Stewart Butterfield: From Flickr to Slack, Redefining Team Communication

Stewart Butterfield's journey in tech is a story of adaptability and vision, marked by both failures and major successes. Best known as the co-founder of Flickr and Slack, Butterfield has played a pivotal role in reshaping how people share photos and, later, how they communicate at work. Here's the story of how a failed gaming venture evolved into one of the most widely used collaboration platforms today.

From Game Design to Photo Sharing

In the early 2000s, Stewart Butterfield's tech career took off with the creation of Flickr, a photo-sharing platform he co-founded in 2002 with his then-wife Caterina Fake. Initially, the idea behind Flickr was to create a feature for an online multiplayer game. When the game faltered, Butterfield pivoted to focus on the photo-sharing aspect, leading to the birth of Flickr. This decision proved fruitful—Yahoo acquired Flickr in 2005 for around $25 million. Butterfield stayed on as General Manager for three years before leaving Yahoo in 2008, seeking new opportunities.

The Glitch That Led to Slack

In 2009, Butterfield co-founded Tiny Speck, a startup focused on developing a new multiplayer online game called Glitch. Despite building a community around it, Glitch struggled to gain the traction needed for long-term success. By 2012, Butterfield made the difficult decision to shut down the game. However, one of the tools Tiny Speck had built internally—a messaging system for team communication—showed promise.

Recognizing the potential of this tool, Butterfield decided to pivot once again. He rebranded Tiny Speck's team messaging tool as Slack, aiming to improve workplace communication by creating a user-friendly platform that would reduce email reliance and streamline team collaboration.

Slack’s Meteoric Rise

Slack launched publicly in 2014, quickly gaining attention for its seamless user experience, real-time messaging, and integrations with other productivity apps like Google Drive, Trello, and more. Within two years, Slack became the fastest-growing business application in history, boasting over 1.25 million daily active users by 2016. It tapped into the growing demand for remote work solutions, offering a freemium model that allowed small teams to use its core features for free while offering premium plans for larger organizations.

Butterfield's vision of making workplace communication as effortless as chatting with friends proved to be the right approach at the right time. By 2019, Slack went public through a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange, achieving a valuation of over $20 billion at its peak.

Collaboration with Co-Founder Cal Henderson

While Stewart Butterfield was the face of Slack, co-founder Cal Henderson played a crucial role as the company's Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Henderson, who had previously worked with Butterfield at Flickr, brought his technical expertise to the table. He was instrumental in building Slack’s core infrastructure, ensuring that it could scale to meet the needs of millions of users worldwide. Together, Butterfield and Henderson formed a dynamic duo that drove Slack’s product-focused culture and rapid growth.

The Acquisition by Salesforce

Slack’s success caught the attention of tech giants, and in 2020, Salesforce announced its acquisition of Slack for a staggering $27.7 billion. The deal was finalized in 2021, marking one of the largest acquisitions in tech history. For Butterfield, it was the culmination of a journey that began with a failed game and evolved into a platform that became a lifeline for remote teams during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With Slack now a part of Salesforce's suite, it continues to play a significant role in enterprise communication, integrating with Salesforce's offerings to create a more seamless experience for businesses worldwide.

Overview in Numbers

• Founding Year: 2014 (Slack Technologies)

• Founders: Stewart Butterfield, Cal Henderson

• Headquarters: San Francisco, California, USA

• Employees: Over 2,000 as of 2021

• Valuation: $27.7 billion (acquisition by Salesforce)

• Users: Millions of daily active users globally

• Business Model: Freemium, with paid tiers for additional features

• Acquisition: Acquired by Salesforce in 2021 for $27.7 billion