Ripping you off Stage 3
Slack delivered real surplus for distributed teams—searchable history, integrations, humane defaults. Today the lock-in is organizational: your company’s memory lives in threads, and competitors can’t easily replay years of context. In 2025 it raised the Business+ price and bundled AI into paid tiers—cashing in on that memory. Stage 3.
- Since
- 2013
- Category
- Productivity
- VC-backed
- Yes
- Public
- Since 2019 (NYSE: WORK)
- Acquired by
- Salesforce (2021)
The promise
Its first promise, and how much is kept · Scoring
80% kept
“Slack is free to use for as long as you want and with an unlimited number of people.”
Why it’s rated 3
The criteria it meets, with sources · Method
- Alignment 0 of 3
- None
- Lock-in 2 of 4
-
- L1 Network or reputation
- L3 Hardware or workflow
- Extraction 1 of 7
-
- E1 Pay more for the same Jun 17, 2025
- Decline 0 of 3
- None
Result Two or more extraction criteria, or lock-in plus at least one, so stage 3.
News signals
Sourced reporting, tagged by strategy
Jun 17, 2025
Slack raises Business+ price, bundles AI across paid tiers
ARPU growthAI upsell
Jul 21, 2021
Salesforce completes acquisition of Slack
Market consolidation
Dec 1, 2020
Salesforce agrees to buy Slack in $27.7 billion software deal
Market consolidationEnterprise upsell
Jun 20, 2019
Slack’s direct listing opens trade on NYSE under WORK
Liquidity event