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Slack Is Going Public at a $16B Valuation

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Re: Slack Is Going Public at a $16B Valuation

#201

Post by bigiain »

carlosdp wrote: post #147
Apocryphon wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the same way Linux is perpetually the future of desktop?

Not really comparable, the web already has massive adoption, just needs to get better at high-performance client apps. And with WebAssembly + PWAs, and WebGPU in development, it's getting very close.

"Linux already has massive adoption in the server and embedded spaces, just needs to get better at office-related client apps"...

2019, celebrating the eleventh consecutive "This is the Year of Linux on the desktop"...

Re: Slack Is Going Public at a $16B Valuation

#202

Post by mehrdadn »

bjoernw wrote: post #198
mehrdadn wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was as far as I was able to tell when I checked many months ago. I've seen no indications that anything has changed, but would love to hear otherwise...

"Corporate Export On the Plus plan, Workspace Owners can apply to access a self-service tool called Corporate Export. This type of export includes content from public and private channels and direct messages. If Corporate Export is enabled for your workspace, Standard Export will not be available." https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/201658943-Export-yo...

Yes, which means they hold your data hostage until you pay, exactly like I said.

Re: Slack Is Going Public at a $16B Valuation

#203

Post by narag »

scarface74 wrote: post #197
narag wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry I wasn't clear. The underlying problem is piracy. Big players like Adobe can still use the subscription model. For most vendors, the easiest choice is going the web route. Deployment is another PITA that makes App Store model desirable for the vendors. For Apple and Microsoft it's even better because they get a cut, they curate their platforms and have the upper hand over vendors lest they become competition.

I doubt that Slack would ever offer subscriptions through the App Store.

With $16B valuation they can afford not to, of course.

Re: Slack Is Going Public at a $16B Valuation

#204

Post by barefootcoder »

starchild_3001 wrote: post #188

Slack is a great product (vs email or public chat alternatives). I wish them the best expanding their user base. Are they worth 16B? None of the armchair investors here know their financials (addressable market size, user growth rate, expected ARPU etc). Until a careful analysis done, I would caution you against coming to a quick conclusion.

Why do you say that it's good vs email? In my mind they're for different purposes.

Slack for urgent matters, email for asynchronous communication that isn't quite as urgent. Email is also better for things that the recipient may want to refer back to in the future.

Regardless, I wish that my co-workers would stop sending a message only saying "hi, name" and then waiting for me to stop working to respond before they type their actual question. "not only am I going to interrupt you, but I'm going to make you acknowledge the interruption before making you wait while I SLOWLY type the actual incomplete question".

Re: Slack Is Going Public at a $16B Valuation

#205

Post by count »

tjpnz wrote: post #189

Just throwing out there but has Slack genuinely improved the work lives of anybody? I've used it for my past two jobs and have yet to find a way of using it that doesn't destroy my productivity or make me genuinely afraid of receiving a message and being thrown off what I was doing.

Yes. Working in a fully distributed team, irc+pictures is great.

It's on you to manage your interruptions (it's easy to kill them totally, or to customize what you see). If you just take it all, then yeah, I can see that being a living hell. So like, don't do that.

Re: Slack Is Going Public at a $16B Valuation

#206

Post by astrodust »

fpvracing wrote: post #174
enjo wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m starting to see Slack show up in all sorts of places far beyond software development teams. Accounting firms, non profits, and even a home inspector I worked with... I can’t imagine they’re even close full market penetration.

I use Slack frequently in about 20 different open source, interest-based, educational and hobbyist communities. I also use it frequently as part of small teams set up for various projects.

This is why being able to aggregate multiple channels into a single window would be a huge win. Right now you have to flip between multiple "tabs" to find anything.

Re: Slack Is Going Public at a $16B Valuation

#207

Post by marcrosoft »

scarface74 wrote: post #200
marcrosoft wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is actually much more convenient for users. They can switch computers/phone/OSes and have the same experience. The same is not true with native apps.

I don’t want the same experience cross platforms. I don’t want the “Mac experience” when I am using Windows (see iTunes) or the “Windows experience” when I am using a Mac (old versions of Office).

No, what you want is the same experience. Which is what the web gives you. What you are describing is native apps trying to replicate the same experience and failing because they are native.

Edit: Native apps require more maintenance which adds to the delta in experience. If a single app is created (web) there is no delta.

Re: Slack Is Going Public at a $16B Valuation

#208

Post by [deleted] »

count wrote: post #205
tjpnz wrote: post #189

Just throwing out there but has Slack genuinely improved the work lives of anybody? I've used it for my past two jobs and have yet to find a way of using it that doesn't destroy my productivity or make me genuinely afraid of receiving a message and being thrown off what I was doing.

Yes. Working in a fully distributed team, irc+pictures is great. It's on you to manage your interruptions (it's easy to kill them totally, or to customize what you see). If you just take it all, then yeah, I can see that being a living hell. So like, don't do that.

[deleted]

Re: Slack Is Going Public at a $16B Valuation

#209

Post by collinf »

tjpnz wrote: post #189

Just throwing out there but has Slack genuinely improved the work lives of anybody? I've used it for my past two jobs and have yet to find a way of using it that doesn't destroy my productivity or make me genuinely afraid of receiving a message and being thrown off what I was doing.

Yeah it's a total hog of attention. At the company I just left, you could walk through our office and 90% of people were just talking on Slack. What a waste of engineering time.

We were pretty invested in ChatOps which I thought was great. Being able to issue commands in any sort of war room situation with a group of people was definitely helpful for that sort of triaging. Of course, the downside being that depending on Slack to be up to do effective operations isn't super appealing to me.

Of course people have been doing this with IRC forever, but Slack is a definite improvement on this front over Skype.

Re: Slack Is Going Public at a $16B Valuation

#210

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

tjpnz wrote: post #189

Just throwing out there but has Slack genuinely improved the work lives of anybody? I've used it for my past two jobs and have yet to find a way of using it that doesn't destroy my productivity or make me genuinely afraid of receiving a message and being thrown off what I was doing.

Absolutely. It’s allowed my 10 second questions to take 10 seconds, instead of 10 seconds of talking after 10 (non-contiguous) minutes of trying to guess when the person will be at their desk.

I definitely don’t feel pressure to answer Slack messages when I’m actively working on something, though. I imagine it’d be pretty bad if we had that kind of environment.

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