{"id":39969,"date":"2023-10-20T15:05:32","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/slacks-new-asia-pacific-hq-in-melbourne-marks-a-proud-day-for-the-national-ecosystem-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:05:32","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:05:32","slug":"slacks-new-asia-pacific-hq-in-melbourne-marks-a-proud-day-for-the-national-ecosystem-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/slacks-new-asia-pacific-hq-in-melbourne-marks-a-proud-day-for-the-national-ecosystem-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Slack’s new Asia-Pacific HQ in Melbourne marks a “proud day” for the national ecosystem – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Slack has officially opened its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Melbourne, marking an \u201cimportant milestone\u201d in the journey of the $US3 billion global startup and a “proud day” for the Australian ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield and Victorian minister for small business, innovation and trade Philip Dalidakis opened the\u00a0office in the heritage Carlton Brewery building on Thursday morning with promises of bringing\u00a070 new tech jobs to the city.<\/p>\n

The Melbourne office will house a sales team, an engineering team and a technical operations team.<\/p>\n

\"stewartbutterfield\"<\/p>\n

An APAC HQ<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s a \u201cproud day\u201d for the startup giant, Butterfield says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a great base for us to serve our customers here in Australia, all over Asia and around the world,\u201d Butterfield says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the things we\u2019re planning on working on here will be part of a big and continuing transformation.<\/p>\n

“We look forward to doing a little bit of discovering and inventing the future here in Melbourne, and look forward to growing here with the city and state in the coming decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slack claims to be the quickest growing business app ever and has 2.3 million daily active users, 675,000 paying users and 369 employees around the world.<\/p>\n

Melbourne scored the office over Sydney and Singapore thanks to the Victorian government providing \u201ckey information on the local tech ecosystem, visas, workplace arrangements and introductions to professional services\u201d to Slack.<\/p>\n

Butterfield says the city\u2019s culture was also an important factor in making the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe chose Melbourne because the temperament, diversity and creativity makes us feel very much at home,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great vibe \u2013 the people are so friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Slack-Melbourne-silo-room-lr\"<\/p>\n

The snowball effect<\/h3>\n

Slack\u2019s presence in Melbourne will have a \u201cpositive ripple effect\u201d for the local ecosystem and the nation as a whole, Dalidakis says.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have a global company of Slack\u2019s stature is huge for us,\u201d Dalidakis tells StartupSmart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir commitment to us is about supporting our ecosystem, not just in Victoria but Australia-wide. We can\u2019t have a company like Slack come into Victoria without a major positive ripple effect right around the ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says it\u2019s another step in the state government\u2019s strategy of attracting large global tech players to set up regional offices in Melbourne, with Slack following in the footsteps of the likes of GoPro, Zendesk and Square.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt reinforces the very deliberate, very specific plans of the Victorian government to support our ecosystem both at home and abroad,\u201d Dalidakis says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to recreate the wheel \u2013 we want to make sure the wheel grows bigger.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt creates a sense of excitement, a sense of momentum and a sense of understanding that Melbourne is a destination not because we say it is but because people are choosing to come here.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the state government is already in talks with other global startup giants\u00a0to do the same as Slack, Dalidakis says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt becomes a snowball effect,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese companies come here, people come looking for jobs and then more companies come here because the talent pool is here.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to rest until we\u2019re not only regarded as the number one destination in the Asia-Pacific region, but until we\u2019re the number one destination globally.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also encourages other Australian politicians to follow Malcolm Turnbull\u2019s lead and embrace startups like Slack.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen very prominent people like the Prime Minister embrace Slack and talk about Slack,\u201d Dalidakis says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want other governments to also look to support Slack. Even though they\u2019ve chosen Melbourne as their Asia-Pacific headquarters the ripple effect of having them in Australia is far greater than Victoria alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI encourage all other IT and tech ministers around the country to embrace Slack, get on board and embrace the whole ecosystem as well.\u201d<\/p>\n