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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

#461

Post by golergka »

emtel wrote: post #295

Anybody who thinks they know for sure that slack can't possibly be worth $16B should go back and read some threads from around the Facebook IPO (like this one https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4320585 ). It's very easy to write reasonable sounding things - making accurate predictions about the future is much harder.

In 2010, when I heard that Milner's DST is investing in Facebook at $10B valuation, I thought, with a complete certainty, that incompetent russian investors were getting defrauded.

Since then, when I think that some startup has a blown-up valuation, I recall that moment.

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

#462

Post by saagarjha »

raldi wrote: post #433
drawnwren wrote: post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's telling that I've seen that Dropbox comment mentioned (and here distorted to the whole thread) probably >100 times yet can't remember the threads it was mentioned in.

I don't understand what you mean about "distorted"

Actual comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224

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

#463

Post by biztos »

mstaoru wrote: post #442

Next >$16B opportunity: bring something close to Slack, but that actually works, to China. China is chat-first culture, but neither DingDing, nor Wechat Work achieved the status that Slack has in the US/EU. Problems with Slack in China: it's often blocked, it's unbearably slow, the apps are not in the stores, it's Chinese search is lacklustre, it's UI is centered on "longer" messages but Chinese language is very shor…

You'd probably need it to be very efficient in order to run on some of the cheaper mobile devices, and of course only a Chinese company would ever be allowed to succeed at that scale in China.

I could easily imagine a Chinese company coming up with Slack-but-fast-and-easily-monitored, making that >$16B in Asia, and then coming at the US/EU markets with it.

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

#464

Post by welly »

pgm8705 wrote: post #54
geodel wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and they didn't need to bend or break laws to succeed. I agree. There is no law against half-assed, bloated Electron based desktop software that can bring even recent hardware to its knees.

I've never experienced this very common criticism of slack on here. When I occasionally check, Slack is using around 500mb or RAM. A lot for a chat app? Sure. But it has little to no affect on either my 16gb or 8gb machines.

Slack is using 89mb here. I never notice it running, personally.

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

#465

Post by raverbashing »

bborud wrote: post #392
Roritharr wrote: post #5

Well deserved. Their product-vision was clear, their execution focused on what mattered... and they didn't need to bend or break laws to succeed. It's easily my favorite unicorn of the past decade.

You are not wrong :-). In fact, your second line is completely correct. However, Slack has lowered the standards for desktop software by being a really terrible piece of software. Which means that the professional in me wants to see a decent client before I'm happy. What's more worrying is that we are rapidly moving away from an Internet based on open standards and into walled gardens.

Whenever I read those "slack sucks", "jira sucks" rants I can't help but think "kids these days" are spoiled

Hate slack? Try mIRC. Oh wait what's a "netsplit"? What do you mean I can't paste pictures or code snippets without going to a 3rd party service?

Hate Jira? Try Bugzilla/Trac or a multitude of other bug trackers.

"Oh the design sucks" really? Have you tried writing a Win32 app and make it look nice? Ok, try it with Qt (old Qt). Cool huh?

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

#466

Post by saagarjha »

jillesvangurp wrote: post #352
dstaley wrote: post #110

It's still crazy to me that a $16B company can't make the financials of a true native app for Windows and macOS work. Microsoft has some real soul searching to do to fix up Windows development and make it easier and more attractive to companies. Thankfully it seems like both Microsoft and Apple are at least trying to make things easier. Apple will probably do the best with Project Catalyst (I mean, they already got T…

The pain of forking development into multiple separate teams with completely different technology stacks, bugs, and coordination overhead is just not worth it for most startups. It slows you down when you need to be able to adapt quickly. A lot of unicorns in the past would have addressed this by simply focusing on one platform initially but for an application like this that is not feasible. Even Linux support is not…

Slack is in no way a "small startup".

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

#467

Post by welly »

skribbj wrote: post #384
askafriend wrote: post #361

Slack is great. The valuation makes sense and I wish them continued success. All the integrations, and workflows that Slack has enabled for our company make us more productive. I would hate to go back to what came before it. IRC is complete trash and I don't know why anyone would use it in the same sentence as Slack. UX matters. It matters A LOT.

You have every right to think that Slack is amazing and that IRC is "complete trash" (although I completely disagree) - but please don't attribute it to UX. UX isn't just graphical design, it's also feeling responsive, fast, and accessible. Something that Slack, in my opinion, gets horribly wrong.

Curious as to what specifically you think Slack gets wrong?

Honestly, I can't find fault with it. It's such a basic and uncomplicated piece of software, I'm not sure how they could get anything wrong.

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

#468

Post by JMTQp8lwXL »

yardstick wrote: post #369
CoryG89 wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't necessarily think Slack is worth $16B any time soon, but I actually do feel like my searchable Slack history stretching back ~5 years is one of the most valuable resources I have at my fingertips on a dailt basis. The search quickly pulls up stuff from years ago even stuff from before we changed the subdomain for the org.

Before Slack, that history might have been contained in email. Which has always been available and goes back decades in my case. Slack worries me in the sense that when it’s gone so is my data, but email I’ve always got my copy.

"Might". There's a lot slack channels that I'm somewhat privy to, but otherwise would be out of the loop on if it were an e-mail. It gives me access to a lot of institutional knowledge in my organization.

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

#469

Post by nexuist »

alaties wrote: post #82
fpvracing wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is Discord superior? I haven't really used it but my first impressions are that it seems very tailored to the gaming community. I have used Slack extensively and it appears more professional. And if Discord is free, how do they make money / keep the lights on? I do worry about Slack's pricing since there is a vast chasm between their free plan and their paid plans. I use Slack to run some open source and hobbyist…

Discord attempts to monetize by offering a sales platform for game developers integrated into their chat server. https://discordapp.com/sell-your-game

This isn't the whole story. Discord also mines user data and sells it to advertisers:

"Information You Provide: We collect information from you when you voluntarily provide such information, such as when you register for access to the Services or use certain Services. Information we collect may include but not be limited to username, email address, and any messages, images, transient VOIP data (to enable communication delivery only) or other content you send via the chat feature."

"Data We Collect Automatically: When you interact with us through the Services, we receive and store certain information such as an IP address, device ID, and your activities within the Services. We may store such information or such information may be included in databases owned and maintained by affiliates, agents or service providers. The Services may use such information and pool it with other information to track, for example, the total number of visitors to our Site, the number of messages users have sent, as well as the sites which refer visitors to Discord."

"If you do not wish to receive personalized advertising that is delivered by third parties outside of the Discord Service, you may be able to exercise that choice through opt-out programs that are administered by third parties, including the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA). Our Services currently do not respond to “Do Not Track” (DNT) signals and operate as described in this Privacy Policy whether or not a DNT signal is received, as there is no consistent industry standard for compliance."

From the Discorc Privacy Policy: https://discordapp.com/privacy

I say this as an avid user of Discord, which I use on a daily - dare I say hourly - basis. I'm perfectly fine with them collecting data on my gaming habits and the harmless stuff I talk about with friends. I don't think I would be okay with running a business through them, especially one in a similar vertical.

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

#470

Post by quickthrower2 »

raverbashing wrote: post #465
bborud wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are not wrong :-). In fact, your second line is completely correct. However, Slack has lowered the standards for desktop software by being a really terrible piece of software. Which means that the professional in me wants to see a decent client before I'm happy. What's more worrying is that we are rapidly moving away from an Internet based on open standards and into walled gardens.

Whenever I read those "slack sucks", "jira sucks" rants I can't help but think "kids these days" are spoiled Hate slack? Try mIRC. Oh wait what's a "netsplit"? What do you mean I can't paste pictures or code snippets without going to a 3rd party service? Hate Jira? Try Bugzilla/Trac or a multitude of other bug trackers. "Oh the design sucks" really? Have you tried writing a Win32 app and make it look nice? Ok, try it…

Slack has resources!
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