Stories of building Slack — the company, the product, the business, and the culture — told by two employees who were around for the entire journey.

Latest

May
24
Year 1

Year 1

We launched Slack to the world on February 12th, 2014. Thirteen months after starting work, nine months after releasing our
8 min read
Apr
23
You asked: We don't sell saddles here

You asked: We don't sell saddles here

From John O'Nolan (CEO of Ghost): How did Stewart's infamous "we don't sell
3 min read
Apr
04
Preparing for launch

Preparing for launch

It was the fall of 2013. Barack Obama was President. Game of Thrones had finished its third season. The red
9 min read
Mar
29

You asked: Slack is kinda like IRC, no?

When it came time to build Slack, we wanted to capture the best parts of IRC in the context of running a business, add all of those ancillary services as native features, and vastly expand the group of people with whom our product could be friends.
3 min read
Mar
04

You asked: How did you communicate when Slack was down?

From the mailbag: I'd love to know how you collaborated/communicated internally when your own Slack client was
1 min read
Feb
29
Good enough to be tried by the general public (with appropriate disclaimers)

Good enough to be tried by the general public (with appropriate disclaimers)

By the summer of 2013, we knew we were on to something. The people we’d asked to try Slack
7 min read
Feb
26
Three photos of Ali Rayl and Anna Pickard from a photo wall

You asked: Release Notes

Our first topic request from the inbox, and it's a good one! [If you replied to the first
3 min read
Feb
22
An early logo treatment for Slack

"You're calling it Slack?"

It kept coming up. Someone would be talking about the app and then shake their head at the name. Sometimes
4 min read
Feb
19
Stewart, Eric, Cal, and Johnny stand by the Glitch sign at the entrance of Slack's office

Building the Slack MVP

As we got started committing ideas to code, we already knew the utilitarian aspects of Slack would work — our own
8 min read
Feb
14
Stewart Butterfield and Eric Costello, lying on a beanba

Day 1

Eight of us sat around an old wooden table in Tiny Speck’s Vancouver office. Cardboard boxes and dead batteries
9 min read