Founder Story: Stewart Butterfield of Slack
The Unconventional Path
Stewart Butterfield's journey began far from the tech hubs of Silicon Valley. Born Dharma Jeremy Butterfield on March 21, 1973, in Lund, British Columbia, his early years were spent in a log cabin without running water or electricity. His parents, fleeing the Vietnam War draft, had joined a commune in remote Canada. It wasn't until Butterfield was five that the family moved to Victoria, bringing modern conveniences into his life.
This unconventional upbringing seemed to instill in Butterfield a unique perspective and an ability to think outside the box. By age 12, he had taught himself to code and changed his name to Stewart, foreshadowing the self-directed learning and reinvention that would characterize his career.
Butterfield's academic path was equally non-traditional for a future tech CEO. He pursued philosophy at the University of Victoria, earning his B.A. in 1996. Continuing his philosophical studies, he went on to receive a Master of Philosophy from Clare College, Cambridge in 1998.
"I live in a van down by the river. But I still use Slack constantly." - Chris Farley's ghost
This quote, while humorous, encapsulates the widespread adoption and versatility of Slack, the platform Butterfield would eventually create. But the road to Slack was far from direct.
The Failed Ventures That Led Here
Butterfield's entrepreneurial journey began in the early 2000s with a series of ventures that, while not immediately successful, laid the groundwork for his future triumphs.
In 2000, he joined forces with Jason Classon to build Gradfinder.com. Despite the bursting of the dot-com bubble, they managed to sell the company for a "healthy profit" just six months after launch. This early taste of success in the tech world would prove invaluable.
Following Gradfinder.com, Butterfield created the "5K competition," challenging designers to create websites under 5 kilobytes. This project, while seemingly small, became unexpectedly huge, attracting participants from around the world and showcasing Butterfield's knack for creating engaging online communities.
The Flickr Phenomenon
In 2002, Butterfield co-founded Ludicorp with his then-wife Caterina Fake and Jason Classon. Their initial project was an ambitious multiplayer online game called *Game Neverending*. However, when the game failed to gain traction, the team made a pivotal decision to pivot.
They took a feature from the game - photo sharing - and spun it off into a separate product. This became Flickr, launched in 2004. Flickr quickly gained popularity, revolutionizing online photo sharing with its user-friendly interface and social features.
In March 2005, Yahoo! acquired Ludicorp and Flickr for a reported $20 million. Butterfield stayed on as General Manager of Flickr at Yahoo! until 2008. This experience not only provided Butterfield with his first major exit but also valuable insights into scaling a product and navigating a large tech company.
Glitch and the Birth of Slack
After leaving Yahoo!, Butterfield was ready for a new challenge. In 2009, he co-founded Tiny Speck and began work on another multiplayer game called Glitch. The game launched in September 2011 but failed to attract a large enough audience to be sustainable.
However, it was during the development of Glitch that the seeds of Slack were sown. Butterfield and his team had created an internal communication tool to collaborate more effectively while building the game. As Glitch wound down, they realized that this tool had potential beyond their team.
"Slack had begun as an internal tool for Tiny Speck during the development of Glitch. After deciding to build a communication tool, Stewart Butterfield and his team wanted to begin at a very different starting position to a traditional business software company like Microsoft."
In August 2013, Butterfield announced the release of Slack, positioning it as an instant-message-based team communication tool. The name "Slack" itself was an acronym for "Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge".
The Slack Revolution Begins
Slack's public release in February 2014 marked the beginning of a new era in workplace communication. The platform grew at an astonishing rate of 5 to 10 percent weekly, with over 120,000 daily users registered in the first week of August 2014.
What set Slack apart was its focus on user experience and integration capabilities. Butterfield and his team applied lessons learned from consumer products like Flickr to create a business tool that was actually enjoyable to use.
"Working on Glitch, they'd learned the importance of making every interaction interesting, fun and irreverent. The very same approach was carried forward with Slack. From the start, Slack avoided all the standard hallmarks of business software. The name was a little bit edgy and the logo and color scheme were bright, cheerful and a little bit goofy."
This approach paid off. By December 2015, Slack had raised $340 million in venture capital and boasted over 2 million daily active users, including 570,000 paying customers. The company was named Inc. Magazine's 2015 company of the year.
Defining Moments
The $1 Billion Valuation
On October 31, 2014, just eight months after its public launch, Slack achieved a $1 billion valuation, making it the fastest company ever to reach unicorn status at the time. This milestone not only validated Butterfield's vision but also signaled a shift in how investors viewed enterprise software companies.
The Microsoft Challenge
In November 2016, Microsoft announced the launch of Teams, a direct competitor to Slack. In response, Slack took out a full-page ad in the New York Times, welcoming Microsoft to the market with a mix of confidence and cheek. This bold move showcased Butterfield's leadership style and Slack's corporate culture.
The Salesforce Acquisition
On December 1, 2020, Salesforce announced its plans to acquire Slack for $27.7 billion. This deal, which closed in July 2021, marked one of the largest software acquisitions in history and solidified Slack's position as a transformative force in business communication.
Innovation Philosophy
Butterfield's approach to innovation and product development is deeply rooted in his unconventional background and experiences. He emphasizes the importance of creating tools that people actually enjoy using, even in a business context.
"Create a Community of Enthusiasts... I will say that in the early days of Flickr, one of the things that made us successful was we had APIs for everything. You could just do anything you wanted and that excited people and they experimented."
This philosophy of openness and customization has been a key driver of Slack's success. By allowing developers to create integrations and custom apps, Slack has become a central hub for workplace productivity.
Butterfield also stresses the importance of being willing to pivot and recognize opportunities:
"Both of Butterfield's successful ventures were pivots away from failing startups - Flickr from a game called Game Neverending, and Slack itself from Glitch."
Industry Impact
Slack's impact on workplace communication and collaboration has been profound. The platform has:
- Reduced reliance on email for internal communication
- Increased transparency and information sharing within organizations
- Facilitated remote work by providing a central hub for team interaction
- Set new standards for user experience in enterprise software
By 2025, Slack had over 10 million daily active users and had become deeply integrated into many companies' workflows.
Personal Growth Lessons
Butterfield's journey from philosophy student to tech CEO has been marked by continuous learning and adaptation. He has often spoken about the value of his humanities background in the tech world:
"Studying philosophy taught me two things. I learned how to write really clearly. I learned how to follow an argument all the way down, which is invaluable in running meetings."
This ability to think deeply and communicate clearly has been crucial in his role as a leader and innovator.
Legacy and Future Vision
Stewart Butterfield's legacy extends far beyond the products he's created. He has shown that:
- Non-traditional backgrounds can be assets in the tech world
- Failure can be a stepping stone to success if you're willing to pivot
- Enterprise software doesn't have to be boring or difficult to use
As of 2025, Butterfield has stepped away from his role at Slack but continues to be an influential figure in the tech industry. His journey serves as an inspiration to entrepreneurs and innovators, showing that with persistence, creativity, and a willingness to adapt, it's possible to transform industries and change how millions of people work.
Closing Thoughts
Stewart Butterfield's journey from a remote Canadian commune to Silicon Valley success story is a testament to the power of adaptability, vision, and user-centric design. Twice, he set out to create video games and ended up revolutionizing communication instead. This ability to recognize and capitalize on unexpected opportunities has been the hallmark of his career.
Butterfield's story reminds us that innovation often comes from unexpected places. His background in philosophy, far from being a hindrance, provided him with the critical thinking skills and unique perspective needed to approach problems in novel ways. In an industry often dominated by computer science graduates, Butterfield's success underscores the value of diverse backgrounds and interdisciplinary thinking in tech.
As we look to the future of work and communication, Butterfield's legacy serves as a powerful reminder: the most transformative ideas often arise not from trying to create the next big thing, but from solving real problems and being open to where those solutions might lead.
References
- https://buildd.co/startup/founder-stories/stewart-butterfield
- https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/stewart-butterfield-salvaging-good
- https://kids.kiddle.co/Stewart_Butterfield
- https://www.unicorngrowth.io/p/stewart-butterfield-slack
- https://www.goodreturns.in/stewart-butterfield-net-worth-and-biography-blnr2147.html
- https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3296916/meet-silicon-valley-power-couple-stewart-butterfield-and-jen-rubio-he-co-founded-flickr-and-slack
- https://mathewingram.com/work/2024/01/28/stewart-butterfield-and-slack-his-second-accidental-success-story/
- https://www.businessinsider.nl/amazing-life-of-slack-ceo-stewart-butterfield-2015-9?international=true&r=US
- https://www.justgogrind.com/p/stewart-butterfield-lessons
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_Butterfield