Behind the founder: Marc Benioff

Marc Benioff is the co-founder and CEO of Salesforce, the second-largest software company in the world. He started programming at age 15, selling his first program for $75, and went on to build Salesforce into a company worth more than $300 billion that also owns Slack, Tableau, Quip, and MuleSoft. Marc is known as a marketing legend, and is now leading Salesforce into the era of AI agents. In our conversation, we discuss: • The importance of maintaining a beginner’s mind • His approach to product launches and marketing • Managing through tough times and layoffs • His relationship with Steve Jobs and lessons learned • Why Salesforce is betting big on AI agents • Many stories from his entrepreneurial roller coaster • Much more — Brought to you by: • Cloudinary—The foundational technology for all images and video on the internet: http://cloudinary.com/lenny • Enterpret—Transform customer feedback into product growth: https://enterpret.com/lenny • Coda—The all-in-one collaborative workspace: https://coda.io/lenny Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/be... Where to find Marc Benioff: • X: https://x.com/benioff • LinkedIn:   / marcbenioff   Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X:   / lennysan   • LinkedIn:   / lennyrachitsky   In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Introduction to Marc Benioff and Salesforce (03:54) Marc’s early career and domain names (05:59) The App Store story and lessons from Steve Jobs (15:18) Lessons from launching Salesforce (22:03) The importance of keeping a beginner’s mindset (29:53) Why Marc calls Salesforce the “25-year startup” (31:47) Agentforce (36:09) Why Marc says AI is the defining technology of our lifetime (40:12) AI’s impact on the workforce (42:31) Entrepreneurs need to be like conductors (46:02) Failure corner (50:32) The future of AI agents (56:34) Final thoughts and farewell Referenced: • Bill.com: https://www.bill.com • App Store: https://www.apple.com/app-store/ • Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com • Oracle: https://www.oracle.com • Larry Ellison on X: https://x.com/larryellison • Siebel Systems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siebel_... • Saba Software: https://talentedlearning.com/lms-vend... • Tom Siebel on LinkedIn:   / thomassiebel   • Avon: https://www.avon.com • Salesforce Chief Has Pulled Some Crazy Stunts: https://www.businessinsider.com/marc-... •  Matthew McConaughey on Instagram:   / officiallymcconaughey   • Woody Harrelson on Instagram:   / woodyharrelson   • “Ask More of AI” with Matthew McConaughey:    • Playlist   • Marc’s tweet about the ad with McConaughey and Harrelson: https://x.com/Benioff/status/18661759... • Chris Rock on Instagram:   / chrisrock   • Sushi Iwa: http://www.sushiiwa.jp/en/ • Ryoanji Temple Rock Garden: https://www.japan.travel/en/spot/1145/ • Neil Young Archives on Instagram:   / neilyoungarchives   • Mount Tam: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_T... • Spirit Rock: https://www.spiritrock.org • Jack Kornfield: https://www.spiritrock.org/teachers/j... • Agentforce: https://www.salesforce.com/form/agent... • Minority Report on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Minority-Repor... • Peter Schwartz on X: https://x.com/peterschwartz2 • UCSF Health: https://www.ucsfhealth.org • A.I. Chatbots Defeated Doctors at Diagnosing Illness: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/he... • Does AI improve doctors’ diagnoses? Study puts it to the test: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases... • A.I. Will Transform the Global Economy—if Humans Let It: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/sp... • Wargames on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Wargames-Dabne... ...References continued at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/be... Recommended books: • Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War: https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Fleet-No... • Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from Idea to Billion-Dollar Company—and Revolutionized an Industry: https://www.amazon.com/Behind-Cloud-S... • Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change: https://www.amazon.com/Trailblazer-Bu... Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected]. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.