# Stewart Butterfield

> Stewart Butterfield is a Canadian technology entrepreneur and angel investor who co-founded Flickr (2004) and Slack (2013) — two landmark products that emerged as accidental pivots from failed multiplayer games. A self-taught coder with a Cambridge philosophy degree, Butterfield sold Flickr to Yahoo for ~$25 million in 2005 and Slack to Salesforce for $27.7 billion in 2021. His 'We Don't Sell Saddles Here' memo became a canonical document in Silicon Valley product thinking. Since departing Slack in January 2023, he has been active as an angel investor with 32+ portfolio companies.

- **Role:** Angel Investor (independent)
- **Organizations:** Slack Technologies (co-founder, CEO 2013-2023), Salesforce (Slack division, CEO until Jan 2023), Flickr / Ludicorp (co-founder, 2002-2008), Tiny Speck (founder, 2009-2014), Gradfinder.com (co-founder, 2000)
- **From:** Lund, British Columbia, Canada
- **Nationality:** Canadian
- **Education:** Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, University of Victoria, Master of Philosophy (MPhil), Clare College, University of Cambridge
- **Known for:** Co-founded Flickr (2004), one of the earliest major social media platforms, sold to Yahoo for ~$25M in 2005, Co-founded Slack (2013), which grew to 10M+ daily active users before its $27.7B acquisition by Salesforce, Led Slack's direct listing on NYSE (June 2019) - only the second large direct listing in history after Spotify

## Career timeline

- **1973** — Born Dharma Jeremy Butterfield in Lund, BC, Canada, to American draft-dodger parents on a commune without electricity or running water
- **1985** — Legally changes name from Dharma to Stewart at age 12
- **1996** — Earns B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Victoria
- **1998** — Earns MPhil from Clare College, Cambridge; begins freelance web design
- **1999** — Creates the globally popular '5K competition' - build an entire website under 5 kilobytes
- **2000** — Co-founds Gradfinder.com; acquired by Highwired.com within months
- **2002** — Co-founds Ludicorp with Caterina Fake to build multiplayer game 'Game Neverending'
- **2004** — Flickr launches as a pivot from the game; becomes a defining early social web product
- **2005** — Yahoo acquires Flickr/Ludicorp for ~$25 million; Butterfield named to TIME 100 and MIT TR35
- **2006** — Named TIME 100 Most Influential People (with Caterina Fake); Newsweek cover story
- **2008** — Leaves Yahoo after Flickr integration frustrations; divorces Caterina Fake
- **2009** — Founds Tiny Speck; raises $1.5M seed to build multiplayer game Glitch
- **2011** — Glitch launches September 27
- **2012** — Glitch shuts down December 9; team pivots to internal messaging tool they cannot stop using
- **2013** — Sends 'We Don't Sell Saddles Here' memo July 31; announces Slack publicly in August
- **2014** — Slack launches publicly in February; publishes the saddles memo on Medium
- **2015** — Slack reaches unicorn status; Inc. Company of the Year; WSJ Technology Innovator Award
- **2019** — Slack goes public via direct listing on NYSE at $38.50; market cap ~$19.5B; Butterfield's stake ~$1.6B
- **2020** — Salesforce announces $27.7B acquisition of Slack; Butterfield marries Jennifer Rubio
- **2021** — Salesforce-Slack deal closes; son Oliver born
- **2022** — Announces departure from Slack/Salesforce in December
- **2023** — Officially exits Salesforce/Slack in January; shifts to angel investing
- **2024** — Participates in Neo Financial's $360M Series D; daughter born with Jen Rubio
- **2025** — Invests in Beside (Series A, Oct 29); comments publicly on 'fake work' epidemic in organizations

## Achievements

- Co-founded Flickr (2004), one of the earliest major social media platforms, sold to Yahoo for ~$25M in 2005
- Co-founded Slack (2013), which grew to 10M+ daily active users before its $27.7B acquisition by Salesforce
- Led Slack's direct listing on NYSE (June 2019) - only the second large direct listing in history after Spotify
- Named TIME 100 Most Influential People in the World (2006)
- MIT TR35 top innovator under 35 (2005)
- Wall Street Journal Technology Innovator Award (2015)
- TechCrunch Founder of the Year / Crunchie Award (2015)
- Webby Award for Lifetime Achievement (2019)
- University of Victoria Legacy Distinguished Alumni Award (2008)
- Inc. Magazine Company of the Year for Slack (2015)
- 32+ angel investments with 8 unicorn companies in portfolio (as of 2025-2026)
- Author of 'We Don't Sell Saddles Here' - a canonical Silicon Valley product memo (2013)

## Latest updates

- **2023-01** — Officially exits Salesforce/Slack. Lidiane Jones takes over as Slack CEO.
- **2023** — Begins active angel investing; focus on enterprise applications, AI tools, and fintech.
- **2024-11** — Participates in Neo Financial's Series D round ($360M total).
- **2025-10** — Invests in Beside (Series A, October 29, 2025).
- **2025-11** — Publicly comments in Fortune on 'fake work' epidemic - pre-meetings, slide shows, and other 'hyper-realistic worklike activities' that produce no value.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/butterfield/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/stewart

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/stewart-butterfield
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-28