Dive Brief:

• Slack founder and CEO Stewart Butterfield said he plans to accelerate the company’s growth through mass-market advertising, according to Reuters.
• Slack is growing at more than 10% per month and has acquired 480,000 users since it was introduced 21 months ago, Butterfield said. 
• The group messaging platform is currently valued at nearly $3 billion.

Dive Insight:

Slack gathered broad attention this year when it raised $340 million and was valued at $2.8 billion after just 21 months in existence.

The popular app is replacing some of the functions email has long served and is “challenging basic business software precepts.” In a nutshell, Slack helps co-workers share brief conversational updates on what they are doing or thinking.

Butterfield said Slack will now target paid corporate users and position itself more as a "platform" that can support office functions ranging from expense reporting to travel bookings and project management.  

"We are switching from trying to keep up with growth to trying to generate growth," Butterfield said.