Slack’s $25 Billion Dollar Secret Sauce

I'm going to talk about an article that has had a big and lasting impact on me and has actually changed how I think about an entire subset of content marketing, and that is case studies. All credit here goes to Walter Chen, the founder and chairman of Animals, for turning me on to this article and helping me contextualize and think about it. It's this article here by Andrew Wilkinson, probably known to you as the guy who runs Tiny Capital but also built a very successful design agency and its Slack's $25 billion secret source.

If you think about a case study from first principles, there are probably two things it has to do. It has to persuade people that your company or agency is interesting and worthwhile, and it should leave the reader richer for having read it. Most case studies fail those two criteria. They are shallow, self-aggrandizing, unrealistic, and often overstate the role they played in another company's success. They are boring, not very actionable or interesting, lacking expert insight.

Case studies don't have to be like that, and this article proves the point. Things I like about this: Slack is still the hero here. It's positioned as an amazing company with success, and the agency had a small but important role in that. That is much more credible and convincing than claiming sole credit for the success of Slack. It's about enabling the success of others rather than glory hunting. The article is interesting and useful even if it wasn't a case study. It provides great context and insight into the design of the product, its evolution, positioning, and differentiation.

Andrew manages to make MetaLab sound fantastic and make me want to work with them by positioning himself as an equal and an active participant in Slack's development. He challenges ideas and shows his expertise, making himself part of the story. This active participation and showcasing of expertise make the case study much more interesting and convincing than most others.

If you read through all of this, the prevailing message is that the agency was a big, active part of Slack's success. They weren't just a small, passive agency. They played a crucial role and had strong opinions. This approach is far more engaging and persuasive than most case studies tend to be.