This list has attempted generally to pick the top corporate venturing executives at companies, but one chief executive we deemed suitable to represent his company in this function was Marc Benioff.
His involvement in backing entrepreneurs through Salesforce – a role in future being delegated – included persuading entrepreneur Sandra Kurtzig, who founded Ask Group in the 1970s, to come out of retirement to launch cloud computing company Kenandy, according to news provider Wall Street Journal. Other corporate venturing investments by the company include fast-growing US-based enterprise company Box. Salesforce also has a habit of backing alumni from incubator Y Combinator, where Benioff regularly gives speeches and is an angel investor.
Benioff has also made personal investments in venture capital firms, such as US Venture Partners, and technology companies, including Blue Martini Software. He founded Salesforce in 1999. He previously worked at technology company Oracle from 1986 to 1999. He also had a stint at technology company Apple in 1984. He studied at University of Southern Carolina.
