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Marc Benioff

The Inspiring Story of Marc Benioff and Salesforce

The Inspiring Story of Marc Benioff and Salesforce

The tech industry is brimming with inspiring success stories, but few are as compelling as the journey of Marc Benioff and Salesforce. From humble beginnings to becoming a global leader in customer relationship management (CRM), the rise of Salesforce is a testament to vision, innovation, and perseverance.

The Early Days

The Inspiring Story of Marc Benioff and Salesforce

Image Source: crn.com.au

Marc Benioff’s entrepreneurial spirit emerged early. Born in San Francisco, he started his first business, Liberty Software, at age 15, developing and selling video games. This initial foray into the tech world foreshadowed his future endeavors. After graduating from the University of Southern California, Benioff joined Oracle Corporation, where he quickly climbed the ranks to become the youngest vice president in the company’s history. Despite his success, Benioff felt an increasing desire to create something transformative on his own.

Founding Salesforce

In 1999, Benioff founded Salesforce with a radical idea: to provide software as a service (SaaS). At a time when enterprise software was typically installed on-premises, requiring significant resources to manage, Benioff envisioned a simpler, cloud-based solution. This idea was the foundation of Salesforce’s first product—a web-based CRM system that allowed businesses to manage customer relationships without the need for expensive hardware or software.

Navigating Challenges

The path to success was fraught with challenges. Convincing businesses to adopt cloud-based solutions required overcoming deep-seated skepticism about security and reliability. Benioff’s relentless evangelism of cloud computing, coupled with robust security measures, helped build trust among potential customers. Moreover, Salesforce faced stiff competition from established software giants, but its commitment to innovation and customer-centric approach helped it stand out.

Salesforce’s innovative strategies included the launch of AppExchange, a marketplace for third-party applications that extended the platform’s functionality. This not only broadened Salesforce’s appeal but also fostered a thriving ecosystem of developers and partners.

A Culture of Giving

From the outset, Benioff embedded philanthropy into Salesforce’s DNA. He introduced the 1-1-1 model, dedicating 1% of the company’s equity, 1% of its product, and 1% of employees’ time to charitable causes. This model has donated millions of dollars, countless volunteer hours, and free or discounted software to non-profits and educational institutions. It has become a defining aspect of Salesforce’s corporate culture and has inspired other companies to adopt similar practices.

Global Influence

Today, Salesforce is a global leader with over 50,000 employees and a market capitalization exceeding $200 billion. It serves hundreds of thousands of customers across diverse industries, helping them leverage cloud technology to drive business success. Salesforce’s influence extends beyond business; under Benioff’s leadership, the company has been a strong advocate for social issues, including equality, climate change, and public health.

Marc Benioff’s vision and leadership have not only transformed Salesforce into a tech giant but have also set a new standard for corporate responsibility. The company’s relentless pursuit of innovation, combined with its deep commitment to philanthropy, illustrates how businesses can achieve remarkable success while driving positive change in the world.

The inspiring journey of Marc Benioff and Salesforce highlights the power of visionary leadership and the potential for businesses to be forces for good. As Salesforce continues to innovate and grow, its story serves as a beacon for entrepreneurs and corporations aiming to make a significant impact both in their industries and in society at large.

salesforce

Salesforce co-CEO Taylor to leave as Benioff takes sole charge

Salesforce Inc announced on Wednesday that co-CEO Bret Taylor will step down from the position in January and also that co-founder Marc Benioff will take over as sole CEO.

Image Source: finance.yahoo.com

Investors simply brushed off the annual profit increase, sending the company’s shares down the pit by 7 percent in extended trading.

According to Steve Koenig, managing director at SMBC Nikko Securities, investors likely assumed Taylor’s appointment was the start of a long tenure as Salesforce’s operational CEO.

“His departure raises questions about why he’s leaving and how operational leadership will be divided and delegated,” he added.

Source: thestar.com.my

Taylor became the co-CEO in November 2021 and priorly served as a chief operating officer (COO) and chief product officer (CPO) of Salesforce company.

Read More: Marc Benioff, Founder, and CEO of Salesforce

He was a major contributor behind Salesforce’s 27.7 billion USD workspace messaging platform takeover i.e. Slack Technologies.

“After a lot of reflection, I’ve decided to return to my entrepreneurial roots,” Taylor said.

Source: thestar.com.my

Benioff said that it is “bittersweet” that Taylor has decided to step down as his Co-CEO. “Taylor made his mark on Salesforce as an incredible technologist, leader and friend to us all. Bret founded two incredible companies so it’s understandable why he wants to return to his entrepreneurial roots.”

Source: latestly.com

Taylor, a co-creator of Alphabet Inc’s Google Maps, is also credited with developing Meta Platform Inc unit Facebook’s “like” button while serving as the social media giant’s (CTO) chief technology officer.

The firm based in San Francisco expects yearly adjusted profit per share to range between $4.92 and $4.94, up from $4.71 to $4.73 previously forecast.

According to Refinitiv IBES data, earnings for the quarter that ended Oct. 31 was 7.84 billion USD, compared to an average expectation of the analyst of 7.82 billion USD.

Salesforce has attracted customers with a broad portfolio that comprises its Customer 360 platform and messenger app Slack at such a time when digital transformation has become a priority, even as businesses it is said to be prepared for a major economic turndown.

The firm’s income for the current quarter is expected to range somewhere around 7.93 billion USD to 8.03 billion USD.

It earned 1.40 USD per share on an adjusted basis in the third quarter, particularly in comparison to the $1.21 expected.

Marc Benioff, Founder and CEO of Salesforce

Talented people have the urge to make a difference in this world and create a name for themselves from quite an early age. One such genius who jumped into the entrepreneurship race from the age when he was just in high school is Marc Benioff. Influenced by his father, a Hindu guru, and a former secretary of state Marc Benioff is best known as  founder of Salesforce – a cloud computing company.

Marc Benioff, son of Joelle and Russell Benioff, was born on September 25th 1964 in San Francisco and was raised in the Bay Area. Marc got his first exposure into the business world through his father’s local departmental store in San Francisco. In one of the interviews he went on to credit his father and said, “I learned my work ethic from him”. He studied high school from the Burlingame High School and during his time there he developed and sold his first software called “How To Juggle” for the TRS-80 Model 1 Computer. This trade gained him $75 from the buyer computer magazine.Marc BenioffThe next major successful turn came into Marc’s life when he was 15. This was the year when he founded his single-man company named Liberty Software dedicated to develop games for the Atari 800 computer. Under this company’s banner Benioff developed games such as “King Arthur’s Heir”, “The Nightmare”, “Crypt of the Undead”, and “Escape from the Vulcan’s Isle”. His venture of developing games became his primary source of income and by the next year Benioff was making $1500 per month which he would later use to pay for his higher studies. He graduated from High School in the year 1982 and enrolled himself into University of Southern California to pursue Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree.

The USC days were of great opportunities for Benioff. He landed an internship as a programmer with the tech-genius and the greatest visionary ever lived Steve Jobs at Apple’s Macintosh division. It was here when he learned that revolutionary ideas were not just a dream but they can be pursued and achieved too. Benioff had made his mind to make his career in programming but one of his professor at USC had something else in mind. He suggested Benioff to take business. And, thus, was born an entrepreneur who would revolutionize the online world.

Marc started his career immediately after graduating from USC and joined the database giant Oracle as a customer support. Benioff had an exceptional oratory skills and this helped him to gain the “Rookie of the Year” title at the age of 23. Three years later he climbed up his career ladder so fast that he reached the Vice President position and became the youngest person to be on that post. This also gained him a fat salary of $300,000.

Benioff’s success caught an eye of the top-line people and the founder of Oracle, Larry Ellison, himself called him in. Benioff and Ellison quickly became close friends and spent a good amount of time together attending parties, going on vacations, etc. After 13 years of job at Oracle, Benioff decided to work on something of his own project. And he started working on the idea of cloud computing and gave the company a name which today is known as “Salesforce”. Ellison supported Benioff’s idea by funding the project with $2 million and took a seat on board of directors.

As the time passed by, Benioff found out a potential competitor to Salesforce and it was none other than Oracle itself. This led to the start of downfall between Ellison and Benioff’s relations. While the business war’s continued Salesforce managed to survive the huge dot-com bust blow-off in early 2000s. The survival made the company even stronger and brought it in the list of biggest companies in modern cloud computing market. The company went public in 2004 and raised $110 million. Today, the company is valued at $40 billion and has also been awarded multiple awards including the “Best Place to Work at” for 8 consecutive years.

Starting from selling a software for $75 to making a billion dollars company Marc Benioff stands at number 16 in the Forbes 500 most influential CEOs list. Besides his business work, Benioff has also written a business book “Behind the Cloud”, a memoir on Salesforce in 2009. He is actively involved in philanthropical works and donates a huge sum to charitable trusts and organizations. Benioff currently lives in San Francisco, California with his wife Lynnie Benioff and two children.