San Francisco-based Slack Technologies Inc. had its stock market debut on Thursday, ending its first day of trading worth nearly $20 billion. The company, which makes a workplace-chat tool, took an unorthodox route to Wall Street, used a direct listing method rather than the conventional I.P.O. route. Coming up on Forum, we’ll look at how Slack succeeded where recent offerings from startups like Uber and Lyft fizzled. We’ll also look Slack’s reputation for employee diversity — and talk with one former employee who is calling on the company’s investors to use their returns to help companies owned by people of color.
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