Inside Slack's Salesforce culture clash: Benioff didn't use Slack and had ~1 hour with CEO Butterfield pre-deal; Butterfield quit after a Davos will.i.am panel
I needed a keyboard. — I stood at my reserved desk on the 7th floor of Salesforce's tower in Vancouver around 9am.
Discussion
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@marcosluis2186
Marcos Ortiz
on x
It's just sad to read this https://buildingslack.com/... Now I understand more about why Stewart left the company just 18 months after the acquisition. Is this the “Ohana” they brag about?
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@briannekimmel
Brianne Kimmel
on x
This is an excellent example of how to document company lore. The Slack story is a compelling illustration of a startup with clear values getting absorbed by a massive corporate machine. It's a wild read for startup people, maybe unsurprising for anyone who has worked in a big co…
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@shpigford
Josh Pigford
on x
what a sad read. :(
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@shawnchittle
Shawn G. Chittle
on x
Great read on Slack being bought by Salesforce. I was a “Slacktavist” going as far to tell companies wanting to hire me, no Slack, no Shawn. I tried to get it deployed at NASA to break down silos. The last time I used Slack for work was 2022. 😔
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@thedealdirector
@thedealdirector
on x
Imagine struggling to grasp the basics of Slack's sales motion and value prop. Never change, Salesforce.
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@stevemoraco
Steve
on x
Holy salesforce take down. Oh my.
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@chrismunns
Chris Munns
on x
The parallels to big company experience I've seen here really got me. Once past a certain tipping point it's all the same machinery and politics and tier two and three players just trying to empire build. The bit about constant forced “training” 😮💨
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@danhightower
Dan Hightower
on x
You open Slack. Looking for a convo you had with someone 5 months ago. You ask your coworker if they know where it is. They don't. Search doesn't work. You wince as you click Slackbot and emotionally prepare yourself for the bot to swing and miss. Slackbot proudly surfaces the ch…
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@freialobo
@freialobo
on x
a lot of gems in this but i particularly enjoyed this anecdote on Stewart Butterfield's breaking point at slackforce
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@svmansuri
@svmansuri
on x
2016: Stewart Butterfield shows he understands nothing about enterprise sales. 2026: Turns out nobody understood enterprise sales at Slack.
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@sarthakgh
@sarthakgh
on x
Sar Haribhakti — “Stewart was brought in under Salesforce's Bret Taylor, who soon after became co-CEO alongside Marc Benioff.
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@johnnyrodgersis
Johnny Rodgers
on x
Latest (and probably penultimate) Building Slack post is up: https://buildingslack.com/... What it's like being eaten by the whale
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@amix3k
Amir Salihefendić
on x
So soul-crushing to read. Slack could have been an incredible independent company, especially in the age of AI and agents. I know $27B is an insane amount of money, but I am 100% sure they regret selling. I know I would, especially after reading this. No amount of money can justi…
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@chrisharihar
Chris Harihar
on x
This is exactly what people suspect Salesforce is like.
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@kellblog
Dave Kellogg
on x
There are many potential takeaways here but I'll share my top ones. 1. In acquiring at-scale companies, culture matters a lot. You can mix a little water into a lot of oil, but you can't mix a lot. Acquirers can impose their culture on tuck-ins and small deals, but on big ones, t…
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@pitdesi
Sheel Mohnot
on x
Wow, Stewart Butterfield had just ONE HOUR of total face time with Marc Benioff before Salesforce announced its $27.7B acquisition of Slack, the second-largest software acquisition in history at the time. “My last meeting with him was cut short because McConaughey arrived.
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@kurt
Kurt Schrader
on x
It kind of feels to me like there is more to this than what's being reported here. Story time: One time Marc Benioff DMed me on Twitter to ask me a question about all of the Clubhouse stuff that was going on (and that I was inadvertently swept up in the middle of) We ended up goi…