These days “risk” is a word that brings terror to businesses large and small but, as Slack showed us today, occasionally a well-calculated risk can pay big — especially when you can say “[w]e don’t need the cash.”
Opting to list directly instead of the expensive bank-backed-traditional-IPO release shows that when someone comes to you with a seemingly off-the-wall or rarely tried idea, it might just be worth exploring.
Will it last? Wall Street is a fickle friend (or foe, depending on your YTD portfolio performance so far) and it remains to be seen the $7B valuation holds or if tomorrow brings an IPO hangover.