The force isn't as strong with this one... Slack's mission to destroy email with zippy messaging had a rough quarter. 100K companies pay Slack to manage non-verbal inter-office messaging and only 5K came on board in the last 3 months. That's slower growth, so shares tanked 14% on its 1st earnings since going public in June.
It's very much unprofitable... but it's profitably dominating your life. The average Slack user is actively slacking 90 minutes per day and has it open for 9 hours of work/life imbalance. Here's why growth lost its mojo:
For Slack to win, Microsoft must lose... Microsoft is the Tyrian Lannister of software (it thinks and it knows things). It finds ways to survive. It owns office email with Outlook, and is adapting with "Teams," a nimble messaging service that mimics Slack's qualities. Microsoft's Slack competitor is an easier sell to Larry-from-procurement, who's been Microsoft-loyal for decades. Plus, Teams is sneakily bigger: 13M daily users to Slack's 10M.
FYI: This NYT guide to stopping Slack from taking over your life.