Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield jokingly proposed to Jen Rubio, cofounder of $1.4 billion Away, on Twitter, and the whole thing really confused Silicon Valley

Slack

Slack CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield

• On Tuesday, Slack CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield appeared to propose to Away co-founder and president Jen Rubio over Twitter.
• Rubio later tweeted that Buttterfield is kidding - but in the hour or so in between, many Twitter users were confused if this was a real proposal or not.
• Earlier on Tuesday, Away announced a $1.4 billion valuation and a new round of funding, as the Wall Street Journal reported.
• And on Monday, Slack held its investor presentation ahead of its own IPO. 
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Slack CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield jokingly proposed marriage to Away co-founder and president Jen Rubio over Twitter - but many followers couldn't figure out whether it was a real proposal or not. 

On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Away, the luggage startup, landed a $1.4 billion valuation with a new funding round.

Butterfield shared the article on Twitter and tweeted to Away co-founder and president Jen Rubio saying, "Let's make today a double-whammy - Jennifer, will you marry me? Promise I'm not just a golddigger."

Then, Butterfield said that he found out that Rubio is currently in flight, with no internet access.

However, it soon looked like Rubio did actually have WiFi access, has shown in this apparent Slack exchange between the two that Butterfield shared on Twitter. 

Shortly thereafrer, Rubio did not directly respond to Butterfield's apparent proposal, but rather commented on Away's funding round: "This new capital will help us continue to build a strong business and community of travelers around the world!"

The original proposal, and the cryptic non-answer of Rubio's response, made many in Silicon Valley and beyond wonder if this was the real deal, prompting perplexed replies.

About an hour and twenty minutes later, Rubio tweeted that Butterfield was kidding.

Daniela Spector

Away co-founder Jen Rubio

Even Slack employees seemed to be confused by the whole thing: 

For his part, Butterfield seemed to express some contrition for the joke, after all the confusion:

Apart from Rubio's success at Away, Butterfield has a lot going on, himself:  Slack filed to go public in April. It was officially valued at $7.1 billion after its latest financing round, last August. On Monday, Butterfield appeared in a livecast investor presentation, laying out Slack's business for would-be stockholders following the IPO.