# Slack & Flickr: Stewart Butterfield

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2018-07-30
- Length: 1h 03m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-07-30-slack-flickr-stewart-butterfield

## Summary

Stewart Butterfield, co-founder of Slack and Flickr, recounts his journey from building the failed online game Game Never Ending to creating Flickr, which he sold to Yahoo, and then pivoting from the second failed game, Glitch, to build Slack. He details the specific challenges of raising capital for enterprise software, the difficulty of selling a communication tool that requires network effects, and the rapid scaling of Slack from an 8-person team to a massive organization. The episode also highlights the importance of organizational performance over individual genius and the role of luck in startup success.

## Chapters

- [0:53](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-07-30-slack-flickr-stewart-butterfield#t=53) Introduction: Stewart Butterfield and the Art of the Pivot
- [5:37](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-07-30-slack-flickr-stewart-butterfield#t=337) Early Ventures: Communicate.com and Gradfinder
- [10:25](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-07-30-slack-flickr-stewart-butterfield#t=625) Game Never Ending and the Birth of Flickr
- [17:54](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-07-30-slack-flickr-stewart-butterfield#t=1074) Flickr's Launch, Growth, and Acquisition by Yahoo
- [27:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-07-30-slack-flickr-stewart-butterfield#t=1635) The Second Game: Glitch and Its Failure
- [35:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-07-30-slack-flickr-stewart-butterfield#t=2133) Pivoting to Slack: From Internal Tool to Product
- [41:06](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-07-30-slack-flickr-stewart-butterfield#t=2466) Selling Slack: Overcoming Skepticism and Network Effects
- [49:07](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-07-30-slack-flickr-stewart-butterfield#t=2947) Scaling Slack and the Role of Luck in Success

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Fundraising & investors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/fundraising)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)

## Most relevant to

founders before launch, early-stage companies, companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Slack (product)
- Flickr (product)
- Yahoo (company)
- Glitch (product)
- Game Never Ending (product)
- Gradfinder (product)
- Communicate.com (company)
- Andreesen Horowitz (company)
- Dell (company)
- Google (company)
- Blogger (product)
- Ask Jeeves (company)
- Audio (company)
- Abby's Better (product)
- Wegmans (company)
- Lowe's (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Fail Whaling](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-04-26-fail-whaling) (Oxide and Friends)
- [Rooting for the Home Team with Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2026-05-27-rooting-for-the-home-team-with-paul-freedman-and-bryan-carmel) (Oxide and Friends)
- [CES 2019 Special: Stas Gayshan, CIC-Boston](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ee-times-current/2019-01-16-ces-2019-special-stas-gayshan-cic-boston) (EE Times Current)
- [S4E39 Kyle Valiton | Common Pitfalls of Startups, Dealing With Stress, Setting Budgets](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2023-10-13-s4e39-kyle-valiton-common-pitfalls-of-startups-dealing-with-stress-setting-budge) (Being an Engineer)
- [Founder + Funder: Fundraising, Founder-Investor Fit, and Building the Next Big Breakfast Brand with Emily Groden of Evergreen and Brian Bernstein of Rich Products Ventures](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2026-06-20-founder-funder-fundraising-founder-investor-fit-and-building-the-next-big-breakf) (The Startup CPG Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2018-07-30-slack-flickr-stewart-butterfield. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to How I Built This.