As you’d expect.įacebook, Google, Microsoft and the other tech titans beat Slack on distribution alone but Slack appears to be winning on one key dimension: engagement. Facebook’s 2bn+ dwarfs Slack in sheer user numbers.

Slack has an estimated user base of 5m (as of 2017). As competition increases, out-funding your competition is certainly one way of winning.Ĭomparing Slack’s metrics to larger competitors, however, Slack is miniscule. This is one of the many reasons Slack is popular: it has simply outpaced its smaller rivals in funding terms. It has raised over $500m to date and is on course to raise more, with an eye-watering valuation of over $5bn. Slack was founded in 2009, so in the grand scheme of startups it’s actually been around for a little while now. The question that springs to my mind is ‘why?’ Why is it, that 1 particular workplace messaging tool suddenly seems to be one of the most commonly used applications by tech professionals on a daily basis? It’s madness, but it does tell us 1 thing: Slack is disgustingly popular. Typing to the colleagues they spent $900 to get away from for 1 day. They’re physically in the room but they are far, far away.

Go to any conference and you’ll notice 1 thing: a small, but substantial number of hyperactive humans aren’t fully present at the conference.

What does slack do