So in Salesforce’s most recent earnings report CEO Marc Benioff summarized a bunch of things they’ve been talking about for months.
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In 2025, they are hiring 0 new engineers. None. Because they think AI makes them 30% more productive; and
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In 2025, they’re expanding their sales team by up to 20%. Because they want to win in selling AI. Because they want to own the AI war for the digital worker.
They’ve talked about both before, but I hadn’t seen them explicitly tied by Benioff and Salesforce before:
Is this really the right path? Or is it slightly disguised cost containment as they look to expand their profit margins further? Or is it both?
Benioff says their #1 goal today isn’t winning CRM or Data. No it’s “leading the Digital Labor Revolution.” Being the #1 in the enterprise in deploying agents and more.
And he thinks he has enough engineers to do it. And boots on the street will be the way to push it deep into the enterprise. Benioff is also clearly jazzed up and excited about the demand for Salesforce AI:
The classic approach of more sales to grow more in the enterprise. Just even more so. I’ve just never seen a leading CEO at a B2B leader say they are hiring zero engineers. That’s a first. It’s not consistent with my experience on how you build the best complex software.
But maybe it’s the future.
More here:
