Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff recently shared the idea that pushed him to start the company. While tech giants like Google, Apple and some others trace their origins to a garage, Benioff said his multi-billion dollar empire began in the Pacific Ocean while swimming with a pod of 100 dolphins off the coast of Hawaii.. In a newly surfaced interview with TBPN, Benioff recounted a 1999 “vision” led him to quit his high-ranking role at Oracle.“I pay attention to my dreams. I pay attention to my visions, my insights,” Benioff said.“Salesforce started because I was swimming with a pod of dolphins outside the coast of Hawaii, where I live. About 100 dolphins. I was one with the pod. And when I was one with the pod, all of a sudden in my mind, I saw this vision of what Salesforce could look like,” he explained.
Marc Benioff went from Hawaii to Larry Ellison ’s office, and quit
He explained that the ‘vision’ gave him the idea but he released that it required more than just intuition; it required capital. He said that he went to the office of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison who was his mentor and then-boss.“I went to Larry Ellison and said, ‘Hey, I think I’m going to quit my job’. He gave me $2 million, and we started Salesforce. That was 26 years ago,” Benioff recalled.
Marc Benioff shares ‘life lesson’ by Indian guru
Last year, Benioff spoke about the idea of starting Salesforce, saying it goes back to the year 1996-97. He said that he was on a trip to India to meet his Guru Mata Amritanandamayi in Kerala.“I was with her, I was explaining my vision for Salesforce, which was a new technology model and a new business model. And she reminded me, of course, of the importance of giving back, it was very much in that spirit that we have built a different kind of company,” said Benioff.The Salesforce CEO has previously shared how Mata Amritanandamayi has influenced his life. In an interview in 2020, Benioff said that she told him, ‘In your quest to change the world, don’t forget to do something for somebody else.’
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