Introduction

Slack is a messaging app that facilitates communication between members of a team using text, voice, and video. Users can form channels to collaborate on a joint project or discuss a common interest. The Slack app can be used on a computer or a mobile device. Slack's business model revolves around charging users a membership fee regularly. There are three options to choose from with this company. These strategies are designed for enterprises of all sizes. The company was founded in 2013 by seasoned businesspeople, quickly gaining widespread popularity. Slack was worth $1.12 billion just eight months after it was launched. Slack finally went public in 2019 after years of steady growth.

How does Slack work?

Slack is a platform for instant messaging and team collaboration that can be connected to more than 2,400 other applications through its application programming interface (API). It was initially made in 2013 for Tiny Speck, a video game company, to use internally to create the online game Glitch. After the release of Slack in August 2014, the firm changed its name to Slack Technologies.

Slack's business model (in the year 2022) is as follows:

Subscription Service

Since Slack is a SaaS business, its revenue comes from users paying a monthly fee to access the service. Slack now boasts over 169,000 paid customers. There are over 1,200 users who pay $100,000 or more annually for the Slack software, with another 113 paying $1 million annually or more.

Slack's Subsidiaries, Acquisitions, And Exits

Salesforce paid $27.7 billion to acquire Slack, although Slack has also made other acquisitions. Slack Technologies has bought eight companies so far. In addition, Slack made 24 investments, eight of which were lead and two of which were ultimately exited.

Future Plans

In terms of popularity as a tool for office workers to collaborate, it seemed to explode. Slack funded $42.8 million and was valued at $250 million in April, just a few months after its inception. Investors in startup companies took notice of the hype and the widespread use of the software in their portfolios. Because of Butterfield's track record as a successful entrepreneur, Slack receives up to ten funding offers per week.

Customer Centricity & Rapid Growth:

On the contrary hand, Slack put a premium on knowing its clients while startups concentrated on scaling rapidly. They didn't title it Beta since that would give the impression that the product was still in its infancy and unreliable when it was released in August 2013. The "Invitation Only" growth strategy was implemented by Slack. Slack had an initial demand of 8,000 invitation requests on the first day of preview and an additional 15,000 requests the following week.

Secure Working Environment

Regarding the safety of your Slack account, you can use the two-factor authentication option. Even if the user forgets his password, he can still use the system. Safe access through a third-party authentication provider is also possible with SAML-based SSO.

Trackable History

Slack logs activity and archives channel conversations for later perusal. Channels in Slack may be deleted or archived, but content put out there will always be available.

Audio And Video Calls

Slack also allows you to make free audio and video calls to 15 people. Making a call is less cumbersome now that you don't have to jump between several apps like Skype, Google Hangouts, and Slack.

Integration

Slack is unlike other online IM and collaboration systems because of its integration options. There are essential project management tools that Slack does not have.

Bots

Many different kinds of bots are used in Slack to carry out many different types of activities. Keep track of ideas and set reminders with the help of a Slackbot. To help channel-discover relevant news and websites, Digg It provides a helpful service. The number of Bots is relatively high. The ability to create one's unique Bot is even more thrilling.

Slack Business Model

The Slack business strategy is called "freemium." This essentially means that a trial version is provided without cost. Consumers can upgrade to paying clients if they're interested in accessing more sophisticated features. It blends a freemium business model with a direct sales team to attract high-value corporate clients. Over half a million organisations use the company for free, while another 575 pay $100,000 annually to use the service. About 40% of 2019 Slack revenue came from paying users who were not part of the company's original founding team.

Conclusion:

More than 600,000 businesses with three or more employees utilise Slack. As of April 30, 2019, more than 95,000 businesses had subscribed. In the fiscal year ending January 31, 2019, Slack reported revenue of $400.6 million, an increase of 82% from the prior year, albeit at a slower rate of growth. In FY 2019, Slack had a net loss of $138.9 million. Slack's fair billing approach means that, unlike many rivals, it only charges businesses for actively used accounts.