History of Salesforce
You use Salesforce CRM. Most businesses do. It’s become such a phenomena in the world of CRM that few people can even remember what life was like before it. How did Salesforce become the #1 CRM solution in the world?
Salesforce: The Rise of the Force
Salesforce was founded in 1999 by Marc Benioff and three others in a rented San Francisco apartment. Even back then, Benioff was predicting the need for “cloud-based” business applications and software available through the Internet.
“You must always examine what’s working, evolve your ideas, and change the way you do things.”
― Marc Benioff, Behind the Cloud
Salesforce: The First Office borrowed from Salesforce.com
Where to find investors who will give money on such risky idea?
Benioff had previously worked for Oracle, where he became the youngest Vice President in the company’s history at the age of 23. It was there that he developed a vast network of contacts who would eventually become the first investors in Salesforce.
“One idea alone is a tactic, but if it can be executed a number of different ways, it becomes a great strategy.”
― Marc Benioff, Behind the Cloud
In February of 2000, the first version of Salesforce was launched. At that time, the biggest competitor in the CRM space was Siebel. But with its new and disruptive “no software” business model, Salesforce was able to quickly gain significant market share. That and some pretty interesting marketing tactics…
Benioff staged a fake protest against traditional software during a conference hosted by Siebel. He even hired fake TV journalists to stand outside and cover the event. Of course, the folks from Siebel contacted the police and the rest, as they say, is history. Salesforce received a massive amount of media coverage from the stunt and is now considered the industry leader in CRM and cloud application solutions. (See all the latest Salesforce news in our blog post “Top 5 Dreamforce Renovations.”)
Borrowed from finnpr.com
But that was just the beginning of Salesforce story. Read in our coming post what ordeals Marc Benioff had to come across on the way to success.
Much like Salesforce, the team here at Syntegrico is constantly monitoring and embracing the latest trends in technology and is currently focused on Salesforce’s Lightning Experience.
Contact us if you have any questions about Salesforce or the new Lightning Experience. We’ll be happy to help.
