Stewart Butterfield

In 1973, Butterfield was born in Lund, British Columbia, to Norma and David Butterfield.{{cite web | url=http://www.inc.com/business-insider/behind-the-rise-of-stewart-butterfield-and-slack.html | title=14 Surprising Facts About Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield | date=2 September 2015 | accessdate=19 February 2016 | author=Kosoff, Maya | website=inc.com}} For the first five years of his life he grew up in a log cabin without running water or electricity. His family lived on a commune in remote Canada after his father fled the US to avoid being drafted for the Vietnam War.{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44550312 | title=The $5bn tech boss who grew up without electricity | publisher=BBC News | work=Daniel Thomas | date=25 June 2018 | accessdate=27 June 2018}}{{cite web |url= http://www.businessinsider.com/amazing-life-of-slack-ceo-stewart-butterfield-2015-9 |title= The amazing life of Stewart Butterfield, the CEO of one of the fastest-growing business apps ever |publisher= Business Insider |first= Maya |last= Kosoff |date= September 1, 2015 |accessdate= April 18, 2017}} His family moved to Victoria when Butterfield was five years old. As a child, Butterfield taught himself how to code, and changed his name to Stewart when he was 12.{{cite web |url= http://money.com/money/5634680/slack-founder-ceo-stewart-butterfield-net-worth/ |title= The Man Behind Silicon Valley's Next Big IPO Grew Up on a Commune Without Running Water or Electricity |publisher= Money.com |first= Paul |last= Schrodt |date= February 7, 2019 |accessdate= April 3, 2019}}

Butterfield was educated at St. Michaels University School in Victoria, British Columbia and made money in university designing websites. He received a B.A. degree in philosophy from the University of Victoria in 1996 and went on to earn a Master of Philosophy from Clare College, Cambridge in 1998.{{Cite web|url=https://www.inc.com/business-insider/behind-the-rise-of-stewart-butterfield-and-slack.html|title=14 Surprising Facts About Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield|last=Kosoff|first=Maya|date=2015-09-02|website=Inc.com|access-date=2020-01-23}} His thesis was on scientific thinkers of the 19th century.{{Cite web |last=Duke |first=Simon |date=13 December 2015 |title=Silicon Valley boss who wants to put an end to email at work |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/silicon-valley-boss-who-wants-to-put-an-end-to-email-at-work-j95tndjw7 |work=The Sunday Times}}

In 2000, Butterfield worked with Jason Classon to build a startup called Gradfinder.com.{{cite book |last=Livingston |first=Jessica |author-link=Jessica Livingston |date=2009 |title=Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days |publisher=Apress |page=257 |isbn=978-1430210788}} Following Gradfinder.com's acquisition, he worked as a freelance web designer. Butterfield also created a contest called the 5K competition, centered on people with the ability to design websites under 5 kilobytes.

In the summer of 2002, he co-founded Ludicorp with Caterina Fake and Jason Classon in Vancouver. Ludicorp initially developed a massively multiplayer online role-playing game called Game Neverending. After the game failed to launch, the company started a photo-sharing website called Flickr. In March 2005, Ludicorp was acquired by Yahoo!, where Butterfield continued as the General Manager of Flickr until he left Yahoo! on July 12, 2008.{{cite web |url= https://techcrunch.com/2008/06/17/flickr-co-founders-join-mass-exodus-from-yahoo/ |title= Flickr Co-founders Join Mass Exodus From Yahoo |work= TechCrunch |first= Michael |last= Arrington |date= June 17, 2008}}

In 2009, Butterfield co-founded a new company called Tiny Speck.{{cite web |url= http://kara.allthingsd.com/20100823/flickr-co-founder-butterfield-talks-about-his-new-game-start-up-glitch/ |title= Flickr Co-Founder Butterfield Talks About His New Game Start-Up, Glitch |work= AllThingsD |first= Kara |last= Swisher |author-link=Kara Swisher |date= August 23, 2010 |accessdate= September 17, 2010}} Tiny Speck launched its first project, the massively multiplayer game Glitch, on September 27, 2011.{{Cite news|url=https://mastersofscale.com/stewart-butterfield-the-big-pivot/|title=Stewart Butterfield: The big pivot|work=WaitWhat|access-date=2018-03-20|language=en-US}} Glitch was later closed due to its failure to attract a sufficiently large audience. The game world closed down on December 9, 2012, but the website remained online.{{cite web |url= http://www.fastcompany.com/1783127/can-a-game-that-wants-you-to-play-nice-become-a-blockbuster |title= A Flickr Founder's Glitch: Can A Game That Wants You To Play Nice Be A Blockbuster? |work= Fast Company |first= E.B. |last= Boyd |date= September 27, 2011 |accessdate= September 30, 2011}}{{cite news |title= Vancouver's Tiny Speck puts massively multiplayer game Glitch online |work= Vancouver Sun |url= http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2011/09/27/vancouvers-tiny-speck-puts-massively-multiplayer-game-glitch-online/ |date= September 27, 2011 |accessdate= September 30, 2011 |archive-date= September 29, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110929222932/http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2011/09/27/vancouvers-tiny-speck-puts-massively-multiplayer-game-glitch-online/ |url-status= dead }} In January 2013, the company announced that it would make the most of the game's art available under a Creative Commons license.{{cite web |url= http://www.polygon.com/2013/1/24/3910730/glitch-developer-shares-assets-under-creative-commons-license |title= Glitch developer shares assets under Creative Commons license following closure of game |work= Polygon |first= Emily |last= Gera |date= January 24, 2013 |accessdate= March 4, 2013}} On December 9, 2014, a fan project to relaunch Glitch under the name Eleven began alpha testing.{{cite web|title='Two Years Past' or 'Welcome Home'|url=http://wp.elevengiants.com/?p=372|publisher=The Eleven Project|accessdate=11 January 2015}}{{Better source needed|date=January 2020}}

{{Main|Slack (software)}}

In August 2013, Butterfield announced the release of Slack, an instant-message-based team communication tool, built by Tiny Speck while working on Glitch.{{cite web

| title = Flickr founder plans to kill company e-mails with Slack

| url = http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57598469-92/flickr-founder-plans-to-kill-company-e-mails-with-slack/

| publisher = CNET

| last = Tam | first = Donna

| date = August 14, 2013

| accessdate = November 26, 2013

}}{{cite web

| title = Die, Email, Die! A Flickr Cofounder Aims To Cut Us All Some Slack

| url = http://readwrite.com/2013/08/14/stewart-butterfield-tiny-speck-slack#awesm=~oogoYQh5KTzJkK

| publisher = ReadWrite

| last = Thomas | first = Owen

| date= August 14, 2013

| accessdate = November 26, 2013

}} After its public release in February 2014, the tool grew at a weekly rate of 5 to 10 percent, with more than 120,000 daily users registered in the first week of August. In early 2014, the data for Slack's first six-month usage period showed that nearly 16,000 users were registered without any advertising.{{cite magazine|author1=Mat Honan|title=The Most Fascinating Profile You'll Ever Read About a Guy and His Boring Startup|url=https://www.wired.com/2014/08/the-most-fascinating-profile-youll-ever-read-about-a-guy-and-his-boring-startup/|magazine=Wired|publisher=Condé Nast|accessdate=August 10, 2014|date=7 July 2014}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.itprotoday.com/devops-and-software-development/slack-vs-email-case-rtc-enterprise-it|title=Slack vs. Email: The Case for RTC for Enterprise IT|date=2019-03-31|website=IT Pro|language=en|access-date=2020-01-30}}{{Better source needed|date=January 2020}}

That same year, Butterfield secured an office for Slack employees in San Francisco, and was expected to commence recruitment during the second half of the year.

As of December 2015, Slack had raised US$340 million in venture capital and had more than 2 million daily active users, of which 570,000 were paying customers.{{cite web|last1=Gage|first1=Deborah|title=Slack Raises $80 Million Fund to Support Platform Strategy|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/12/15/slack-raises-80-million-fund-to-support-platform-strategy/|website=Wall Street Journal|publisher=Wall Street Journal|accessdate=January 27, 2016|date=December 15, 2015}}

Slack was named Inc. Magazine’s 2015 company of the year.{{cite web|last1=Bercovici|first1=Jeff|title=Slack Is Our Company of the Year. Here's Why Everybody's Talking About It|url=http://www.inc.com/magazine/201512/jeff-bercovici/slack-company-of-the-year-2015.html|website=Inc. Magazine|publisher=Inc.com|accessdate=January 27, 2016|date=November 23, 2015}}

In June 2019, the company announced its initial public offering with an opening price of $38.50 and a market capitalization of US$21.4 billion.{{Cite web|url=https://fortune.com/2019/08/27/slack-ipo-public-company-growth-stock/|title=What's Next for Slack Now That It's Public|website=Fortune|language=en|access-date=2019-08-29}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/20/technology/slack-stock-ipo-price-trading.html|title=Slack Stock Soars, Putting Company's Public Value at $19.5 Billion|last=Griffith|first=Erin|date=2019-06-20|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-01-30|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}

In December 2020, Salesforce confirmed plans to buy Slack Technologies for US$27.7 billion.{{Cite news|last=Tilley|first=Aaron|date=2020-12-02|title=Salesforce Confirms Deal to Buy Slack for $27.7 Billion|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/salesforce-confirms-deal-to-buy-slack-for-27-7-billion-11606857925|access-date=2020-12-02|issn=0099-9660}}

In December 2022, Butterfield announced his departure as CEO of Slack and left Salesforce early in January 2023.{{cite web |url=https://www.axios.com/2022/12/05/slack-ceo-stewart-butterfield-leaving-salesforce |title=Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield is leaving Salesforce |date=December 5, 2022 |last=Primack |first=Dan |last2=Fried |first2=Ina |author2-link=Ina Fried |website=Axios}}

In 2005, Butterfield was named one of Businessweek's "Top 50" Leaders{{cite web |url= http://images.businessweek.com/ss/05/12/bestleaders/source/19.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20051217105336/http://images.businessweek.com/ss/05/12/bestleaders/source/19.htm |url-status= dead |archive-date= December 17, 2005 |work= Businessweek |title= 2005 Top Leaders: Entrepreneurs |year= 2005}} in the entrepreneur category. In the same year, he was also named in the TR35, a list collated by MIT in its MIT Technology Review publication, as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35 years.{{cite web |url =http://www.technologyreview.com/tr35/?year=2005 |title=2005 Young Innovators Under 35 |work= Technology Review |year= 2005 |accessdate= August 15, 2011}}{{cite web |url= http://www.technologyreview.com/TR35/Profile.aspx?Cand=T&TRID=89 |work= Technology Review |title= TR35 2005 |year= 2005}} In 2006, he was named in the "Time 100", Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world,{{cite magazine |url= http://www.time.com/time/2006/time100/ |title= 2006 Time 100 |magazine= Time |year= 2006 |url-status= dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20060502231929/http://www.time.com/time/2006/time100/ |archivedate= May 2, 2006}} and also appeared on the cover of Newsweek magazine.{{Cite web|url=https://www.niallkennedy.com/blog/2006/03/flickr-newsweek.html|title=Flickr on the cover of Newsweek|date=March 27, 2006|website=Niall Kennedy}}{{cite web |url= http://www.newsweek.com/id/45976 |title= The New Wisdom of the Web |work= Newsweek | first= Steven |last= Levy |date= April 2, 2006}}

In November 2008, Butterfield received the "Legacy Distinguished Alumni Award" from the University of Victoria.{{cite web |url= http://www.timescolonist.com/technology/Flickr+founder+makes+with+arts+degree/994924/story.html |title= Flickr co-founder makes it big with an arts degree |work= Times Colonist |date= November 26, 2008 |access-date= February 13, 2009 |archive-date= May 20, 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090520065927/http://timescolonist.com/technology/Flickr+founder+makes+with+arts+degree/994924/story.html |url-status= dead }} [http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/business/story.html?id=643a6347-9358-4019-9089-a9dca227ce22 Alt URL]

In 2015, Stewart was named the Wall Street Journal's Technology Innovator for 2015,{{cite web|last1=Stevenson|first1=Seth|title=Stewart Butterfield, Email Killer|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/slack-ceo-stewart-butterfield-on-changing-the-way-we-work-1446689564|website=Wall Street Journal|publisher=Wall Street Journal|accessdate=January 27, 2016|date=November 5, 2015}} awarded TechCrunch’s Founder of the Year Crunchie,{{cite web|last1=Kumparak|first1=Greg|title=Slack's Co-Founders Take Home The Crunchie For Founder Of The Year|url=https://techcrunch.com/2015/02/05/slacks-co-founders-take-home-the-crunchie-for-founder-of-the-year/|website=TechCrunch|publisher=TechCrunch|accessdate=January 27, 2016|date=February 5, 2015}} and included in Vanity Fair’s New Establishment,{{cite magazine|last1=Bilton|first1=Nick|title=New Establishment List 2015|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/news/photos/2015/09/new-establishment-list-2015|magazine=Vanity Fair|publisher=Vanity Fair|accessdate=January 27, 2016|date=September 30, 2015}} Advertising Age’s Creative 50,{{cite web|last1=Peterson|first1=Tim|title=Creativity 50 2015: Stewart Butterfield|url=http://adage.com/article/special-report-creativity-50-2015/creativity-50-2015-stewart-butterfield/301779/|website=Advertising Age|publisher=Advertising Age|accessdate=January 27, 2016|date=December 21, 2015}} and Details’ Digital Mavericks lists.{{cite web|last1=Angio|first1=Joe|title=Digital Mavericks 2015|url=http://adage.com/article/special-report-creativity-50-2015/creativity-50-2015-stewart-butterfield/301779/|website=Details Magazine|publisher=Details Magazine|accessdate=January 27, 2016|date=April 7, 2015}}

In May 2017, he was featured in Masters of Scale, a podcast series by Reid Hoffman, co-founder of Linkedin, along with other successful businesspeople such as Mark Zuckerberg, John Elkann, and Brian Chesky. In it, he discussed the scaling strategy adopted by Slack.{{Cite web|url=https://mastersofscale.com/stewart-butterfield-the-big-pivot/|title=Master of Scale - Stewart Butterfield|last=|first=|date=|website=|access-date=}}

Butterfield was married to Caterina Fake, his Flickr co-founder, from 2001{{cite web |url=https://money.cnn.com/2007/09/11/news/companies/startup_couples.biz2/ |title=Love, e-company style |work=Business 2.0 Magazine |publisher=CNN Money |first= Pia |last= Chatterjee |date=12 Sep 2007 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120716143512/http://money.cnn.com/2007/09/11/news/companies/startup_couples.biz2/ |archive-date=16 July 2012}} to 2007.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/07/ff_caterina_fake/ |title=What You Want: Flickr Creator Spins Addictive New Web Service |first=Devin |last=Leonard |date=28 Jul 2010 |magazine=Wired |accessdate=31 Jul 2010 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140411185622/https://www.wired.com/2010/07/ff_caterina_fake/ |archive-date=11 April 2014}} They have one child together, who was born in 2007.{{cite web |url= http://gawker.com/277694/silicon-valleys-baby-boom |title=Silicon Valley's baby boom |first=Owen |last=Thomas |work= Gawker |date=12 Jul 2007 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120721124255/http://gawker.com/277694/silicon-valleys-baby-boom |archive-date=21 July 2012}} In May 2019 he became engaged to Jennifer Rubio, co-founder of Away Luggage.{{Cite web |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-power-couple-stewart-butterfield-jen-rubio-slack-away-2019-6|title=Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield is newly engaged to a woman who runs a $1.4 billion startup. Inside the relationship of Silicon Valley's newest 'it' power couple. |first=Marissa |last=Perino |website=Business Insider |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210323115556/https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/slack-ceo-stewart-butterfield-is-part-of-the-newest-it-power-couple-in-silicon-valley-heres-what-we-know-about-the-newly-engaged-billionaires-relationship-with-his-fiance-who-runs-a-1-4-billion-company/articleshow/69898343.cms |archive-date=23 March 2021}} On April 21, 2024, it was thought that Butterfield's 16-year-old child had run away from home, but they were found alive on April 29, and a 26-year-old man was arrested for abduction.{{Cite web |date=2024-04-28 |title=Mint Butterfield rescued: Man found with missing teen charged with abduction |url=https://sfstandard.com/2024/04/28/mint-butterfield-found-san-francisco/ |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=The San Francisco Standard |language=en}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category}}

• [http://www.inc.com/jeff-bercovici/slack-stewart-butterfield-words.html "Slack's Stewart Butterfield, in His Own Words"] (April 2015), Inc magazine
• [https://theoriq.com/en/?page=1&author%5B%5D=Stewart-butterfield-140 Stewart Butterfield quotes on Theoriq] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115081046/https://theoriq.com/en/?page=1&author%5B%5D=Stewart-butterfield-140 |date=2021-11-15 }} (February 2017)
• {{Cite news |last1=Ryssdal |first1=Kai |last2=Hollenhorst |first2=Maria |date=22 July 2019 |title=What Is Slack? |url=https://www.marketplace.org/2019/07/22/what-is-slack/ |work=Marketplace |publisher=American Public Media |access-date=10 August 2019 |type= Interview with Slack co-founder Stewart Butterfield}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butterfield, Stewart}}

Category:1973 births

Category:Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge

Category:Businesspeople from British Columbia

Category:Canadian computer businesspeople

Category:Canadian people of American descent

Category:Living people

Category:People from the qathet Regional District

Category:University of Victoria alumni

Category:Canadian billionaires

Category:St. Michaels University School alumni