The End of an Era… or Just Another Turn in the Collaboration Journey?

If you've been living — as I have — in the world of workshops, facilitation, and digital collaboration, you probably crossed paths with Butter.

It wasn't just another tool.

It had personality.
It had rhythm.
It had… intention.

And that's why its disappearance on February 27, 2026 — following its acquisition by Miro — feels like more than just another startup exit.

It feels like the end of a certain way of thinking about online collaboration.

From Canvas to Energy

For years, Miro has been the place where work happens.

Structured. Scalable. Enterprise-ready.

But if we're honest — and as facilitators we should be — it was never really about energy.
It gave us the canvas, but not always the spark.

Butter, on the other hand, was built from the inside out for people like us.

It understood something fundamental:
👉 A good session is not just about tools — it's about experience design.

Music. Timed flows. Transitions. Breakouts that felt alive.

Butter didn't just support facilitation — it performed it.

And that is what Miro has effectively acquired.

Not a competitor.
A capability.

A Quiet Reality Check

There's also a more sobering layer here.

Many of us loved Butter. I certainly appreciated what it was trying to do.

But love, in the SaaS world, is not a business model.

The reality is that the market has shifted.

Large organisations have consolidated around a few dominant platforms — Zoom, Teams, Google Meet — not necessarily because they are better for facilitation, but because they are good enough and already embedded.

And when you are running a video-based platform, "good enough" at scale tends to win.

Behind the scenes, the economics are unforgiving:

• High infrastructure costs

• Slow enterprise conversion

• Increasing pressure to integrate rather than compete

Butter didn't fail because it lacked vision.
It struggled because the system it was operating in rewards consolidation.

So… is Butter gone?

Not really.

What we are likely to see now is something more subtle — and perhaps more interesting.

Butter will be… absorbed.

Its DNA will start to appear inside Miro:

• More structured agendas

• More guided flows

• More attention to engagement, not just content

• Possibly even a new language around "facilitated experiences" inside enterprise tools

In other words, what was once a niche facilitator-first platform may now influence how millions of people collaborate.

And that is not insignificant.

What This Means for Us

For those of us designing conversations, workshops, and decision spaces, this moment is worth pausing on.

Because it raises a deeper question:

👉 Are we becoming dependent on platforms to create energy…
or are we still owning the craft of facilitation?

Tools evolve. Platforms consolidate. Features migrate.

But the essence of what we do — creating the conditions for meaningful dialogue — remains.

If anything, this shift reinforces something I've been reflecting on for some time:

The real "secret sauce" was never the tool.
It was always the facilitator.

A Personal Note

I will miss the boldness of Butter.

It dared to say that meetings could feel different.
That online didn't have to mean flat.

And perhaps that is its real legacy.

Not the features.

But the reminder.

Curious to hear your perspective:

Will you miss the "Butter vibe"?
Or do you see this as a natural evolution towards more integrated collaboration ecosystems?