It’s not typically you see a longtime firm burn by way of three CEOs in lower than a 12 months. However by way of circumstances past its management, that’s what has occurred at Slack, the corporate Salesforce acquired in 2020 for $28 billion. In November, Slack launched Denise Dresser as the most recent particular person to occupy the nook workplace.
Dresser acknowledges it wasn’t simple to step into the position beneath these circumstances, however she is settling in. “You already know, like something, it’s at all times arduous to step into any new firm and do it in a manner that’s swish, however I believe the group gave me loads of teaching, and we actually noticed the imaginative and prescient collectively,” Dresser instructed TechCrunch.
She grew up within the suburbs exterior of Boston, was educated on the College of Massachusetts at Amherst the place she studied accounting and labored at Salesforce for the final dozen years in varied govt roles.
Her predecessor, Lidiane Jones, was simply 10 months into the job when she introduced she was leaving to be CEO at Bumble, pushed by the attract of working a stand-alone public firm. Jones herself had changed firm co-founder Stewart Butterfield when he introduced that he was leaving on the finish of 2022.
It’s tough changing a founder-CEO as Jones did. It might be much more difficult to take over simply 10 months later for his successor, however some govt turnover is predicted within the years following an acquisition, says Arjun Bhatia, a William Blair analyst who follows Salesforce. “You desire a steady management group, after all, and also you need somebody who’s specializing in it, however the CEO turnover we’ve seen isn’t regarding at this level,” Bhatia instructed TechCrunch. “If that turns into extra recurring, definitely that view would possibly change, however I believe it’s a pure course after an acquisition like this for a corporation like Slack to seek out its place contained in the Salesforce ecosystem.”
Dresser says that she’s merely constructing on what her predecessors did earlier than she received there, whereas bringing her personal character to the job. “I ask a variety of questions, and I positively am an accountant at coronary heart,” she stated. “So I wish to be organized and I’ll proceed that on, nevertheless it’s not prefer it’s an enormous pull. I believe the inspiration is already there, and it’s an extremely well-run group.”
How has Slack fared at Massive CRM?
Whenever you have a look at the worth that Salesforce paid to personal Slack, even giving some leeway for 2020 inventory costs and the over-exuberance of the interval, it nonetheless seems like a attain. The idea on the time was that Slack might be the communication layer on high of all of the enterprise software program that Salesforce sells. It’s nonetheless the hope, in reality, however income development has slowed dramatically at Slack since its acquisition.
We don’t have actual income numbers as a result of Salesforce stopped reporting them final spring, nevertheless it does share the share of development from the prior 12 months. Progress has slowed considerably from 46% YoY in Q32023 to only 16% in Q42024. For probably the most half, the pattern has been down — and it’s as much as Dresser to show that round.
Picture Credit: Salesforce
Slack might change this pattern by discovering new enterprise alternatives and holding present prospects pleased whereas on the identical time not being so carefully tied to Salesforce that it loses prospects who aren’t Salesforce-centric.
Dresser could also be caught between these seemingly conflicting necessities, says Brent Leary, principal analyst at CRM Necessities. He, too, has been monitoring Salesforce since its earliest days. “She’s received to have the ability to work out what the proper stability is between Slack as a standalone model that continues to draw non-Salesforce prospects, whereas enabling Salesforce prospects to make use of Slack in every single place inside the platform they should collaborate,” Leary stated.
However Dresser doesn’t suppose it’s all that sophisticated. “I don’t know if I believe it’s that robust. I believe it was the unique imaginative and prescient when the 2 firms got here collectively,” she stated. “I believe there’s an actual recognition that there’s one thing very particular right here that we wish to nurture and proceed. And I believe that’s been a reasonably constant theme from the very starting.”
The potential of generative AI
One large change she must handle has been the event of generative AI in software program, in Slack and throughout the Salesforce household of merchandise. Dresser says that AI is a pure match for Slack as a result of as a communications platform with plenty of embedded information, it’ll assist customers harness, perceive and discover information nuggets within the mass of knowledge.
“When you consider it from a higher-level perspective, Slack has a lot of the world’s conversations taking place in unstructured information,” she stated. “After which you consider Salesforce having this unbelievable set of buyer information, among the world’s most valued information. The chance to deliver structured and unstructured information into Slack and combine these actually creates this highly effective platform for the longer term.”
All of that relies upon, after all, on execution: You may’t simply sprinkle AI fairy mud on a product and hope it’s going to work. However Dresser claims that AI helped her stand up to hurry in her new place far more rapidly than would have been attainable with out with the ability to entry summaries of lengthy product threads. Summarization is an enormous promoting level for generative AI, and utilizing it to save lots of time understanding lengthy conversational threads might be an enormous use case. However once more, it is dependent upon the standard of the summaries.
One other large difficulty Dresser faces is learn how to compete with Microsoft, which brings Groups to the desk mixed with Workplace 365, Dynamics 365, and AI within the type of Microsoft Copilot rolled out throughout the platform, says J. P. Gownder, an analyst at Forrester Analysis. “It’s logical for Slack to attempt to increase its consumer base by integrating Salesforce extra carefully, nevertheless it have to be cautious to not alienate present prospects, who’re tremendously loyal to what’s supplied in the present day. Within the meantime, Microsoft Groups is a behemoth that has an opportunity to seize much more minutes through Copilot,” Gownder instructed TechCrunch.
However Bhatia factors out that Microsoft nonetheless works greatest contained in the Microsoft ecosystem, and Slack might have a bonus in that regard. “Microsoft doesn’t have that interoperability play as a lot. Their benefit by far is distribution. And two large benefits that Slack has of their market are interoperability and ease of use,” he stated.
Another diploma of issue for Dresser is that the remaining Slack co-founder, CTO Cal Henderson, left on the starting of March, changed by none aside from Salesforce co-founder and CTO Parker Harris. Despite the fact that Harris brings an extended historical past of constructing Salesforce, Slack is shedding an individual who has a deep understanding of Slack’s technical underpinnings.
Dresser definitely understands that she faces these challenges forward, that she must win over workers and prospects and discover a solution to maintain Slack rising and very important contained in the huge Salesforce ecosystem. However she says her position is basically about making human connections, and the remainder will work itself out.
“I attempt to simply assist individuals perceive that I’m right here as a result of I’m deeply, deeply keen about what we are able to do for the world, for our customers, and our workers as nicely at Slack and the broader Salesforce — and I wouldn’t be right here if I wasn’t.”
