Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from Idea to Billion-Dollar Company—and Revolutionized an Industry

6.1. Play #64: The Business of Business Is More Than Business

We started salesforce.com with a goal to create a different type of company. Our vision was to build a different technology model (Software-as-a-Service), a different sales model (subscription based), and a different philanthropic model (integrated into the for-profit corporation from the very beginning). Each of these ideas emanated from our disenchantment with the traditional manner in which things were done. The philanthropic effort in particular, though, stemmed from a personal experience.

Early in my career, during my first few years at Oracle, I defined my success by making money and achieving power. By my early thirties, however, I realized that these superficial achievements ...