Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield: "I Really Like to Be Liked"

Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield really likes to be liked.

“Like, pathologically,” he said Thursday at the Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. He struggles with doing what’s right for his startup (which makes chat software for companies), even when it might make staff unhappy.

Still, for someone worried about being liked, Butterfield is sitting pretty. Slack’s $2.8 billion valuation has made him the prom king of the startup world, and for now his investors are reaping the benefits.

Said Butterfield: “If we succeed they look like a genius and if we fail they look like a chump.”

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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