Shows
A Slack Story PodcastMeet the New New Boss: A.J.Meet the New New Boss: A.J.This episode, narrated by James Sherrett, focuses on the challenges of adapting to new leadership. James recounts receiving an unexpected call from his boss, Allen Shim, Slack's CFO, informing him of his new boss, AJ. He shares his initial apprehensions, the strategic decision-making process, and the dynamics of working closely with AJ. Through detailed notes and reflections, James highlights the complexities of balancing immediate tasks with future planning in a rapidly growing startup. The narrative underscores the importance of adaptability, trust, and forward-thinking in thriving within a transformative company environment...2025-07-2316 min
A Slack Story PodcastHow Slack Hired its First 5 Sales PeopleThe First Five: How Slack Hired Its Initial Sales TeamIn this episode, James Sherrett narrates the story of how Slack hired its first five salespeople. He outlines the challenges of hiring salespeople without prior experience, the development of a candidate evaluation process inspired by Daniel Kahneman's work, and the creation of effective job descriptions. He also details a 5-step hiring process including writing assignments, presentations, interviews, and reference checks. Sherrett shares insights into the traits they looked for in candidates and the success of the hires, emphasizing their impact on Slack's growth. Finally, he reflects on...2025-07-1627 min
A Slack Story PodcastFinding the Bigs and SmallsNavigating Rapid Growth at Slack: Customer Segmentation and the Path to Scaling upIn this episode, James Sherrett covers the whirlwind journey of Slack's growth from its inception to hitting $10-million in annual recurring revenue in 8 months. He highlights the overwhelming yet exhilarating experience of managing the rapidly increasing customer base. Then how Slack identified three key customer segments—self-service users, small and medium-sized businesses, and enterprise. James previews his third role as Slack’s first Sales Manager and the key question he faced: who to hire to drive the company's explosive growth from $10-million to $100-million?2025-07-0910 min
A Slack Story PodcastEaster Eggs in SlackUnveiling Easter Eggs in Slack: A Journey of Playfulness and ProductivityIn this episode, James Sherrett shares the playful and intricate details behind the design of Slack, highlighting how the software incorporates game-like features known as Easter eggs. The narrative explores various hidden gems like custom loading messages, the self-loathing web socket error message, the story behind the introduction of the Shruggy emoticon, and the inventive use of slash commands.Additional touches include the reordering of emojis for a positive user experience, the surprise animations hidden in the preferences section, and the user-friendly Slack bot...2025-06-2511 min
A Slack Story PodcastSo Yeah, We Tried SlackCreating Slack's Launch Video: Behind the ScenesJames Sherrett narrates the story of Slack's launch video, produced by Sandwich Video in 2014. He explains the significance of having a Sandwich video for a tech startup, detailing the video's production, the script collaboration between Slack's team and Sandwich, and the quest for a fitting title. The final title, 'So Yeah, We Tried Slack,' emerged from a key line in the video. Sherrett also mentions a sequel video created during the COVID-19 pandemic and teases future content on Slack's Easter eggs and unique features.00:00 Introduction: The Quest...2025-06-1805 min
A Slack Story PodcastPricing and “Fair Billing Policy”Slack's Journey to Fair Billing and Effective Pricing StrategiesBy 2014, Slack saw consistent weekly growth and recognized that once teams started using the platform, they rarely stopped. There were two main growth drivers – acquiring new customers and expanding in existing customers – and two main tensions Slack faced, particularly the hybrid use of multiple communication tools.To address these tensions, Slack adopted three key pricing principles: simplicity for new customers, fairness for existing ones, and speed for deployment. Specific tactics like starting with a high pricing point, avoiding unlimited user deals, and offering credits instead of disc...2025-06-1123 min
A Slack Story PodcastOffsite in SonomaSlack's Early Days: Sonoma Offsite ReflectionsIn this episode, James Sherrett recounts his first offsite experience with Slack in Sonoma on May 15th, 2014. The narrative captures the early, intimate scale of Slack's global workforce of around 30 employees, the significance of in-person interactions in a remote-first company, and the excitement surrounding their burgeoning product success. Sherrett shares his initial thoughts and questions about offsites, his reflections on meeting his new boss Allen Shim, and the profound realizations about Slack's potential and future. Highlights include candid moments with colleagues and pioneering discussions on product and customer interaction, illustrating the...2025-06-0413 min
A Slack Story Podcast#accountsNavigating Sales in Slack: Early Deals and Hard-Learned LessonsJames Sherrett recounts his experiences of closing early sales deals at Slack without a traditional sales team. He describes the significance of celebrating wins through dedicated Slack channels and shares a memorable story about negotiating with Sauce Labs, a customer demanding a discount. The narrative highlights the importance of understanding customer needs and being prepared for tough negotiations. Sherrett explains how these early experiences and the detailed pricing proposals were pivotal in refining Slack's approach to sales and customer success.00:00 Introduction: A Slack Story by James...2025-05-2819 min
A Slack Story PodcastSlack's Wall of LoveThe Twitter Game: Building Slack's Wall of LoveThis episode explores how Slack effectively used Twitter to connect with its tech-savvy audience and amplify customer feedback. It details the creation and evolution of Slack's 'Wall of Love,' a curated collection of positive tweets that addressed customer objections and showcased unsolicited endorsements. The narration emphasizes the significance of customer engagement on Twitter and describes internal processes designed to maximize the surface area of the company to customer feedback.00:00 Introduction: A Slack Story by James Sherrett00:22 The Early Days: Twitter as a Key Platform2025-05-2115 min
A Slack Story PodcastLaunching Paid SlackLaunching Paid Slack: The Journey from Free to PaidIn this episode, James Sherrett shares the story of how Slack transitioned from a free to a paid product. From the early planning stages, the company knew its business model would be a B2B SaaS offering. The script details the use of credits to ease the transition for customers, and the data-driven approach that helped identify key patterns in user growth and retention. As Slack prepared for its February 12, 2014 launch, the team used customer feedback, analytics, and strategic PR to ensure a successful rollout. The episode also...2025-05-1419 min
A Slack Story PodcastSocks, Slack SocksThe Slack Socks Saga: A Quirky Marketing SuccessIn this episode, James Sherrett narrates the fascinating journey of how Slack created custom socks as a unique marketing tool. Starting with a small budget, the team decided to use socks featuring their tartan design as company swag. The process wasn't easy and included a 99-email thread just to finalize designs.Despite initial challenges, the socks became immensely popular, eventually leading to orders of up to 500,000 pairs. The socks not only contributed to brand identity but also symbolized the quirky originality and growing pains of Slack as...2025-05-0713 min
A Slack Story PodcastSaying No NicelySaying No Nicely: A Slack Story by James SherrettIn this episode, James Sherrett starts at Slack in 2014 as full-time Director, Accounts. He discusses the evolving roles and responsibilities in a small startup environment, focusing on customer interactions, providing demos, and collecting feedback.A key theme is the philosophy of 'saying no nicely,' both to customers and in shaping product strategies. James explores different ways to decline requests respectfully and strategically, the impact of this approach on customer satisfaction, and the overall business operations. Additionally, he touches upon the growth of Slack, its core...2025-04-3018 min
A Slack Story PodcastEnding Marketing, starting AccountsTransition from Marketing to Accounts at SlackA quick episode to mark the transition of the story from Part 1 to Part 2. A thank you for the audience's support and feedback. A recap of the topics covered so far. A sneak peek into what's coming next, including launching Slack's paid product and creating the Slack Wall of Love. If you're reading this you likely already know about the accompanying podcast.00:00 Introduction to the Slack Story00:23 Transition to Part Two00:40 Preview of Part Two01:05 Three Things01:36 Recap of Part...2025-04-2503 min
A Slack Story PodcastPlease sit next to the moneyPlease sit next to the moneyIn this episode, James Sherrett narrates his tumultuous journey at Slack, starting as a consultant in June 2013, navigating through periods of high demand, strategic pivots, and personal struggles. Despite initial setbacks, including a retracted job offer, James continued to show up for work. His persistence and growing alignment with the team ultimately led to his official hiring as the Director, Accounts at the end of 2013. James shares insightful anecdotes about customer engagement, internal teamwork, and the evolving dynamics of startup culture, providing a behind-the-scenes look at Slack's early days. James' wife...2025-04-2326 min
A Slack Story PodcastLearning from the first 1,000 Slack invitesThe First 1000 Slack Invites: Insights and ObservationsIn this episode, James Sherrett shares the insights drawn from the first 1,000 Slack invites, from September, 2013. He shares 16 key observations about user behaviour and feedback that contributed to Slack's development and positioning. Despite early challenges, these initial signals of success helped shape Slack's journey to becoming a billion-dollar company. Toward the end, we cover hindsight bias and retaining the context of those formative days. The episode provides a unique glimpse into the embryonic stages of Slack's growth.00:00 Introduction: A Slack Story by James Sherrett00:28 The First 1000...2025-04-1613 min
A Slack Story PodcastYou put your name on every job you doA Foundational Slack Story: Craftsmanship and CultureIn this episode, James Sherrett recounts a defining story shared by Stewart Butterfield, co-founder of Slack, about learning the importance of reputation and pride in good work at an early age. The narrative underscores the value of conscientiousness and accountability, pivotal to Slack's company culture. Stewart’s father taught him that every job bears his name, a lesson that extended into Slack's ethos. The episode explores how this principle was embedded into Slack's cultural fabric as it evolved from a small team into a larger enterprise. Next, the show will de...2025-04-0906 min
A Slack Story PodcastTalking with customersEarning Their Trust: The Early Days of Slack Through Customer ConversationsIn this narrative, James Sherrett recounts his experiences and observations from the initial customer interactions during Slack’s early days of summer and fall of 2013. He describes his role as a silent scribe during customer calls led by Stewart, where he took notes and shared them with the team. Through interviews and demos, James learned about customer communication habits and helped shape Slack’s positioning as a messaging tool for teams rather than 'chat.' His stories illustrate the iterative process of fine-tuning the product through feed...2025-04-0228 min
A Slack Story Podcast#zorkHow the Text-Based Game Zork Inspired the Creation of SlackIn this episode, James Sherrett discusses how the classic text-based adventure game Zork influenced the development of Slack. By turning work into a role-playing game and drawing parallels between Zork and Slack, the team behind Slack incorporated game-like elements to improve user engagement and onboarding. A key feature, Slackbot, was modeled after text-based game mechanics, providing guidance and interaction in a familiar format. This playful and engaging approach to work helped create a unique culture at Slack and contributed to its success.00:13 The Influence of...2025-03-2612 min
A Slack Story PodcastPreview releasing SlackSlack's Launch Story: From Zero to Promising in Silicon ValleyIn this episode, James Sheret narrates the story of Slack's initial release to the world on August 12, 2013. Facing enormous pressure, the Slack team embarked on a 'burn down' mission to prepare for launch, coordinating through daily calls and task lists. With fewer than 200 users of their free product and zero revenue, they aimed to see if people would overcome the 'suck hump' of product adoption. The episode details their meticulous preparation, including working with PR agencies and investors, focusing on acquiring influential tech blog coverage, and aiming...2025-03-1912 min
A Slack Story PodcastSomething We All Work OnCrafting Slack's Go-to-Market Strategy: Overcoming the 'Suck Hump'Computer says:This episode, based on James Sherrett's recount of Slack's journey, illustrates the challenges and strategies employed to market Slack without traditional promotional tactics.The narrative follows the internal discussions and the creation of the essay 'We Don't Sell Saddles Here' by Stewart Butterfield, emphasizing understanding customer needs and aligning them with Slack’s value. It addresses the 'suck hump' — the initial friction users experience — and explores methods to foster user engagement and adoption. The story also highlights Slack's commitment to transforming workplace communication by shi...2025-03-1213 min
A Slack Story PodcastSo, what is Slack?Before we took the first step to introduce our product, we faced a big problem. How to answer the very first question everyone had: what is Slack?And then, if we got someone interested and keen to learn more, how to answer the immediate next questions: Why should anyone care? Who was Slack for? What did Slack do for them? How did Slack work?Thanks for reading A Slack Story! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The brainstorming we had done in SF at the f2...2025-03-0519 min
A Slack Story PodcastMissionary vs MercenaryThe first Slack Vancouver office had no plumbing so we washed our dishes in the bathroom sink. Hot water rarely reached that bathroom so we just boiled water in the office kettle when things got too grungy to wipe clean.Because washing the dishes was such a chore, each of the 3 of us (Stewart, JR and me) had our own set of cutlery that we kept on our respective desks. When one of us got fed up with the state of the office we gathered all the office dishes to be washed. It was an unspoken agreement...2025-02-2614 min
A Slack Story PodcastDay 1: VancouverStewart was running late. Either that, or I was at the wrong address. I checked the email: 1140 Homer Street, a glass door between a bar that was closed and the entrance to the courtyard of a high-end restaurant.Inside the glass door, I could see carpeted stairs running up to a second floor. The neighbourhood was called Yaletown and consisted of a few square blocks of renovated warehouses and narrow streets – exposed bricks, thick wooden posts and beams.A hundred years ago it had been a train yard. Now its street level was full of ba...2025-02-1917 min
A Slack Story PodcastDay 1: San FranciscoDay 1: 5:30 am in Vancouver. Get up, get moving. Get the taxi to the airport to the flight to San Francisco. All of it a bit bleary.Land midmorning into glorious sunshine. Hello, California! Get the taxi to the freeway to the office to get started. Onwards to meet the team and hopefully show them and myself that I had some clue about how to succeed with Slack. (Slack? Really Slack?) Arrive with a deep breath and try to find the door.That first Slack office is worth some description. It was on Clementina, a half...2025-02-1212 min
A Slack Story PodcastPost-Slack: PolytroposNew to A Slack Story? Check out: Introduction: what if the startup myth comes trueOne day, around 2018, back when I travelled a lot for my work at Slack, I read an article in the New York Times about the first woman to translate Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey into English from the original Greek.The translator’s name was Emily Wilson and her story of the process of translation stuck with me. The process itself struck me as epic, and a few years later I did something about it.In particular, the...2025-02-0512 min
A Slack Story PodcastPre-Slack: Meeting StewartNew to A Slack Story? Check out: Introduction: what if the startup myth comes true.Thanks for reading A Slack Story! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.On a bright spring morning in 2009 I stood outside the Forestry Sciences Centre at Vancouver’s University of British Columbia waiting for Stewart Butterfield to arrive.Inside the building, the MC of a conference I had helped organize was on stage kicking off the program. Stewart had, through a loose mutual acquaintance, committed to doing the morning’s keynote talk...2025-01-2914 min
A Slack Story PodcastIntroductionJune 20, 2019 – 8 am in New York where the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is preparing to open. 6 am in Yellowstone where I wake from a restless sleep.It's the day Slack shares start to trade as WORK on public markets, and I’m on a family vacation with spotty wifi. So I'm up before the alarm. I check in. The orders I carefully set the night before to turn my speculative Slack shares into real US dollars are missing.No panic. I have a backup. I set them up again, step by step. The numb...2025-01-2309 min
Pragmatism in PracticeSmall Changes, Big EffectsIn modern work, no one operates alone. Tasks are too complex, knowledge is too specialized and fragmented. We need to work together – to collaborate – to drive the outcomes we want to achieve. Slack’s James Sherrett explores how small tactical changes can affect the collaboration culture of teams and how that culture drives the business results of our organization. If you are a digital leader wanting to influence cultural change in your organization, this is the podcast for you.2019-11-0820 min