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>> Revenue rose to $145 million from $92 million a year earlier. Slack said it had more than 100,000 paying customers, a 37 percent increase over last year. T

>> Revenue rose to $145 million from $92 million a year earlier. Slack said it had more than 100,000 paying customers, a 37 percent increase over last year. They should be fine. $307m of the loss was stock-related compensation. How could you screw up a business who has a product as popular as Slack?

kennyadam 7y ago
By taking too much investment, needing to pay back too much so you end up destroying your business for short term gains. edit: Just look at what's happening to Patreon
- wlesieutre 7y ago
  What’s happening to Patreon?
- fortran77 7y ago
  Staffing way too high, too!
- kwerk 7y ago
  I’m out of the loop. What’s happening with Patreon?
  - collyw 7y ago
    They got a big pushback after deciding that they (wrongly) thought that they were a content provider platform and not a payment platform and started banning users with political views they didn't like.
    - kaushikt 7y ago
      Genuine question: How could a company confuse of what they mean to their users by such a huge margin? A content provider vs payment platform. Woah!
      - nathanaldensr 7y ago
        They aren't confusing it. It's part of the lie these companies tend to construct--if they say they are something, over time, they hope everyone believes it. "We aren't just a <boring commoditized alread-solved problem> (even though they are), we're a <fancy amalgamation of things you never thought possible>!"
    - judge2020 7y ago
      I think this is what you're referring to[0]; it only happened because Visa, MC, and Paypal can dangle their source of revenue over their heads any time they want something changed or a creator removed. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17432801 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17432801
      - collyw 7y ago
        That appears to be about adult content (porn I assume). I was referring to Carl Benjamin being removed. Jordan Peterson and Sam Harris, who were two of Paterson biggest earners removed themselves as a result and encouraged others to do the same. https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/17/jordan-peterson-sam-harris-patreon/ https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/17/jordan-peterson-sam-harri...
mattmanser 7y ago
Might say the same about ICQ, Skype, Messenger, etc. All communications platforms so far have come and gone in vogue. I remember in 2005 when everyone in our office communicated over MS Messenger. Maybe Slack is to instant messaging as Facebook was to social networking and will get some longevity. But it's too early to tell yet.
- dageshi 7y ago
  Did any of those really have paid tiers that people actually used? People do pay for slack in a way that I don't ever recall them paying for those, partly I think because there are many more online only/remote businesses now than back then.
- swarnie_ 7y ago
  I use Skype daily and have never had a problem with it, I've never understood the hate if i'm honest.
  - judge2020 7y ago
    At least a few years ago, I remember the bigger issues were: - no message history past a few months - the redesign made it look like a phone messaging app - poor group chat functionality that didn't have anything beyond basic permissions - calls were peer-to-peer for the longest time, making it mostly trivial to get someone's residential IP and DDOS their network. It might have improved since then (I know calls are no longer P2P) but that's why a large portion of the gamers moved to Discord.
  - mosselman 7y ago
    The Skype of today is crap compared to the first Skype I used and loved. It is completely unclear what it tries to be now and the interface is horrible. I have an unlimited-Europe plan with it and a phone number attached to it, but I'd rather use something else some day. I haven't found any cheaper alternatives though. Maybe someone here can point one out to me.
    - 7y ago
sct202 7y ago
Why wouldn't stock based compensation count as equivalent to wage expenses? I saw similar comments about Uber/Lyft's loses being primarily made up of stock comp loss, but would all the people getting the stock still work there if they weren't getting paid stock?
rrss 7y ago
> after it predicts a larger loss IMO the bigger issue here is there expectations to lose 9c / share next quarter, which isn't explained by that $307 M last quarter.
scarface74 7y ago
Ask Yahoo, Uber and Lyft. Just because a product is popular doesn’t mean it’s a good business. It also amazes me that people hand wave compensation as a “real” expense....
dpark 7y ago
They paid out double their revenue in stock? That doesn’t sound fine. It sounds like their costs are over 3 times their revenue.
s17n 7y ago
Google and Microsoft are both offering equivalent products for free. I don't think Slack has established that they can maintain their pricing and continue to grow.

kennyadam 7y ago

By taking too much investment, needing to pay back too much so you end up destroying your business for short term gains. edit: Just look at what's happening to Patreon

wlesieutre 7y ago
What’s happening to Patreon?
fortran77 7y ago
Staffing way too high, too!
kwerk 7y ago
I’m out of the loop. What’s happening with Patreon?
- collyw 7y ago
  They got a big pushback after deciding that they (wrongly) thought that they were a content provider platform and not a payment platform and started banning users with political views they didn't like.
  - kaushikt 7y ago
    Genuine question: How could a company confuse of what they mean to their users by such a huge margin? A content provider vs payment platform. Woah!
    - nathanaldensr 7y ago
      They aren't confusing it. It's part of the lie these companies tend to construct--if they say they are something, over time, they hope everyone believes it. "We aren't just a <boring commoditized alread-solved problem> (even though they are), we're a <fancy amalgamation of things you never thought possible>!"
  - judge2020 7y ago
    I think this is what you're referring to[0]; it only happened because Visa, MC, and Paypal can dangle their source of revenue over their heads any time they want something changed or a creator removed. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17432801 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17432801
    - collyw 7y ago
      That appears to be about adult content (porn I assume). I was referring to Carl Benjamin being removed. Jordan Peterson and Sam Harris, who were two of Paterson biggest earners removed themselves as a result and encouraged others to do the same. https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/17/jordan-peterson-sam-harris-patreon/ https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/17/jordan-peterson-sam-harri...

mattmanser 7y ago

Might say the same about ICQ, Skype, Messenger, etc. All communications platforms so far have come and gone in vogue. I remember in 2005 when everyone in our office communicated over MS Messenger. Maybe Slack is to instant messaging as Facebook was to social networking and will get some longevity. But it's too early to tell yet.

dageshi 7y ago
Did any of those really have paid tiers that people actually used? People do pay for slack in a way that I don't ever recall them paying for those, partly I think because there are many more online only/remote businesses now than back then.
swarnie_ 7y ago
I use Skype daily and have never had a problem with it, I've never understood the hate if i'm honest.
- judge2020 7y ago
  At least a few years ago, I remember the bigger issues were: - no message history past a few months - the redesign made it look like a phone messaging app - poor group chat functionality that didn't have anything beyond basic permissions - calls were peer-to-peer for the longest time, making it mostly trivial to get someone's residential IP and DDOS their network. It might have improved since then (I know calls are no longer P2P) but that's why a large portion of the gamers moved to Discord.
- mosselman 7y ago
  The Skype of today is crap compared to the first Skype I used and loved. It is completely unclear what it tries to be now and the interface is horrible. I have an unlimited-Europe plan with it and a phone number attached to it, but I'd rather use something else some day. I haven't found any cheaper alternatives though. Maybe someone here can point one out to me.
  - 7y ago

sct202 7y ago

Why wouldn't stock based compensation count as equivalent to wage expenses? I saw similar comments about Uber/Lyft's loses being primarily made up of stock comp loss, but would all the people getting the stock still work there if they weren't getting paid stock?

rrss 7y ago

> after it predicts a larger loss IMO the bigger issue here is there expectations to lose 9c / share next quarter, which isn't explained by that $307 M last quarter.

scarface74 7y ago

Ask Yahoo, Uber and Lyft. Just because a product is popular doesn’t mean it’s a good business. It also amazes me that people hand wave compensation as a “real” expense....

dpark 7y ago

They paid out double their revenue in stock? That doesn’t sound fine. It sounds like their costs are over 3 times their revenue.

s17n 7y ago

Google and Microsoft are both offering equivalent products for free. I don't think Slack has established that they can maintain their pricing and continue to grow.