Will Slack's direct route put it in front of Uber, Lyft?

This is the result of a fairly transparent plan to draw in larger customers. Developers love Slack, but large, conservative organizations prefer to stick to what they know. To connect these companies, Slack must offer more than emoji-heavy chat.

A marketing and sales budget is now more than 60 percent of sales. Ideas like an email bridge that allows Slack users to send messages via email will help spread their main message: software integration. This is what sets the company apart from other messaging systems.

Direct entries are rare. They require a known name and a strong financial position, since no new shares have been issued.

Slack is a well-liked service that was enough to draw on private money when it was available and has over $ US840m in cash to live on. The company has the right to swing a traditional stock exchange listing, but it must still prove that it can roll in big new customers.

Financial Times