From 0 to $8B in a highly competitive niche

$8 billion in annual revenue 17 years after the launch. This is a story of SalesForce.

How did they do it?

1999:
1. Marc Benioff left his role as Vice President of Oracle.
2. Companies like Oracle and SAP were selling bulky and complex CRM software to businesses that had to be installed and updated on-premise.
So Marc decided to be the first to create a cloud-based simpler and easier to use software (SaaS).
Hint: Want to beat huge competitors? Create a simpler and easier product. ;)

2000-2002:
1. Marc paid actors to carry “anti-software” signs. They marched in front of a user conference for Siebel Systems, which sold CRM.
2. Benioff hosted a military-themed party where guests threw “pieces of software” into trash bins.
3. The stunts and the revolutionary product gained attention. As a result: $5.9 million in revenue.

2003:
1. SalesForce gained its first 100,000 users
2. Held its first annual Dreamforce user conference.
3. They invented the free trial and later - freemium (first 5 users for free), which created a powerful viral distribution channel.
4. $50.9 million in revenue.

2004: Salesforce announced their IPO.

2005-2006: They built the AppExchange, where third-party developers could create their own apps (using a special SalesForce programming language) and sell them to a community of other Salesforce users.

2008-2016: Salesforce acquired various companies:
+ A crowd-sourced data company.
+ A social customer service tool.
+ A social media monitoring platform.
+ A relationship intelligence platform later turned into a CRM for small businesses.
+ A productivity software company.
+ An Artificial Intelligence company.

Source: producthabits.com


Cheers,
Charlie Patel ;)



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