Andrei Soroker on startups getting everything wrong
blog.officehours.io
blog.officehours.io
I've set up an SMS alert that reminds me each morning to "pay it forward". Andrei is right, helping people without asking for anything in return is actually the best way to get something in return.
Also I like how Stewart Butterfield is kind of honest when trying kato. What I wonder is why he didn't try to hire the team for helping build Slack.
Plus, he’s willing to up-end any approach, just to see if something else works better. He’s perhaps the most software-agnostic guy I’ve met. Part of this, I think, relates to him trying out so many new products—in part to support other founders.
I look upon the chat between Stewart and Andrei as an interesting historic document. Of course Stewart and his colleagues needed to check out the competition. That said, I know that selling the idea at the time was really difficult, with Kato.
From what Andrei tells me, VCs largely didn’t believe in their vision for chat replacing email. A while after this interaction, those same VCs were all on Slack.
If I were Andrei, I’d still be a little sore about that. He takes it differently, though, and knows it’s part of the deal. I think that’s pretty admirable.
BTW: If you want another way to pay it forward, feel free to sign up on http://www.officehours.io as an advisor.
It's normal to check what the competition does, but in the case of a company performing really well, it's always of use to have the brightest people with you, not against; even when you know you can crush them with money & reputation..
I'll think about becoming an advisor, looks like a great way to have a better footprint on society.
And you’re right. Slack’s moves all seem well considered and impeccably executed. Stewart and his people appear to have a remarkable ability for exciting its user base.
Thanks for looking at Officehours, and considering offering sessions. It’s pretty neat to watch people connect on there, and create new relationships. (It’s sort of surprising to see how even 10 minutes of one-on-one interaction can start to build something.)
Alternately, you could get a one-on-one with him on Officehours, and get some more direct insight: https://officehours.io/people/abs
In short, Slack is the first company in this space that had, and used heavy artillery.
Atlassian had heavy artillery for HipChat, but didn't use it.
Slack is the reason no one will ever have to convince investors that team chat is "a thing"—and that's an enormous accomplishment.
(Part of the challenge of differentiating ideas is that even bad ideas can seem OK when you use artillery on them.)
(What I will be wondering about is:) Now that we know that team chat actually was a fantastic business opportunity, and the primary missing piece was that no one had executed on it well enough yet, what signs could we have looked for but missed to tell us that? And can we look for those signs in new opportunities?