Salesforce: The Cloud & SaaS Pioneer

This episode is brought to you by:

Quartr. With Quartr, you can access conference calls, investor presentations, transcripts, and earnings reports – straight from your pocket. Quartr is 100% free and includes companies from 12 markets including the US, the UK, Canada, India, and all the Scandanavian countries. Quartr is available for both iOS and Android, so check out the app today.

Brex. Brex began as the first corporate card for startups and now offers a full financial stack built for scale. Get 10-20x higher credit limits, uncapped rewards, easy deposits and payments, and expense management all in one. Grow your business faster with Brex.

[00:03:14] - [First question] - What Salesforce is and what it does

[00:04:55] - The scale and revenue scope of the business today

[00:06:13] - Driving variables of revenue growth and their current model

[00:09:10] - The unique founding story and becoming the first SaaS company

[00:11:06] - What about Marc Benioff made him so compelling and successful

[00:14:20] - An experience in his time at Salesforce that changed and moved him

[00:15:16] - The first buyer and what they were served as a product

[00:17:07] - Overview of Salesforce as a software platform

[00:19:58] - The core database that powers their infrastructure and user experience

[00:21:26] - Transitioning from being mostly a builder to largely a buyer and acquirer

[00:23:46] - Why building trust early on is so crucial when doing something new

[00:25:45] - What is Dreamforce, and how it’s evolved over time

[00:27:24] - The connection between Hawaiian culture and Salesforce

[00:29:14] - How they continue to market and acquire customers and spend so much on marketing

[00:30:44] - Their current addressable market and plans to expand into those areas

[00:35:05] - How priorities are set, picked, and followed through on 

[00:35:58] - What is V2MOM and the role it plays with the executive team 

[00:38:08] - The philosophy behind Salesforce Ventures and the function it serves

[00:40:27] - Potential risks the business faces going forward

[00:44:24] - Key characteristics that separate Salesforce from other businesses out there

[00:46:47] - Lessons for investors and builders when studying Salesforce’s story