
Andrei Soroker on startups getting everything wrong - karjaluoto
http://blog.officehours.io/andrei-soroker-on-startups-getting-everything-wrong-and-slack-eating-his-lunch/
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marwann
Interesting in many aspects.

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.

~~~
karjaluoto
Andrei’s great—and kind of an open book. I’ve learned so much from him about
building a distributed team and adapting when faced with hurdles.

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](http://www.officehours.io) as an advisor.

~~~
marwann
The part about distributed teams might help our company as well. I wished I
spoke Russian now!

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.

~~~
karjaluoto
Speaking a few extra languages certainly would be handy. That said, I think
there many ways to make distributed work. My thought is to only hire remote
staff, from now on. It’s nice to have access to so many talented folks, and
for them to be able to stay where they’re happy.

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.)

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karjaluoto
This part of the post alone, is pretty amusing:
[http://blog.officehours.io/content/images/2015/09/chat-
with-...](http://blog.officehours.io/content/images/2015/09/chat-with-
stewart.png)

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Pyxl101
Now I'm wondering what Slack did right. How did they wipe the floor with
everyone? Were they the first company to really invest in the problem?

~~~
rekoros
I've been asked this so many times, that I've summed it up on Quora, here:
[https://www.quora.com/Why-has-Slack-grown-so-
quickly/answer/...](https://www.quora.com/Why-has-Slack-grown-so-
quickly/answer/Andrei-Soroker)

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.

~~~
jcrites
This raises an interesting meta-question for founders and investors. How can
you differentiate ideas that are "just not that good" from ideas that could be
amazing, but need adequate investment and execution? I never would have
guessed that team chat would take off the way that Slack has.

(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?

