2025-12-28 13:22:25

Slack was once a product that could have been entirely different—until layers of corporate management completely stifled its prospects.

This case deeply reveals the trap of platform scaling. When pursuing growth and commercialization goals, founding teams often make compromises at critical points: the product vision gradually becomes distorted, user support is severely reduced, and collaboration between technical and operational teams begins to crack. These seemingly minor shifts ultimately lead to a dramatic decline in the entire ecosystem experience.

This lesson is worth pondering for all platforms—whether Web2 or Web3. Only by adhering to the core commitments to users and the product, and maintaining a good balance between engineering and support, can one achieve long-term stability in fierce competition. Otherwise, no matter how high the starting point or how many users there are, it could still turn into the story of "what could have been."

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DataChief

· 7h ago

Really, Slack is a living textbook... Something so pure at the beginning was forcibly strangled by corporate demands. --- To put it simply, it's still the same old problem—scaling is like drug addiction; the more you indulge, the harder it is to turn back. --- Can Web3 learn from this lesson? It seems like everyone is still repeating the same mistakes. --- So, the biggest enemy of founders is often not the competitors, but their own business departments. --- It's a bit sad to see Slack's decline; it was once such a useful tool...

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MysteryBoxOpener

· 7h ago

To be honest, Slack is a textbook-level negative example... That initial good intention was really shattered by capitalism. Corporate management starts piling on features right away, which ends up destroying the core advantage of simplicity. Now it feels like a bloated monster to use. Web3 needs to learn a lesson here, don’t repeat the same mistakes. If I had known it would turn out like this, I’d rather have kept it as it was. I kind of regret messing around with it in the first place. Watching something that was once good turn sour... it’s really upsetting.

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fren.eth

· 7h ago

Really, Slack is a textbook example of a cautionary tale. It was doomed from the start by bowing to corporate interests. Who still wants to use it now? --- Once enterprise tools start adding features, permissions, and audits... they become basically useless. Why bother? --- Web3 needs to learn this lesson. Don't wait until users leave before regretting. --- It seems all platforms eventually go down this path: focus on building a good product first, then it's over once investors come in. --- Slack could have been different, but unfortunately, management killed it off. --- That's why I still believe in small projects that are still坚持ing. At least they haven't been corrupted by corporate culture. --- Not every large-scale project has to betray its original intention, but indeed, most products do. --- It hurts every time I see a good product turned into trash through iteration. Slack was truly awesome back then.

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StablecoinGuardian

· 8h ago

Slack this thing is too true, internet products have this problem... the more you do, the heavier it gets, and the harder it becomes to use. In the end, they are replaced by small and beautiful things. Once enterprise features start, they can't be stopped. To make the CFO happy, everything is dare to add... Web3 should also be cautious about this. Where did that simple and efficient Slack go? Now every time I open it, it's a bunch of features I can't even use. Honestly, it's still the eternal contradiction between利益 and初心. To grow and make money, compromises are necessary, but the cost of compromises is often losing that group of users who truly love you.

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PumpBeforeRug

· 8h ago

Honestly, Slack is a classic example of shooting itself in the foot. Something so pure at the beginning, and then they had to pile on features and add admin permissions... and it ended up in such a mess. Web3 is the same way. Some projects haven't even kept their original intentions warm, and they're already thinking about how to harvest the leeks.

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ZkSnarker

· 8h ago

ngl this is just the classic "we built something cool then got crushed by quarterly growth metrics" speedrun... imagine if slack actually stayed weird instead of becoming glorified email with threads lmao

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