Slack, or "Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge," did not manage to actually kill email but is hoping to figuratively kill it on the stock market. In a very short press release, the former messaging service buried within the development side of Glitch has confidentially asked the SEC to consider the public sale of its Class A common stock.
Like many Silicon Valley companies before it, Slack is hoping to generate a ton of value before and after its IPO. While not all companies have found lasting success in going public. Investors don't seem to pay too much mind to the history of IPOs in relation to any kind of social app, dumping a ton of cash into Slack, bumping up its valuation. Slack is seeking a $10 billion valuation for its IPO. It's got a little way to go, but will most likely get there since confidentially announcing to the world that another tech IPO is on the way.
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You can break down Slack's valuation all you freaking want, but the actual list price of the IPO will be something we'll wonder about until the day the opening bell is rung by Stewart Butterfield, high off the ashes of photos leftover in free Flickr accounts. Slack, which has changed the way we communicate with colleagues (we can now inundate them with memes instead of simply stealing their lunches from the fridge) is only one of a few tech companies seeking IPOs this year.
Uber, Lyft and Airbnb are also expected to go public this year, which means that your wallet is already starting to have some serious performance anxiety. Which one do you invest in? All of them? One of them? Both ride sharing services can't possibly survive forever right? Will Airbnb continue to provide value and competent customer service after it's a publicly traded company? Will Kevin ever stop starting private threads in Slack that are just pictures of him trying to flex what I can only assume are biceps slathered with coconut oil?
All I know, all we know, is that Slack has a ton of cash, has generally made our remote-working lives easier and shows no sign of becoming an ineffective piece of technology. I'm not much of an investor (my Dogecoin is tanking hard) but every time there is a new tech IPO the hairs on the back of my neck stand up like I just licked an electrical outlet again. For now, we'll have to wait until the SEC finishes its review process until we can start considering selling what's left of our Snap Inc. stock to scoop up the Slack.
