Salesforce
Salesforce is the world's #1 AI CRM platform that helps companies connect with their customers through cloud-based customer relationship management software, bringing together sales, service, marketing, commerce, and analytics on one unified platform powered by AI and real-time data.
Founding Story
Marc Benioff founded Salesforce in 1999 after growing tired of big company culture at Oracle. During a sabbatical in Hawaii where he studied meditation and embraced spiritual growth, Benioff conceived the idea for Salesforce. The vision was to create Internet-based sales force automation delivered via the cloud—a novel concept at the time. On March 8, 1999, Salesforce incorporated and the four co-founders began working on the first version of the CRM in a rented one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco with a mantra of 'fast, simple, and right the first time.'
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Leadership
Founders
Marc Benioff
At age 14, sold his first software 'How to Juggle' for $75. At 15, founded Liberty Software creating video games. Spent 13 years at Oracle Corporation where he became the youngest vice president in company history. Earned B.S. in Business Administration from USC.
Parker Harris
Earned Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Middlebury College. Began career as software engineer working on accounting and business software for enterprise customers. Co-founded Left Coast Software, a consulting and development firm focused on Java and early internet-based systems.
Frank Dominguez
Co-founder who worked on the first version of the CRM in a rented one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco in 1999.
Dave Moellenhoff
Co-founder who worked on the first version of the CRM alongside Benioff, Harris, and Dominguez in 1999.
Executive Team
Marc Benioff
Chair, CEO & Co-Founder
Co-founded Salesforce in 1999. Spent 13 years at Oracle becoming youngest VP. Pioneer of cloud computing.
Parker Harris
Co-Founder, Salesforce & Chief Technology Officer, Slack
Co-founded Salesforce. Previously co-founded Left Coast Software. Oversees Slack engineering and technical vision.
Business Model
Revenue Model
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) subscription model. Revenue is generated through subscriptions to various cloud suites (Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, etc.) and tiered add-ons for AI capabilities like Agentforce and generative AI features. Additional revenue from partner ecosystem via AppExchange marketplace and professional services.
Pricing Tiers
Bundle of popular features designed for startups and emerging businesses to get started with CRM
Mid-tier suite option for growing businesses
Robust set of features for established businesses
Single app designed for sales and support operations
AI capabilities like Agentforce and specific generative AI features sold as product-specific add-ons to standard cloud editions
For up to 10,000 contacts
For up to 10,000 contacts with enhanced features
Target Markets
- Large enterprises (contributing over 60% of customer base)
- Mid-market businesses
- Small businesses and startups
- Professional services
- Manufacturing
- Financial services and banking
- Sales force automation and pipeline management
- Customer service and support operations
- Marketing campaign management and customer journey orchestration
- E-commerce and digital commerce
- Field service management
- Customer data platform and unified customer view
- 95 of the Fortune 100
- Accenture
- American Red Cross
- AWS
History & Milestones
12th consecutive year as #1 CRM provider; Data Cloud and AI ARR reaches $900 million; Agentforce and Data 360 ARR reaches nearly $1.4 billion
Celebrates 25th anniversary; launch of Agentforce AI agents and Data Cloud
Launch of Einstein GPT and Einstein Copilot generative AI
Launch of Safety Cloud and NFT Cloud
Launch of Salesforce+ streaming service; acquisition of Slack
