About this episode
In the early 2000s, Stewart Butterfield tried to build a weird, massively multiplayer online game, but the venture failed. Instead, he and his co-founders used the technology they developed to create the photo-sharing site Flickr. After Flickr was acquired by Yahoo in 2005, Butterfield went back to the online game idea, only to fail again. But the office messaging platform Slack rose from the ashes of that second failure — a company which, today, is valued at over $5 billion. PLUS, for our postscript "How You Built That," how a peanut butter obsession turned teenager Abby Kircher into a CEO before she was old enough to drive.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Get every episode summarized
Each time How I Built This with Guy Raz publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
No transcript yet
This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.
More episodes
More from How I Built This with Guy Raz
Room & Board: John Gabbert. A Broken Deal, a Family Rift, and the Birth of a Fur...
How I Built This with Guy Raz
May 11, 20261:01:49pending
Advice Line with Jonah Peretti of Buzzfeed
How I Built This with Guy Raz
May 7, 202643:00pending
Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired Fro...
How I Built This with Guy Raz
May 4, 20261:12:47pending
Advice Line with David Neeleman of JetBlue
How I Built This with Guy Raz
Apr 30, 202644:24completed