Inspired by Clayton Christensen's "The Innovator’s Dilemma," I founded Salesforce.com with the vision of revolutionizing enterprise software. Our goal was to replace expensive, hard-to-maintain applications with affordable, web-based solutions. We dared to think differently by selling subscriptions for business applications delivered via the Internet, a concept unheard of at the time. Starting with just three developers in a makeshift office, we built a prototype that quickly attracted employees, users, investors, and media attention. Over the course of a decade, Salesforce.com has grown into a billion-dollar company, and we are excitedly anticipating the future innovations this growing industry will bring. - Marc Benioff
Marc Benioff started his career at Oracle in 1986, becoming senior vice president by 1996. However, he didn't want to be a corporate lifer and took a sabbatical to ponder his future. During this period, he saw the internet's transformative potential for businesses and conceived a new way to deliver business software applications. This led him to the concept of "cloud computing" or "Software-as-a-Service" (SaaS), where companies pay a per-user per-month fee for services delivered via the internet. He believed this model would be effective for sales force automation or customer relationship management (CRM), leading him to start a new company. Despite an offer to join Siebel Systems, a company he had invested in, Benioff chose to pursue his vision independently. He hired three programmers and set up an office in a rented apartment next to his house in San Francisco. Despite the modest start, the team had their first prototype website running within a month. Benioff invited friends and colleagues to test the prototype, using their feedback to refine the product. This user-centric approach resulted in a robust yet simple software product. While still working part-time at Oracle, Benioff secured $2 million in seed money from Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who also joined the board of directors of the new company. By the summer of 1999, Salesforce.com had grown to ten employees and had outgrown the apartment. Benioff rented an office in downtown San Francisco, creating a vibrant start-up environment. The company continued to grow rapidly, moving to larger offices at One Market Street in November 2000. Throughout this journey, Benioff emphasized the importance of dreaming big, hiring top talent, listening to customers, and being willing to take risks.
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