A former Slack engineer published a first-person account of Slack's integration into Salesforce, saying co-founder Stewart Butterfield had little time with Marc Benioff before the deal and later left after a World Economic Forum panel with a celebrity spokesperson¹.

Johnny Rodgers, writing on Building Slack and linked from Techmeme on Monday, said Slack had been acquired after a six-month period following the purchase announcement and was integrating in the fall of 2021¹.

Rodgers wrote that Butterfield told him, "I only got about one hour of total facetime with Marc before the deal was announced".

He said Butterfield's last meeting with Benioff was cut short because actor Matthew McConaughey arrived, and that Salesforce reportedly pays McConaughey as a spokesperson.

Rodgers described cultural gaps: Slack used channels for help, while Salesforce used tickets and email, and Slack staff were required to complete Trailhead quizzes.

Cal Henderson, quoted in the essay, said Salesforce was put onto Slack but sales staff were not really using it and sold products they understood instead.

Rodgers said Benioff praised Slack's Huddles in an all-hands while it was clear internally that Benioff did not use Slack.

By fall 2022, Rodgers wrote, Butterfield decided to leave; the tipping point was a Davos invitation that became a panel on innovation with will.i.am rather than customer meetings.

Rodgers said Butterfield planned to announce his departure on Dec. 1, 2022, with Salesforce vice president Lidiane Jones succeeding him, and that Bret Taylor announced his own exit the day before.

The essay is Rodgers' memoir of 2021-22 events and is not an on-the-record response from Salesforce or Benioff in this post.

Sources

1. TechmemeInside Slack's Salesforce culture clash: Benioff had ~1 hour with CEO Butterfield pre-deal and didn't use Slack; Butterfield quit after a Davos celebrity panel (Johnny Rodgers/Building Slack)4:15 AM

Read the original at Techmeme ↗