Failed game-dev company to $25B Giant:
This company was initially a game-development company
But 10 years later...
The founders launched it as a messaging app for teams worldwide...
Now it is a $26B Giant:
Here's the story of team's favorite collaboration and communication tool:
Slack is a popular chat communication tool used by millions of teams worldwide
By 2025, it is expected it will have 47M daily users
But here's the question...
How did a game dev. Does company turn into a tool used by 100s of Fortune 500 companies?
It all started in 2002...
Stewart Butterfield and his then-wife Caterina co-founded a game development company
They called it Ludicorp
Ludicorp soon launched a game
But it failed to gain traction in the market...
Now here's the interesting fact...
While they were developing the game they used a platform
This platform was created internally to coordinate their efforts
And the interesting thing is this:
Their game might have failed...but this tool didn't
The tool was Slack
Stweart realized the potential of this product
He wanted to launch it in the market as a standalone product
So he and his team shifted their focus
And in his 2013...
The team rebranded their company - Slack Technologies
And soon enough...
They officially launched Slack to the public on August 2013
Just like any other startup they faced their share of problems and challenges:
- No funding
- No initial users
- No paying customers
But soon they figured out how to get early users...
They decided to target small tech startups first..and it was a good move
Small tech companies wanted exactly what they offered
This helped them nail their positioning:
'Enhance team communication and productivity'
Here is one growth hack that stands out the most -
Product integrations
Slack provided APIs and developer tools to 3rd party developers
The developers could build and connect their apps with Slack
The result was this:
Users would be able to:
- integrate it in their workflow
- customize and personalize their Slack experience
Slack's user base started growing rapidly
It gained significant traction in the tech community
Moreover, they started raising funds too
And soon enough...
Slack had reached a valuation of $1 billion, becoming a unicorn company
Like Dropbox's growth hacking marvel even Slack has something unique
The unique thing about their growth is -
no usage of traditional advertising...
In fact, they relied heavily on
- Word of mouth marketing
- Building strong community of passionate users
Have you seen their Twitter Wall of Love?
They have a board - full of testimonials and great reviews from their users
They also make use of viral loops...
Encouraging users to invite their colleagues and friends to join Slack
The results are this:
Every 1 out of 3 Slack users are paying customers
But you know how competitive the business world is...
Slack got its own set of competitors
- with similar features
Microsoft launched Microsoft Teams
Google introduced Google Hangouts Chat
3 ways Slack used to differentiate itself:
- user-friendly predict
- Robust features
- Strong integrations
- Loyal base of customers
In 2019, Slack went public
The company's valuation surged to over $20B
But that's when a new virus hit the world and changed it forever...
Companies and teams started working remote
This was both good and bad for Slack...
Boon: More users and more revenue
Curse: New players in the market and intense competition
Slack's growth slowed down in 2020
Finally Salesforce acquired Slack for $27B...
Here are some of its latest stats:
- 20M+ users use Slack
- It made $1.1B in 2022
- An average user spends 9+ hours on Slack
- 79M users predicted to use Slack by 2025
Slack's journey has been a roller-coaster ride
From a failed game dev. company -> $26B communication platform
This product is the best example of -
Adapt as the market does
2 key takeaways from Slack's success story:
-
Always listen to your customer
Get their feedback and give what they ask for -
Use Growth Hacking
Viral loops and Twitter 'Wall of Love' are a great way to drive traction to the product
My friend Bob says Tech founders suck at marketing...especially emails
I disagree with him...
Help me prove him wrong -
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