Marc Benioff is the co-founder and CEO of Salesforce, the second-largest software company in the world. He started programming at age 15, selling his first program for $75, and went on to build Salesforce into a company worth more than $300 billion that also owns Slack, Tableau, Quip, and MuleSoft. Marc is known as a marketing legend, and is now leading Salesforce into the era of AI agents. In our conversation, we discuss: • The importance of maintaining a beginner’s mind • His approach to product launches and marketing • Managing through tough times and layoffs • His relationship with Steve Jobs and lessons learned • Why Salesforce is betting big on AI agents • Many stories from his entrepreneurial roller coaster • Much more — Brought to you by: • Cloudinary—The foundational technology for all images and video on the internet • Enterpret—Transform customer feedback into product growth • Coda—The all-in-one collaborative workspace — Find the transcript at: lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-t… — Where to find Marc Benioff: • X: x.com/benioff • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/marcbenioff — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: lennysnewsletter.com • X: twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky — In this episode, we cover: — Referenced: • Bill.com: • App Store: • Salesforce: • Oracle: • Larry Ellison on X: • Siebel Systems: • Saba Software: • Tom Siebel on LinkedIn: • Avon: • Salesforce Chief Has Pulled Some Crazy Stunts: •  Matthew McConaughey on Instagram: • Woody Harrelson on Instagram: • “Ask More of AI” with Matthew McConaughey: • Marc’s tweet about the ad with McConaughey and Harrelson: • Chris Rock on Instagram: • Sushi Iwa: • Ryoanji Temple Rock Garden: • Neil Young Archives on Instagram: • Mount Tam: • Spirit Rock: • Jack Kornfield: • Agentforce: • Minority Report on Prime: • Peter Schwartz on X: • UCSF Health: • A.I. Chatbots Defeated Doctors at Diagnosing Illness: • Does AI improve doctors’ diagnoses? Study puts it to the test: • A.I. Will Transform the Global Economy—if Humans Let It: • Wargames on Prime: • Her on Prime: • AI (Einstein) at Salesforce: • Salesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Airkit.ai: • Salesforce Buys Big Data Startup RelateIQ for Up to $390M: • Salesforce to cut workforce by 10% after hiring ‘too many people’ during the pandemic: • Michael Dell on LinkedIn: • Bret Taylor on LinkedIn: • Akio Toyoda: • Kaizen: • TRS-80: • CLOAD Magazine: — Recommended books: • Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War: • Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from Idea to Billion-Dollar Company—and Revolutionized an Industry: • Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change: — Production and marketing by . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.