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Welcome to the A16Z podcast. I'm Michael Copeland. For as long as there has been

software, we've had this collective hope, maybe more of a desire, that software will make all

kinds of work easier, more productive, and more creative. Spreadsheets, computerated design

tools, digital publishing platforms, though never

perfect, are examples of software that have definitely changed how we work and what is possible.

Still, you find very few people enthusing about Excel over cocktails. So what is going on with Slack?

The messaging app crops up in conversation at dinner parties.

It's become a kind of cultural signifier of a tech-savvy workforce

that is always looking for better ways to connect inside and outside of work.

In this segment of the A16Z podcast, we discussed Slack with its founder, Stuart Butterfield,

why Slack has resonated so well across all types of people, from engineers at NASA's

Jet Propulsion Lab to dentists, and what that says about how we work today and about our

ongoing quest for the perfect tools and services to get the job done.

The conversation happened as part of A16Z's Capital Summit.

Stuart, welcome.

I guess Mark told your origin story, how you're out to build a massively multiplayer online game. So my only question, we don't want to

rehash that, but like why, for the love of God, you've done this twice now, can you not build a

gaming company? Gaming companies are much harder. I think games are harder to build. I mean,

...