The initial project Stewart Butterfield developed at his company Ludicorp was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game called Game Neverending, which ultimately failed to launch. This pivot led to the creation of Flickr, a photo-sharing platform that defined his early career before he successfully moved into the team communication sector with the development of Slack.
Early Education and Background
Born in 1973 in Lund, British Columbia, Butterfield spent his first five years in a log cabin without electricity or running water. His family relocated to Victoria when he was five. During his time at the University of Victoria, he earned a B.A. in philosophy in 1996 before attending Clare College, Cambridge, to obtain a Master of Philosophy in 1998, focusing his thesis on 19th-century scientific thinkers.
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Take the IQ test →The Transition from Games to Flickr
In 2002, Butterfield co-founded Ludicorp in Vancouver alongside Caterina Fake and Jason Classon. After the struggle to launch Game Neverending, the team shifted focus to Flickr. Yahoo! acquired the company in March 2005, and Butterfield served as the general manager of the platform until his departure on July 12, 2008.
Building Slack
In 2009, Butterfield co-founded Tiny Speck, which released the game Glitch on September 27, 2011. Following the failure of the game to gain traction and its eventual shutdown in 2012, the underlying team communication tool developed during the process was launched as Slack in February 2014. The platform experienced rapid adoption, reaching 2 million daily active users by December 2015.
Market Expansion and Acquisition
Slack went public in June 2019 with an opening price of $38.50 per share and a market valuation of $21.4 billion. Salesforce announced plans to acquire Slack Technologies for $27.7 billion in December 2020. Butterfield continued as CEO until his announced departure in December 2022, officially leaving the firm in January 2023.
Fast facts
- Born: 1973, Lund, Canada
- Education: University of Victoria, Clare College
- Flickr acquisition by Yahoo!: March 2005
- Slack public release: February 2014
- Salesforce acquisition of Slack: December 2020
- Departure from Slack CEO role: January 2023
Questions readers ask
What was the original purpose of the company that became Slack?
The company, originally named Tiny Speck, was founded to develop a massively multiplayer game called Glitch.
Did Stewart Butterfield attend university in the United States?
No, he attended the University of Victoria in Canada and Clare College in Cambridge.
Achievements
- Affiliated with Slack Technologies and Flickr
- Educated at University of Victoria and Clare College
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