Founder Profile
Stewart Butterfield
Last reviewed: October 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya
Who is Stewart Butterfield?
Stewart Butterfield is a founder of Slack Technologies, LLC, which was founded in 2009 with Cal Henderson, Eric Costello and Serguei Mourachov.
- Company founded
- Slack Technologies, LLC
- Founded
- 2009
- Co-founders
- Cal Henderson, Eric Costello and Serguei Mourachov
Background
Canadian entrepreneur with a BA in philosophy from the University of Victoria and an MPhil from the University of Cambridge; co-founded Flickr, which Yahoo bought in 2005.
Founding Story
Stewart Butterfield co-founded Tiny Speck in 2009 and led its pivot from the game Glitch to Slack. He was Slack's CEO through its 2019 direct listing and the 2021 Salesforce acquisition, and stepped down after announcing his departure in December 2022.
Stewart Butterfield was born in 1973 in Lund. Education: Clare College; St. Michaels University School.