Nowadays, few people want to work in factories, receive starvation wages, and be content with primitive entertainment like watching TV. Young people want to have a bright, active, and interesting life, try new things, and reach new heights. This is primarily about money since it is impossible to imagine a decent life without it. The most realistic way to do all this is through startups and new ideas.
Numerous books tell you how to succeed and own a thriving business, but their authors often have neither business nor success themselves. In turn, Marc Benioff, who published the book Behind the Cloud, is a completely different example of a person who started a business and led it to great success.
About the Book
Behind the Cloud is a book by a successful businessman named Marc Benioff, who once worked in a prominent position at the legendary Oracle company, but later decided to start his own startup. The project was called Salesforce and consisted in starting the active use of cloud technologies in business. When Marc first came up with such ideas, most people still stuck to the old stereotypes. That is why no one wanted to support him, so he had to work almost alone. Behind the Cloud tells about the formation of Salesforce and shows the principles that helped the author of the startup to reach great heights in his business.
In the book, Marc talks about the problems he had to face and shares his tips on how to overcome them. This information will be useful for readers, as it can help them not only with IT startups but also in everyday life when solving everyday problems. The book was co-authored by successful journalist Carly Adler, who helped Marc make his creation enjoyable to read.
Main Ideas
There are many interesting points in the book, but in short, the main ideas of Marc Benioff are as follows:
- Never give up on your dreams. The phrase is banal, but it carries an important message. The author of the Salesforce project faced dozens of serious obstacles, and his ideas were heavily criticized, but he did not give up and continued to move on. This is what helped him achieve a result that others could not even dream of. But Marc also notes that it is important to objectively evaluate your idea, and if it does not have growth potential, then reconsider your desires. There is no point in fighting for something that will have no effect.
- Aggressive marketing is the key to success. It is important not only to work on the quality of the future project but also to properly present it to the audience. Competent active marketing allows you to attract attention and, accordingly, unexpected investments even at the development stage. The development of the Salesforce project was carried out by the famous marketer Bruce Campbell, who gave the media many reasons to talk about the startup. That is why the project caused a stir from the very beginning.
- The client is above all. Another important idea of the book is that the client of the future service should be a key figure in transactions. This means that users should like what they are offered, otherwise they will not pay money for it and recommend it to their friends and acquaintances. So if you put your best effort into solving client problems and meeting their needs, then your chances of success will greatly increase.
Marc also says that all the features of the product that you want to develop must be gradually brought to perfection so that it has a minimum of shortcomings in the future. Marc Benioff’s Behind the Cloud is a great business book for anyone who is interested in success stories and has their own ideas.
