Mark Benioff (Marc Benioff)

Mark Benioff (Marc Benioff)

Marc Benioff is a famous California entrepreneur, successful businessman, billionaire, founder of one of the largest cloud providers and developers of CRM systems Salesforce.com.

Biography

Marc Benioff was born on September 25, 1964 in San Francisco.

Education

He graduated from the University of Southern California, after which he was awarded a bachelor's degree in science and the arts, as well as an honorary MBA degree.

Career

At the dawn of his career, Benioff changed many jobs in the field of trade, marketing and in other areas.

After graduation, he came to work at Oracle, where by 1998 he rose to the post of vice president. In this position, he was responsible for a number of areas - from product development to marketing and sales.

In 1999, he founded the company Salesforce.com. He is the chairman of the board of directors and president of the company.

In 2000, he founded the Salesforce philanthropic fund, through which he provides significant support to many companies and organizations.

Salesforce Case Study

On March 29, 2018, Salesforce founders Marc Benioff and Parker Harris told BusinessInsider at a conference in San Francisco about their company's success story. The head of Salesforce, using the example of the company, told how to be successful when they do not believe in you.

Despite the fact that by April 4, 2018, Salesforce's market capitalization is about $86 billion, and the number of company employees exceeds 30 thousand people, the path to success was not easy.

Salesforce was founded in 1999, when the Internet industry was gaining momentum. About a year later, the dot-com market collapsed - companies selling online. Then many startups were on the verge of closure, recalls Benioff.

Marc Benioff

Salesforce's main activity is related to the sale of software via the Internet on the basis of a monthly or annual subscription. This sales model is widespread, but in 1999 the speed of Internet access was low, it was not safe and reliable. Very few companies were ready to buy the equipment needed to conduct business using the Internet.

Company CEO Mark Benioff says he has always been confident of his company's success. Before starting his own business, the founder of Salesforce worked at Oracle, where his salary was $1 million. However, this was not enough to create your own company. When he turned to venture investors, none of them agreed to invest in a risky enterprise.

According to Benioff, they did not believe that cloud technology would ever make a profit. In the end, he managed to find a like-minded person in the person of the founder of the International Data Group - the publisher of computer magazines Computerworld, PCWorld and Network World, who, like Benioff himself, believed that his company had a future. As a result, he raised $62 million from private investors.

Mark Beniof shared his success features, which he formulated over the years of hard work at Salesforce:

1. Clearly articulate your goals. According to Benioff, the difficulties mainly arose due to the fact that he did not know what he wanted.

2. Stay positive. Believe that you will succeed - you only need to understand how to do this, and confidently go to the goal. Think of a positive outcome, not a possible failure.

3. Pay attention to things and people who can help you achieve the goal. Benioff says that after you formulated your goal, everything began to turn out by itself. The founder of Salesforce met people who could help him, thoughts came to his head about how to achieve the goal. He became aware of the steps he must take, and he found it easier to overcome uncertainty.

4. Surround yourself with people who can support you. Create a team of like-minded people who, like you, will believe in the success of the company. Because a lot of people will tell you that nothing will work.^[1]

In addition to founding and leading Salesforce, Benioff is known as the author of three books, including the bestseller Behind the Cloud, and also serves on the board of directors of Cisco.

According to Expertmarket, in 2010 Benioff was named Fortune one of the most talented people in the field of technology. He received many awards for his achievements, including Entrepreneur of the Year in 2007.

From 2003 to 2005, he co-chaired the Information Technology Committee. He was appointed to this position by President George Bush himself. In this post, Benioff dealt with information technology and cybersecurity.

Cisco Savior

On August 2, 2012, Cisco announced the accession of Marc Benioff to the company's board of directors. Cisco is confident that joining Benioff's team is well aligned with the new development strategy, which includes a focus on cloud services.

As part of this strategy, the head of the company, John Chambers, has been pursuing a policy of "shaking" and rotation of top management over the past year. In 2012, the company announced its intention to reduce 2% of staff (about 1,300 jobs).

John Chambers hopes that Marc Benioff will benefit Cisco with his ideas in cloud computing and social projects.

2018: Purchase of Time magazine for $190 million

September 17, 2018 it became known about the purchase of Time magazine by Marc Benioff. The value of the transaction is $190 million, according to the company Salesforce.com, which is headed by an entrepreneur. More details here.

2021

Investing in the manufacturer of titanium rings measuring body temperature and pulse, Oura

In early May 2021, the manufacturer of titanium rings measuring body temperature and pulse raised $100 million. Through this round of funding, Oura raised a total of $148.3 million. Temasek, JAZZ Venture Partners and Eisai became new investors, they were also joined by already working investors Forerunner Ventures, Square, MSD Capital, Marc Benioff, Lifeline Ventures, Metaplanet Holdings and Next Ventures. More details here.

Investing in "the world's first open search engine You.com"

In November 2021, it became known about investing $20 million in You.com. The funding round was led by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. The Day One Ventures fund of the Russian woman Masha Drokova, the Breyer Capital and Sound Ventures funds also took part in the deal. The You.com plans to spend the investments received on developing its own platform and increasing its user audience. More details here.

Hobby

Marc Benioff does not only manage the enterprise, but also many others, for example, he wrote two books about business. In addition, the billionaire devotes a lot of time to the study of oriental literature. One of his favorite books is Sun Tzu's The Art of War.