When a failed game became a billion-dollar tool

Slack's Accidental Pivot

It started with a game

The Origin

2011.

Tiny Speck launches Glitch.

Massively multiplayer.

Whimsical. Artistic.

Except, One problem

Except, One problem

Not

enough

users.

When the game dies

The Failure

December 2012

Glitch shuts down

Glitch shuts down

Arrow

Team scatters

Morale low

Future unclear

Arrow
Arrow

But something survives.

Not the game.

Arrow

An internal tool  they built.

What they ignored. Almost.

The Tool

A channel-based

application

chat

The team built 'Linefeed'

✔ Searchable

✔ Highly Efficient

✔ Fast

The team built 'Linefeed'

Demand Arrives

Demand Arrives

Other teams catch up

From Linefeed to Slack

The Rebuild

They rebuild it for the world

They rebuild it for the world

S.L.A.C.K.

New Name

Scribbled Arrow

Knowledge

and 

Conversation

All

Log of

Searchable

Waitlist explodes.

The product sells itself.

Private beta launches.

August 2013.

Three accidental advantages

Why It Worked

They built for themselves first.

No guesswork.

Just hunger.

1) Built by Dogfooding

1) Built by Dogfooding

Glitch died.

But the workflow survived.

Smart. Fast. Practical.

2) Designed for Delight

2) Designed for Delight

From multiplayer mayhem

to team clarity.

Channels made sense.

3) Channel Structure

3) Channel Structure

What do we learn?

The Takeaway

discovering

We Learn That

what matters.

Not every success comes with

defining the vision.

Sometimes it comes with

- Keep upskilling.

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