4 ms·
Why does Slack need the money?
by phantom_oracle 9y ago
Why does Slack need the money?
- throwaway5752 9y agoOnly a guess, but to let early investors cash out and then use the rest to finance their operating losses?
- look_lookatme 9y agoMy guess would be employee cash-out.
- portman 9y ago>> Slack will also let employees and other shareholders sell equity to investors as part of the deal Translation: partial liquidity for founders and early employees.
- Kiro 9y agoSo that means not all of the $250M is going into the company? How common is that?
- marcins 9y agoCommon enough, Atlassian did the same thing a few years before it's IPO - in this case all the money went to employees: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/archives/atlassian_closes_60_million_investment_from_accel_partners https://www.atlassian.com/blog/archives/atlassian_closes_60_...
- sna1l 9y agoThere was an interesting article with the CEO which adds a little color: https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/is-slack-really-worth-2-8-billion-a-conversation-with-stewart-butterfield/ https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/is-slack-really-wo...
- wastedhours 9y agoRefreshing to see someone talk openly about that sort of thing - I've never really seen the appeal of Slack as a product, but their strategy, execution and direction has been stellar.
- bsder 9y agoThey don't. But there is too much money seeking "unicorns", so you might as well vacuum it up. If you suck in $250 million and have only 500 employees, you can cruise for a very long time.
- brogrammernot 9y agoRaise money now on much more preferable terms when you don't need the money, store it in a war chest, improve morale/buy-in with "money on the table" for your employees/early investors. It's pure win for Slack right now.
- inthewoods 9y agoDeep pocketed competitors entering the space would be another answer.