D.F.A. #21: Early Salesforce employee Mike Kreaden on How He Built Salesforce For Startups
A Great Webinar on How To Use AI to Get More LPs & A Killer AI Tool That Will Train You For Any Job Interview!
I first met Mike Kreaden nearly ten years ago when I was leading the sales team at the Growth Marketing Conference. Mike joined Salesforce very early on - he was the 90th member of the team. One thing that I tell all VCs and PEs that I work with is that it’s really important to make sure that all of the LPs in your fund are people just like Mike - investors who have done really amazing stuff in their careers who have really amazing and interesting subject matter knowledge.
Mike and I have had great conversations about investing, SaaS and the future of sales and marketing. Today’s issue focuses on his adventures in tech and investing, and this Thursday we also have a special webinar coming up this Thursday where you can learn a lot more about how to use AI, martech and salestech to get investors for your fund (you’ll need to sign up for a Zoom account to attend, but the free version works fine). Enjoy this great interview with Mike Kreaden!
You were employee #90 at Salesforce - can you share one really amazing memory from the early days of building that company, one especially that will blow our youngest readers away?
I joined Salesforce at the end of 2001, but only started working in my role as the first PM for the API a few months later. This was a tumultuous time in the post-dotcom era, as the hangover from the dotcom implosion was tempering any enthusiasm in the startup world. Salesforce was in stark contrast to the industry as a whole.It was a focused and mission driven culture that was convinced it was out to change the world of Enterprise Software. With Marc Benioff at the helm as CEO, we were a strong team of true believers who plotted to do the impossible - to wrestle control of the market from Oracle, SAP and Microsoft with a better way of doing business software, defining what would become Enterprise SaaS with a subscription-based model.
It may look like Salesforce had a smooth road to success, but as a startup we had to deal with all of the problems (and more) that every startup faces when defining a new category or market. One of the early memories I have is doing a solo recruiting road trip with Marc to convince Jonathan Schwartz (Sun), Dan’l Lewin (Microsoft), Adam Bosworth (BEA), Dale Fuller (Borland/Inprise) that they should team with us on our launch of Sforce - the first generation PaaS that we were releasing in 2002. Marc’s vision was for all enterprise services, including platform services, to move to a SaaS model.
It was mesmerizing to watch Marc work his magic with these top execs to bring them on board as “founding partners” in our quest to bring appdev to the cloud. Communication skills, charisma and conviction are the lifeblood of a great founder and Marc had all of this and more. The one thing that I tell all founders is that you need to craft your vision and then build a team of A-players who “believe the beliefs.”
You’re an investor now and that’s your main thing - what advice can you give to someone who doesn’t know a lot about investing in CRM or SaaS that’s like salestech, martech or CRM?
Study the trends and cycles of the Enterprise software industry from pre-Internet (~1995) to the present. The dotcom boom was the first inflection point, followed by the rise of SaaS and the Cloud. This was followed by the consolidation and dominance of the few (Salesforce, Microsoft, AWS) which was a fundamental change in the market dynamics as a whole.One way of looking at the market is through the lens of the (current) market leaders, and identifying those companies that have a shot of joining these leaders (or replacing them). Each of the leaders will be curating partner ecosystems, which provides for opportunities in co-marketing, customer targeting and leverage in developing sales and marketing strategies that can accelerate customer validation and growth. From the startup’s perspective, if they can choose the right ecosystem to refine their solution and value prop, they will have an easier path to validation by focusing their efforts on an ideal customer profile (ICP) in a known customer base. These are the startups that I like to work with and invest in.
It’s been a rough week for San Francisco - the 49ers lost the super bowl and startup valuations have been a little bumpy. What’s your forecast for how things are going to go in 2024?
I’m bullish on the prospects for 2024 as the year that Enterprise Software starts it’s next phase of significant growth. I’m not alone in believing that the transformation that artificial general intelligence (AGI) provides for business software is a fundamental change in not only what can be done (solutions) but in how it can be done. The transformation is underway, and the next few years will define the winners for the next decade in Enterprise Software.
You started Salesforce for Startups, it’s now a big program. What’s your advice for any big company that wants to start a startups program? Is it a good idea for the company and for shareholders? How should you know when’s the right time to do it?
A core strategy for any company that wants to dominate the market (or their niche) is to foster and curate a thriving ecosystem of partners. This includes consulting partners as well as independent software vendors (ISVs). The long game is played when you use Total Ecosystem Value as a key performance indicator (KPI) and understand that it’s good business for you to set up your partners for success. Salesforce invested early in enablement programs for their partners and also used this as a recruiting tool for prospective partners. The reality is that partners help you deliver a more complete solution for your customer. Reaching scale in your partner program becomes a pillar of your defensible positioning in your market or segment. This should be a recognized strategy for all aspiring market leaders.I know one of your favorite places in the world is Truckee, CA. Whenever I’m in Truckee I love throwing on some grateful Dead and driving down to Dark Horse coffee - what’s your Truckee go to and what’s on your drive playlist?
CoffeeBar is my favorite in Truckee and Olympic Valley, as well as one of our local breweries, Alibi Ale Works. As for playlists, I have recently rediscovered vinyl and am reliving my youth with artists that include Pink Floyd, Bowie, Steely Dan and Supertramp to name a few!
WEBINAR: Raising Capital With AI
Have you ever wondered how we raise capital for PE and VC firms at Lead Zeppelin?
Have you ever wanted to put all of your LP fundraising completely on autopilot
Have you ever wanted to source startups, real estate or whatever you invest in using AI?
Have you ever wanted to get a bunch of investors for your fund that are really, really similar to the great investors that you already have?
…then sign up for the webinar we’re having on Thursday at 9am PT. We have 89 spots available. Lead Zeppelin clients and VC/PE/hedge/RE fund execs get first dibs, so get your seats fast. This webinar is open only to residents of the USA, but we will do one for international investors in the near future!
REGISTER HERE (you’ll need an Zoom account to attend, free version is fine)
Here’s a really cool tool that I’ve discovered. I worked with John Hancock in my first VC role at Stonks - he was the firm’s co-founder. He recently invented from what I know is the first AI live-interview prep tool, PracticeInterview.ai
If you know anyone preparing for an interview right now, this tool is a must-use. Here’s why: interviews are hard and it's EASY to go in unprepared. The job market is super-competitive right now and this is a free and simple way to get prepped, and it’s actually pretty fun to use.
They’ve had nearly 1,800 people (from 78 countries) conduct a practice interviews. A surprisingly popular use case has been people using it to practice their English in preparation for English-speaking job interviews. They figured this out from receiving lots of feedback about the app's usefulness in this scenario. By the way, the first few are free, and even after that, it’s just a few bucks per interview, so it’s super-affordable, even for someone who’s out of work.
I hope you’re able to share this tool with anyone who’s fresh out of school or in the job market, or any exec or job coach you know!