by 45 investors. Light Street Capital and General Atlantic are the most recent investors.
| Date | Round | Amount | Lead Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 28, 2019 | Secondary Market | – | – |
| Aug 21, 2018 | Series H | $427M | Dragoneer Investment Group, General Atlantic |
| Sep 17, 2017 | Series G | $412.7M | SoftBank Vision Fund |
| May 1, 2017 | Secondary Market | – | – |
| Apr 1, 2016 | Series F | $208M | Thrive Capital |
| Apr 16, 2015 | Series E | $172.7M | Social Capital |
| Oct 31, 2014 | Series D | $110.8M | GV, Kleiner Perkins |
| Apr 27, 2014 | Series C | $42.8M | Social Capital |
| Apr 1, 2011 | Series B | $10.7M | Accel, Andreessen Horowitz |
| Apr 1, 2010 | Series A | $5M | Accel |
Slack – Investments
Slack has made 24 investments. Their most recent investment was on Oct 19, 2021, when Electric raised $90M.
| Date | Organization Name | Round | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 19, 2021 | Electric | Seed Round | $90M |
| Jul 21, 2020 | Crosschq | Seed Round | $6.5M |
| May 7, 2020 | Compt | Seed Round | $1.5M |
| Mar 18, 2020 | Meru Health | Series A | $8.1M |
| Sep 24, 2019 | Sentry | Series C | $40M |
| Apr 4, 2019 | Halp | Seed Round | $2.6M |
| Jan 30, 2018 | Astound | Venture Round | $3.3M |
| May 22, 2017 | Loom | Seed Round | $3.2M |
| May 1, 2017 | Parabol | Convertible Note | $550K |
| Feb 9, 2017 | Demisto | Series B | $20M |
Slack – Acquisitions
Slack was acquired by tech giant Salesforce in an agreement for a value of approximately $27.7 billion. This gives Slack the to compete with its competitors on a bigger platform. Now slack can target a bigger audience through Salesforce. This megadeal was said to be a “Deal made in heaven”.
Slack has acquired 7 organizations. Their most recent acquisition was Rimeto on Jul 8, 2020.
| Acquiree | Date | Round | About Acquiree |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rimeto | Jul 8, 2020 | – | Rimeto is an enterprise directory that provides customers with detailed employee profiles and information. |
| Astro Technology | Sep 24, 2018 | – | Astro has been acquired by Slack! We’ve shut down our apps, but you can find us at Slack making email and channels work better together |
| HipChat | Jul 27, 2018 | – | HipChat is a private group chat and IM network that provides real-time collaboration features for companies and teams. |
| Stride | Jul 27, 2018 | – | Stride is a cloud-based team business communication and collaboration tool. |
| Missions | Jul 17, 2018 | – | Missions is an enterprise software startup |
| Screenhero | Jan 28, 2015 | – | Screenhero lets users screen share any application with anyone, no matter where they are. |
| Spaces | Sep 26, 2014 | – | A Program that allows remote workers to collaborate on the same document simultaneously. |
Slack – Competitors
Slack’s main competitors include Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Skype, Flock, Telegram, Mattermost, Rocket Chat, Hangout Chat, Matter most, Ryver, CAFlowdok, etc.
ANSH MEHREY
Slack – Future Plans
“People deserve to do the best work of their lives,” Slack co-founder and chief executive officer Stewart Butterfield said in a video released alongside a live stream of its investor day event. “This desire of feeling aligned with your team, of removing confusion, of getting clarity; the desire for support in doing the best work of your life, that’s universal, that’s deeply human. It appeals to people with all kinds of roles, in all kinds of industries, at all scales of organization and all cultures.”
Slack currently boasts more than 12 million daily active users across more than 600,000 organizations — over 88,000 on the paid plan and more than 550,000 on the free plan.
There are a lot of privacy and security aspects to these Slack-based communications, and Slack will provide granular options for IT admins to manage exactly what’s shared. Slack is also improving its channels’ user interface, so it’s very clear when you’re using a shared channel and who is participating in the channel.
There’s even some machine learning going on that will allow Slack to scan calendars across multiple organizations and help workers create meetings at appropriate times when everyone is free. Slack apps can also be shared across organizations, as long as both parties have them installed in their Slack instance. Slack has a big incentive to gradually move businesses away from email.
“We believe that whoever is able to unlock that potential for people … is going to be the most important software company in the world. We aim to be that company,” he added.”
Conclusion
Being the fastest-growing startup in history isn’t the only thing that makes Slack unique. Its product development process was unorthodox. Slack was born out of a gaming company called Tiny Speck. Butterfield and his team didn’t intentionally set out to create a SaaS product for the workplace. They built a tool for themselves. They only realized their tool’s commercial potential later on.
FAQs
What do slack technologies do?
Slack is the collaboration hub that brings the right people, information, and tools together to get work done.
When was Slack founded?
Slack was founded in 2009.
Who founded Slack?
Slack was founded by Stewart Butterfield, Eric Costello, Cal Henderson, and Serguei Mourachov.
What was the former name of Slack?
Slack’s former name was Tiny Speck.
Who owns Slack?
Salesforce Inc owns Slack.
