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Too many startups go the easy route once they get significant funding – go on a hiring spree.

In my opinion, per-employee metrics (ie. revenue/profit per employee) are a great way to make sure that you don't overhire [1].

[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/revenue-per-employee-at-apple...

how: they've raised over half a billion dollars.

my own question is "why." slack is by no means a trivial business to run but 800 does seem awfully high.

Is Whatsapp a good comparison in terms of product? I remember reading the engineering team there before they got purchased was less than 50 members.

My exact thought. Good thing I Control + F'd "800" before duplicating your comment.

800 employees is especially insane for a serial entrepreneur like Stuart Butterfield who should know better. Then again, the Twitter guys including Ev Williams were serial entrepreneurs and yet the overhired too. It seems an interesting coincidence in the technology sector that viral user growth often can lead to viral hiring.

Makes the argument some were making for their use of Electron seem less relevant.

Finance, marketing, HR, recruiting...

Slack claims to not have a sales team.

If they want to get enterprise level customers, they better think about getting one.