Salesforce was founded in 1999 and is widely credited with pioneering the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, bringing customer relationship management (CRM) software to the cloud. Today, the company operates at the intersection of cloud computing, CRM and artificial intelligence, serving over 150,000 companies worldwide.
The firm's current product portfolio includes Agentforce, a platform designed to enable autonomous AI agents to work alongside human employees in customer-facing roles. It also offers a broad suite of cloud-based applications for sales, service, marketing, commerce and analytics, many of which incorporate AI capabilities under its Einstein platform.
Salesforce identifies five core values: trust, customer success, innovation, equality and sustainability. Its founders introduced the "1-1-1" philanthropic model, pledging 1% of the company's equity, technology and employees' time to charitable causes. The company refers to its community of employees, customers and partners as "Trailblazers" and describes itself as a proponent of stakeholder capitalism.
