00:30:53 · Alex Immerman, John Somorjai
[00:30:53] S1: Totally makes sense. I mean, broad mandate. You know, it seems to cover all of technology wherever there is growth in the sector at large. How are you spending your time personally? [00:31:07] S0: I I divide my time between finding new new companies to acquire, the... Working with the integration team and making sure that the acquisitions are successful, and then the ventures program. And so I'm I'm split a lot. As I said to you, I've never been busier than I am now, but I think that's sort of a hallmark of how just the rapid evolution of the industry and how how quickly technology innovation is happening these days. You just have to move faster, and however fast you move, it's not even fast enough. [00:31:41] S1: What... In in all these areas on on the venture side, what are you most excited about right now? [00:31:49] S0: Well, as I, you know, I I think the robotics companies are are just fascinating to see. Like, I I absolutely love that. I have... We have an investment in Figure AI and the humanoids. We've got investments in physical intelligence, Dyna Robotics, Skild, and and a variety of other companies. We have Zipline, which does drone delivery, for example. So we're we're venturing off [00:32:15] S1: We love many of those companies.
00:32:15 · Alex Immerman, John Somorjai
[00:32:15] S1: We love many of those companies. [00:32:17] S0: Yeah. And we're... So we're doing things in new areas that aren't just about software, but it's very clear they're going to be really important to the industry. And so I'm enjoying that. Would say I also... We have investments around the world and so we're seeing some really interesting companies in Japan for example. We invested in a robotics company there called Mugen, which is like really really big in logistics and in the Japanese market. We have investments in many in Europe, in Israel, and in other parts of Asia and Australia for example. And so I think seeing the globalization of technology has been a real interesting vantage point. [00:33:05] S1: For the robotics side, I I agree. It is really... We're we're starting to see, you know, the early signs of scaling laws within robotics, which is really exciting. And then a bunch of these companies have gone a bit more vertical in their go to market, and so we're starting to see revenue start to scale up, which is which is really exciting. As you think about your investment aperture, how often are you looking at companies, and thinking, hey, potentially one day they could compete with Salesforce? And would you invest in a company that might take that position?
00:33:05 · Alex Immerman, John Somorjai
[00:33:05] S1: For the robotics side, I I agree. It is really... We're we're starting to see, you know, the early signs of scaling laws within robotics, which is really exciting. And then a bunch of these companies have gone a bit more vertical in their go to market, and so we're starting to see revenue start to scale up, which is which is really exciting. As you think about your investment aperture, how often are you looking at companies, and thinking, hey, potentially one day they could compete with Salesforce? And would you invest in a company that might take that position? [00:33:44] S0: I think actually we probably should. It's good to stay close to where the technology is going. And maybe that company may turn into an acquisition target someday. So one of the things, just to give you some numbers, we've invested in more than seven fifty companies. We've acquired 29. So it's still, it's a relatively small number of companies, but I think if we ever see something really exciting that maybe it's an acquisition target in the future, maybe not, maybe it's just a great partner. You know, we want to stay close to that company. [00:34:20] S1: Yeah, and I mean, you mentioned a good portion of those seven fifty are in areas that you wouldn't say are core strategic areas. Like robotics today doesn't strike me as, you know, the next thing in line in the Salesforce roadmap. [00:34:37] S0: But we wanna be partnering with them. [00:34:38] S1: But you wanna be partnering with How do they think about the value proposition partnering with Salesforce Ventures?
00:34:38 · Alex Immerman, John Somorjai
[00:34:38] S1: But you wanna be partnering with How do they think about the value proposition partnering with Salesforce Ventures? [00:34:45] S0: I think the the biggest value add is probably how we can help them access customers. And you know, we have we have the broadest set of enterprise customers that are interested in buying technology, And so we help our portfolio companies get in front of these customers. I think we also provide a lot of meaningful advice from an operational lens around what is it like to build a business in this particular area. And having, you know, been been through so many stories, we can really help these entrepreneurs grow their businesses. [00:35:20] S1: If you were gonna start a company today, and it was gonna attack Salesforce head on, What are the openings that you see fit? [00:35:28] S0: What I what I would say is I don't know why there continue to be new CRM companies at this point. Like, it just... It is interesting, like, how [00:35:38] S1: And and why do you feel that way? There are a bunch of AI native CRMs. There's Lightfield, Monaco. Curious your take. [00:35:48] S0: I just think it's very hard to... First of all, there's so much great CRM technology in general, and we are continually improving our products. It's just very hard to build something that's particular and particularly specialized and niche in that area right now. And so I'm not... I I I have yet to see something that's so novel that it's going to turn into a large multi billion dollar company in that space.
00:35:48 · John Somorjai, Alex Immerman
[00:35:48] S0: I just think it's very hard to... First of all, there's so much great CRM technology in general, and we are continually improving our products. It's just very hard to build something that's particular and particularly specialized and niche in that area right now. And so I'm not... I I I have yet to see something that's so novel that it's going to turn into a large multi billion dollar company in that space. [00:36:19] S1: Yeah. I mean, my perspective would be maybe there's an opportunity down market from where your tradition... I I know that you guys play in SMB too, but in terms of getting up and running quickly, [00:36:34] S0: Maybe bottoms more very down market. [00:36:36] S1: Yes. There could be... You know, be could see that. But it's an [00:36:39] S0: still small, it's small area and like vent, you know, venture and the way we approach it is we only invest in big opportunities. And I think most VCs look at that. And so just to invest in small niche opportunities that might be a little different than what the incumbents are doing, I just don't get it. [00:36:57] S1: Fair enough. I I... The parallel story might be, you know, Stripe started with, you know, small companies, and was able to grow with a lot of them over time, and I imagine that these startups might have similar aspirations. [00:37:12] S0: I I just think there are too many of them. There are too many of them. There's too much funding going into them, and and I think the VC community should focus on like really new important areas that haven't been done before.
00:37:12 · John Somorjai, Alex Immerman
[00:37:12] S0: I I just think there are too many of them. There are too many of them. There's too much funding going into them, and and I think the VC community should focus on like really new important areas that haven't been done before. [00:37:26] S1: And as you think about the VC community at large, we're in a unique funding moment in time. I'm curious like what you make of it, how you're making sense of valuations these days.