Salesforce founder Marc Benioff reflects on early pricing strategy lessons learned during the 2001 dot-com crash when month-to-month customers cancelled en masse.
Opinion
Benioff: Most VCs add no value, so founders should raise privately
“Why even going to venture capitalists? You should, like, just raise money privately. Unless, you know, someone like yourself, like, actually adds value because, you know, you're an entrepreneur, but and this is just your entrepreneurial pursuit, but Most, you …”
Assertion Partly supported
Benioff: 90% of enterprise software is bought in just seven countries
“No. Because you have to remember a truth, which is that 90% of all enterprise software is only bought in seven countries.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Benioff: Sequoia and USVP rejected Salesforce three times in 1999
“No venture capitalist would give us money. We raised all the money privately. I was thrown out of, you know, Sequoia three times, US venture capital, three times.”
Opinion
Benioff: Enterprise CEOs lack Mark Zuckerberg's mobile-first focus and strategy
“In the enterprise side, if you look at The traditional enterprise companies, they don't have that religion that Mark Zuckerberg has. Okay, Mark Zuckerberg has the mobile religion. Okay, you don't have that with the enterprise CEOs.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Benioff: Software startup valuations in Japan are much lower than US
“Because there are really great companies in Japan at valuations that are much more attractive than what we're paid for here.”
Insight
Benioff warns enterprise founders against premature international expansion
“For software entrepreneurs, they need to recognize that there are, for enterprise, certainly enterprise entrepreneurs, there are mega markets that need to be addressed and before they go, waste their time, because, or maybe they have some exotic trip, and then…”