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/behind-the-founder-marc-benioff Where to find Marc Benioff: • X: https://x.com/benioff • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbenioff Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/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_Systems • Saba Software: https://talentedlearning.com/lms-vendor-directory/saba-software • Tom Siebel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomassiebel • Avon: https://www.avon.com • Salesforce Chief Has Pulled Some Crazy Stunts: https://www.businessinsider.com/marc-benioff-salesforcecom-chief-has-pulled-some-crazy-stunts-2012-3 •  Matthew McConaughey on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officiallymcconaughey •…