A Slack Story tells the best stories from my 7 years and 5 jobs at Slack, from starting as #9 on the team in June, 2013. Start with the Introduction.

Here’s a rough overview of the 5 sections of the story with 3 example chapter titles from each section:

  • Marketing – Launching a weirdly named software product (Slack?) from the ashes of a failed video game named Glitch. (June, 2013 to December, 2013)

    • Chapters: So, what is Slack? Launching with beliefs, 1,000 Slack invites

  • Accounts – Working with customers to help them understand the product, get their teams successful and pay us money. (January, 2014 to October, 2014)

    • Chapters: Saying No Nicely, Socks, Slack’s Wall of Love

  • Sales Manager – Hiring people, then defining and scaling how we did what we did, on the team and in the company overall. (November, 2014 to April, 2015)

    • Chapters: Hiring Good Hybrids, Billion with a B, Onboarding culture

  • Head of Sales, EMEA – Moving to Dublin to start almost from scratch, introducing Slack to Europe, hiring, creating culture, finding a leader. (May, 2015 to June, 2017)

    • Chapters: Stone upon stone, A very Stewart visit, Expansion goes both ways

  • Executive Programs – Working with Slack’s largest prospects and customers to help them understand the product and its impact at scale. (July 2017 to June 2020)

    • Chapters: Innovation tours, WORK on NYSE, Accepting less ambition

Throughout the story I’ll try to keep it tight, honest, useful and entertaining.

“I loved it. Great progression — each chapter made me curious for the next.”

Read this far? I get the sense that you’ll like A Slack Story. You should sign up and see.

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What you get for subscribing

Here’s a rough outline of what you get with A Slack Story.

  • 1 Chapter / week – Starting on February 12, 2025 (11th anniversary of Slack’s launch), you’ll get 1 chapter / week in your inbox or app.

  • ~50 Chapters – With ~50 chapters in total, I anticipate the project will take a year.

  • Free – Cost will be $0 for you fine subscribers. If there’s ever a paid component of the project, the cash will go somewhere good.

  • Q&As – For subscribers, I’ll do Q&As in the comments section of each chapter. Ask questions and hopefully get more value.

“Really great. Everyone I know uses and loves Slack, I think the behind the scenes story from Day 1 will be incredibly compelling to a ton of people.”

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About James Sherrett

I’ve worked in software for 25+ years. I got my first Internet job in 1998 because I wanted somewhere to write.

Most relevant to A Slack Story, I joined Slack as the ninth person on June 5, 2013. Over the next 7 years I served in 5 marketing then sales jobs and left on June 5, 2020.

James Sherrett with SV-uniform tablecloth shirt and Patagonia vest.

A few steps prior to Slack, I failed for 6 years at my own startup called AdHack and I wrote a novel called Up in Ontario, among other adventures. Details on LinkedIn.

Now I spend most of my work time advising early-stage B2B software companies and writing here. Mix in some dad jobs, fishing, cooking and coaching and that’s my headlines.

“I loved it, thank you for sharing! I really enjoyed reading about the early days, especially hearing different parts to the story that otherwise weren't covered in media.”

You should sign up for A Slack Story and try it out. I’d love to have you along.

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In 2013, I started as #9 on the Slack team. A Slack Story tells the best stories from the 7 years and 5 jobs that followed.

People

Writing about my experience at Slack – #9 to join and 5 jobs over 7 years. Learning to do by doing: Startup advisoring. Hockey coaching. Fishing. Drumming.