The Twenty Minute VC (20VC) · Monday, August 31, 2026
Aaron Katz shares his biggest takeaway from his 12 years at Salesforce, working with Mark Benioff: 'That you can overestimate what you can achieve in one year and underestimate what you can achieve in five.' He notes how Benioff's vision and marketing created a perception that allowed Salesforce to grow into a major competitor.
“That you can overestimate what you can achieve in one year and underestimate what you can achieve in five.”
“And he said, we're going after Sibel, SAP, Oracle, Microsoft.”
“We didn't have the product set to go after those competitors, but he was such an incredible marketer that he created this perception in the industry that some of the largest companies in the world could adopt this technology and that we would deliver on a roadmap that would satisfy the requirements over time, and he did.”