Salesforce: The Cloud & SaaS Pioneer [Business Breakdowns, EP. 29]
Today, we are breaking down the cloud and SaaS trailblazer, Salesforce. Founded by Marc Benioff in 1999, Salesforce has grown rapidly to become the global leader in the $100 billion CRM market. The business has 150,000 customers, including 90% of the Fortune 500, and is currently valued north of $270 billion.
To break down Salesforce, Patrick O’Shaughnessy is joined by Matt Garratt, general partner at VC firm CRV and former head of Salesforce Ventures, where he led investments in companies like Snowflake, Twilio, and Zoom.
In our conversation, we discuss the attributes that make Marc Benioff special, how he pushed against convention to usher in a new era of cloud-based businesses, and ways in which he has built a world around Salesforce’s product lines. We also cover decision-making in the company, why its culture derives from the beaches of Hawaii, and how it’s transitioning from builder to buyer. Please enjoy this breakdown of Salesforce.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.
-----
Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.
Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.
Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss
Show Notes
[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
20VC: CRV's George Zachary on His Relationship To Money and How it has Changed Over Time, Why The Best Founders Have Often Experienced Parental or Home Instability and The Stories Behind Investing in Unicorns; PillPack, Yammer and Udacity
George Zachary is a General Partner @ CRV, one of the nation's oldest and most successful early-stage venture capital firms with a portfolio including the likes of Airtable, DoorDash, Dropbox, Niantic and many more. As for George, today at the firm he focuses on advancing health through revolutionary computer science, centred around bio-engineering. During his incredible 16 year tenure at CRV, he has led deals in the likes of PillPack, Udacity, Scribd and HealthIQ. Before joining CRV, George was a General Partner @ Mohr Davidow Ventures for over 6 years.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How George made his way into the world of venture over 21 years ago and how he came to be a General Partner @ CRV 16 years ago?
2.) How did seeing the booms and busts of the dot com and 08 impacts George's investment mindset? What is the right way to voice concerns in an internal investment discussion? How does George now view capital intensity? How does it impact his conviction and check size?
3.) Why does George believe one should invest in founders who do not need their investors help? Why does George believe the best founders have experienced some form of parental instability? How does George detect the psychological need to win when he meets founders? What are the signs?
4.) How would George describe his own philosophy of board membership? How has it changed over time? What are the 2 control functions that a board member has? What advice does George give to new board members today? Where do many young board members make mistakes?
5.) How does George analyse his own personal relationship to money? How has it changed over the years? How did his relationship to money change his relationship with people? Was that challenging? How did he cope with it? How does he advise others who experience the same?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
George's Favourite Book: Foundation Trilogy
George's Most Recent Investment: Glympse Bio
As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
20VC: Why Few Firms Are Doing True Early Stage Investing Today, Why Founders Should Spend Time with Analysts When Raising & The Rise of Pre-Empting Rounds and How To Know When To Engage vs Wait with Anna Khan, General Partner @ CRV
Anna Khan is a General Partner @ CRV, one of the pre-eminent firms of Silicon Valley stretching over what is now an incredible 18 funds. In their portfolio, they have the likes of Airtable, Doordash, Postman and PillPack to name a few. As for Anna, prior to joining CRV, she spent an incredible 6 years at Bessemer investing in the likes of Intercom, NewVoiceMedia, RainforestQA and Zylo. If that was not enough, Anna is also the Founder & CEO @ Launch X Ventures, offering female entrepreneurs an immersive opportunity to learn how to raise capital for their businesses.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Anna made her way into venture as an analyst with Bessemer and how that led to her scaling the venture ladder to now being GP @ CRV?
2.) How does Anna feel about the importance of analysts in venture? Should founders spend meaningful time with analysts? How should they determine which to spend time with? What were the biggest lessons Anna learned about venture and people from being an analyst at Bessemer?
3.) With the rise of rounds being pre-empted, how does Anna determine when to lean in and move on a deal vs when to wait? How does Anna determine when to stretch vs be disciplined on valuation? Why does Anna believe very few firms are "doing real early-stage investing" today?
4.) Why does Anna believe that there are so much fewer women in venture? How does Anna respond to the suggestion that it is a "pipeline problem"? How would Anna advise an all-white male partnership looking to truly change how they work? How does carry come into showing commitment?
5.) What advice does Anna give to people on developing your early network? Why does Anna believe VCs spending time with VCs is antithetical? How has Anna's investment decision-making process changed over the last 9 years? How does Bessemer's compare to CRV's?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
Anna's Fave Book: Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams
As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
SaaStr 359: The Secrets to Vertical Growth, What it Really Takes to Build a $1B SaaS Company with Matt Garratt, SVP, Managing Partner @ Salesforce Ventures, Trisha Price, Chief Product Officer @ nCino and David Schmaier, CEO & Founder @ Vlocity
From strategies in recruitment and team building to sales tactics, these leaders from Salesforce, nCino, and Vlocity, will discuss the top tips for moving beyond horizontal SaaS and building a billion-dollar SaaS company.
Matt Garratt, SVP, Managing Partner, Salesforce Ventures
Trisha Price, Chief Product Officer, nCino
David Schmaier, CEO & Founder, Vlocity
This episode is an excerpt from a session at SaaStr Summit: Enterprise.
Full video: https://youtu.be/ZxmCVOTW1lQ
Podcast transcript: https://www.saastr.com/saastr-podcasts-for-the-week-with-matt-garratt-trisha-price-david-schmaier-rob-bernshteyn-and-jason-lemkin/
SaaStr 336: Salesforce Ventures Managing Partner Matthew Garratt and Salesforce SVP of Commercial Sales, Adnan Chaudhry on Shifting Your Sales & GTM Strategy in Uncertain Times
Leveraging survey data from 66+ enterprise SaaS companies, Matt Garratt, Managing Partner of Salesforce Ventures shares the landscape of how businesses are shifting their sales & GTM strategies to react to today's uncertain times. Adnan Chaudhry, SVP of Sales at Salesforce then provides actionable takeaways on how to refocus your sales teams, engage with customers, adjust your sales comp and how you can properly forecast in today's new landscape.
This podcast is an excerpt from Matt and Adnan's session at SaaStr Summit. You can see the full video here: https://youtu.be/3Li7tuLQidY
E34: “Angel” Podcast: George Zachary, General Partner at CRV shares insights on cancer scare shifting his focus to investing in health-tech, passing on Google at MDV, CRISPR & “designer babies”, coronavirus threat, origins of Sand Hill Road & more!
0:50 Jason intros CRV's George Zachary
2:20 Passing on Google at MDV and coming to peace with the anti-portfolio
5:51 Differences between leadership & management, where Steve Jobs, Larry & Sergey fell on that scale
10:27 Why 1990's VC was sales & marketing-driven instead of product-driven as it is now
12:52 What shifted the philosophy to product-driven businesses?
18:00 Meeting Elon Musk in the 1990's and backing Zip2
21:59 What were Seed investors like in the '90s? Origins of Sand Hill Road
25:48 Elon pitching Zip2 to a conglomerate of venture firms & selling Zip2 for cash
28:07 How VCs can be conceptually right and wrong in the outcome, how X.com merged with Confinity and became PayPal
33:27 Why is it harder to 3x the massive venture funds? How is age a limiting factor in VC?
40:28 "It doesn't make a difference what you pass on. It only takes 1 company to make your career." Positive & negative feedback cycles in VC.
42:54 Battling through multiple portfolio companies dying at once
44:15 What was George's biggest investment hit, both economically & personal fulfillment?
52:37 George describes his recent health scares and how they shifted his investment focus
1:04:06 Reasons the life-expectancy in the US has gone sideways in recent years
1:07:39 Potential health-tech advancements in the near future
1:21:58 Thoughts on CRISPR & "designer babies"
1:30:27 Cell-based fish & meat
1:37:32 Potential coronavirus repercussions - what's real and what's not?
1:55:13 Jason calls for eliminating handshakes
20VC: When Should CEOs Ask Their VC For Help, When Do Companies Really Need A Board & What The Series A Expansion Means For Startups with Max Gazor, General Partner @ CRV
Max Gazor is a General Partner @ CRV, one of the nation's oldest and most successful VC firms now on their 16th fund and with a prior portfolio consisting of the likes of Twitter, Yammer, Zendesk and ClassPass just to name a few. As for Max, he has led deals in the likes of Airtable, Simplivity, Xamarin and many more incredible companies. Prior to CRV, Max led acquisitions and investments across enterprise and emerging technologies for Cisco's Corporate Development team.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Max made his entry into VC and came to be General Partner @ CRV?
2.) How does Max look to really build conviction around the 1% of companies that he invests in? CRV, now on Fund 16, what have been the major lessons as a firm about operating a VC fund successfully? How does CRV actively implement policies to place the entrepreneur first?
3.) How does Max consider capital allocation across stages and the efficient use of follow on funding? How does he stack rank the portfolio and determine which companies to double down on and which not to?
4.) Why does Max believe that AI is where the cloud was 10 years ago? Within the segment, where is Max most excited? Why does Max often advocate for his startups to remain in stealth mode following funding?
5.) When is the right time for startups to formalize their boards? What is the right size of board in the early days? What is the one feeling that the board should make the founder feel in meetings?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
Max's Fave Book: Old Man and The Sea
Max's Fave Blog: The Twenty Minute VC
Max's Most Recent Investment: Airtable
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Max on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
WePay helps online platforms increase revenue through integrated payments processing, helping platforms offer ROI-positive integrated payments to their users – within their UX and without taking on fraud & regulatory exposure. WePay also offers award-winning support and can even work with your team thru Slack or Zendesk. Get the payments revenue you want, without getting bogged down every time a user has a payments question. Simply visit wepay.com/harry
PipeDrive is the Sales CRM and pipeline management software to use, with the primary view being the pipeline a clear visual interface that prompts you to take action, remain organized and stay in control of a complex sales process. This is why sales pros and deal makers love it (my words, not Pipedrive's). Plus it easily lets you find the stats you need and is fully customizable. Even better, you can signup for free on here it really is a must.
20VC: How Investors Can Build Relationships with Founders In Organic, Non-Transactional Ways & How VCs Should Handle Founder Disputes with Saar Gur, General Partner @ CRV
Saar Gur is a General Partner @ CRV, one of the nation's oldest and most successful VC firms now on their 16th fund. At CRV, Saar has made investments in some incredible companies including DoorDash, Dropbox, Patreon and Ring to name a few. His brilliance in VC is not just acknowledged by us but Forbes and Venture Capital Journal who named Saar to the top 8 up and coming Venture Capitalists and a top 10 VC under the age of thirty-six. Prior to VC, Saar was the Founder of Brightroll, a leading video ad network that was acquired by Yahoo for a reported $640m.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Saar made his way into the world of VC and came to be a GP at CRV?
2.) When can VCs know when to pull the plug on an investment? How does Saar balance financial prudence with vision and belief in the startup and founder?
3.) What does Saar's relationship building process look like? How does Saar build relationships with founders in natural and organic ways?
4.) How can VCs handle founder disputes? How does Saar look to be as helpful and productive in this process as possible? What does Saar recommend to other VCs in this situation?
5.) How does Saar view the inflection points in the growth of startups? At what moments is their the potential for elements to break? How should this be mitigated?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
Saar's Fave Book: The Wright Brothers
Saar's Fave Blog or Newsletter: TechCrunch
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Saar on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
Foundersuite makes the leading CRM for raising startup capital. Since March of 2016, Foundersuite customers have raised over $130M in seed and venture capital. Foundersuite's CRM sits on a database of over 50,000 investors, which will help you quickly populate your fundraising funnel including a beautiful and easy-to-use investor update tool, and the recently launched a new portal that helps investors and accelerators track their portfolio companies on a single dashboard. For a whopping 40% off a Monthly or Annual subscription use the code "20MinuteVC" at checkout.
Greenhouse Software designs tools that help companies hire great people and ultimately build better businesses. Greenhouse works with over 1,500 of the world's most innovative companies such as Airbnb, Slack, Snap Inc. and Lyft. A wrong hire is not only costly for a company but can also turn an employee into an unhappy one. With Greenhouse's Applicant Tracking System, companies can make well-informed decisions and hire qualified candidates who are empowered to do the best work of their careers. Anybody who has a company that's scaling quickly but has trouble hiring and retaining the right people. Visit www.greenhouse.io today to discover how your company can grow.
SaaStr 035: Matt Garratt on The Strategy Behind Salesforce Ventures
Matt Garratt currently runs Salesforce Ventures with the mandate to build out salesforce's ecosystem of partners with equity investments. Matt has led key strategic investments at Salesforce in companies such as former guests Gainsight, and Invoca as well as Anaplan and Insidesales.com just to name a few. Prior to salesforce Matt was a VP at the prestigious SaaS investor Battery Ventures. Also in the show today we mention Jason Lemkin and Aaron Ross new book From Impossible to Inevitable: How Hypergrowth Companies Create Predictable Revenue and if you have not read that, that is a must and can be found here!
In This Episode With Matt You Will Learn:
How Matt made his entry into the world of VC and came to run Salesforce Ventures?
What did Salesforce do right to give Matt the ability to formalise the fund? What did Matt learn in the less formal stages of investing?
What are the benefits that startups receive from being portfolio companies of Salesforce Ventures?
How does matt view Salesforce Ventures in the early stage investing landscape? Does Matt like to co-invest with other prominent funds?
How does M&A work within Salesforce Ventures? Are you willing to sell to your competitors?
If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented you can follow us on Twitter here:
Jason Lemkin
Harry Stebbings
Saastr
Matt Garratt