When I joined Salesforce in 2011, SaaS was just booming. There was excitement in the air. It was a great time to be in the Valley. Facebook and Google were the dream destinations for engineers – places that genuinely cared about their talent, offered incredible perks, and worked on world-changing problems. Uber had just launched, and the novelty of being able to call a taxi to pick you up anywhere from your phone felt revolutionary.

The cloud revolution was in full swing, with Salesforce leading the charge. Marc Benioff's "No Software" vision was transforming enterprise technology, and we were riding that wave

The Golden Era

Back then, the economics made sense. Cloud was cheaper than on-premise solutions. The math worked – customers saved money while getting better, more accessible software. We focused on building products people wanted, and sales followed naturally. The value proposition was clear.

At industry events, you could feel the energy. Companies were investing in innovation, engineering talent was valued, and the focus was on solving real customer problems. Facebook and Google led the way in how they treated technical talent – offering incredible campuses, meaningful work, and a genuine belief that engineers were building the future. The industry valued building great products over financial engineering. You could feel it in how companies operated – they prioritized creating things people loved and worrying about monetization later.

The Hidden Cost Of Cloud