[adamseabrook]

No need to build your entire startup on Slack but a solid integration can drive serious initial revenue for your startup especially if you do not get a lot of direct traffic. "One click install" is what helped Woocommerce and others get massive growth on the back of Wordpress through top exposure in the plugin directory.

Slack is still very much at the bottom of the growth curve. I have seen electrical contractors who need a way to chat with onsite workers at various projects switch from using WhatsApp/SMS to Slack. If one click job scheduling apps start appearing in the Slack App Store they will be quickly adopted by these businesses. I would be surprised if Slack or something like it has not completely wiped out internal email in 5 years.

[gkop]

I too am bullish on Slack and am with you right until "wiped out email." I've heard this said about Slack before and don't get it. Asana is a real email killer in that it's both realtime (instant) and structured (i.e. it wholly replaces email threads). On a meta level, why is it that it's so important for Slack's marketing that they "replace email"? Why isn't it enough for them to "go beyond email" (which is totally realistic and honest and still a potentially huge business)?

[stanleydrew]

I don't know whether it's important for Slack's marketing to claim they are replacing email.

What I can tell you is that it factually has wiped out internal email for our team at Charge.

And I think that's pretty common for most teams that have used it. Why write a slow clunky old email when a Slack message will do?

[Xylakant]

> Why write a slow clunky old email when a Slack message will do?

Because email is threaded conversations, while slack is not. I can write 5 different emails and respond to each thread individually, but I can't do that in slack: I can write 5 messages, but my peer(s) can't answer each one individually - they can just write 5 messages and I have to figure out what they respond to.

Email has the added benefit of working nicely when you're on a connection that's not always available (mobile, traveling, etc.) I can write the message and have it sent later, download all messages and read (and answer) them without a connection. Slack (and other chat applications) just falls flat on it's face when the connection drops from time to time.

Now, all of that might be properties that you don't need because you're never traveling and always on the same schedule, so that you're able to answer questions in real time - but don't assume that's true for everyone.

[jchoong]

We have a prototype threading implementation for Slack. Drop a line to <hn username> @gmail.com if interested to test.

[splatcollision]

Realtime threaded conversations is a need?

[Nowyouknow]

I'm sure I can accomplish this with a simple Google search (and I'm going to do that next) but I do want to put a request out there. I'd love to see some use cases of successful, complex Slack integrations and how the organization has saved time/money by making Slack a part of their workflow. It seems to be a tool built for developers, at least I see a lot advocates that are developers. I want to know how personnel across multiple departments feel about using the tool.