Return-Path: Delivered-To: andrew@sterlingcal.com Received: from reseller401.webserversystems.com by reseller401.webserversystems.com with LMTP id WNFcOPk8pmcgagcAchKAPA (envelope-from ) for ; Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:03:53 -0600 Return-path: Envelope-to: andrew@sterlingcal.com Delivery-date: Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:03:53 -0600 Received: from o159.ptr7626.mail.beehiiv.com ([159.183.72.159]:27260) by reseller401.webserversystems.com with esmtps (TLS1.2) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 (Exim 4.96.2) (envelope-from ) id 1tgRlh-0023Jd-0B for andrew@sterlingcal.com; Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:03:53 -0600 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=mail.beehiiv.com; h=content-type:from:mime-version:subject:reply-to:list-unsubscribe: list-unsubscribe-post:to:cc:content-type:from:subject:to; s=s1; bh=snb6GY67mZ7oAQ20fTQrOnWuYmsakKnovm0ukosX7Yc=; b=XBbonMuj6pIko9tE20Y5FJFKNYzYIC0MquYGXYBpeiXHt9OWQrt+OGWWdrz2e8DEKp9S xEi3Cey64XyMX3ZAezjUD9N/E0cKySXRXfRBgXFbqnuRFHogMS7+X4xVmRRZDIfWm9cGwM 6LjSLz3/7r2CyI/Lg5LV9kXLjV0DBsq1VDgpr+huaylfwHbbYTgCjRjGZ24R24dlRbftGO rC3w7XLfJ6MkRbdHQrr8yw7ma7vzf9FEPV5GCIKWTzgxpSqYG8VlGrZK8zsjexMVww5Yp5 3+PQkd7FPercugE92ORpqMDASxMQEIORp0LkL+Yy4j8GzwaM4w1S8gKTP3Axz9mw== Received: by recvd-7554f8b5d4-jpx9m with SMTP id recvd-7554f8b5d4-jpx9m-1-67A63CDF-11E 2025-02-07 17:03:27.684602134 +0000 UTC m=+1455151.178480485 Received: from NDAyMzQxODk (unknown) by geopod-ismtpd-12 (SG) with HTTP id LawjXkzbTMKWLxinv5aVvg Fri, 07 Feb 2025 17:03:27.638 +0000 (UTC) Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=0fe8832f415c6c1bb441ab4c5a9818018ccbf24ad8f4cfaead005f193297 Date: Fri, 07 Feb 2025 17:03:41 +0000 (UTC) From: Collin Stewart Mime-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: Subject: Is ZOOM coming for Salesforce? Reply-To: Collin Stewart Feedback-ID: =?us-ascii?Q?2ca8a0ff-cf55-4c47-844e-2da17448a44d=3Anewsletter=3A3c5b97ff-00a9-?= =?us-ascii?Q?4acc-916d-c137bca24b1d=3A23270855726497d?= List-Unsubscribe: =?us-ascii?Q?=3Cmailto=3A3c5b97ff-00a9-4acc-916d-c137bca24b1d+1d17dc26-c1df-44e?= =?us-ascii?Q?0-812a-883b6ad5b6bc+2ca8a0ff-cf55-4c47-?= =?us-ascii?Q?844e-2da17448a44d=40unsub=2Ebeehiiv=2Ecom=3E=2C?= =?us-ascii?Q?_=3Chttps=3A=2F=2Fpredictablerevenue-newsletter=2Ebeehiiv=2Ecom=2Funsubscribe?= =?us-ascii?Q?=2FeyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9=2Ee?= =?us-ascii?Q?yJzdWJzY3JpYmVyX2lkIjoiMWQxN2RjMjYtYzFk?= =?us-ascii?Q?Zi00NGUwLTgxMmEtODgzYjZhZDViNmJjIiwicG9?= =?us-ascii?Q?zdF9pZCI6IjJjYThhMGZmLWNmNTUtNGM0Ny04ND?= =?us-ascii?Q?RlLTJkYTE3NDQ4YTQ0ZCIsImxhc3RfcmVzb3VyY?= =?us-ascii?Q?2VfZ3VpZCI6IlBvc3Q6MmNhOGEwZmYtY2Y1NS00?= =?us-ascii?Q?YzQ3LTg0NGUtMmRhMTc0NDhhNDRkIn0=2EDqaomYg?= =?us-ascii?Q?SEdG-Jnpzyd1hupgtVKLV2sETeBl1JmPcV8Y=3E?= List-Unsubscribe-Post: List-Unsubscribe=One-Click sId: 3c5b97ff-00a9-4acc-916d-c137bca24b1d x-beehiiv-ids: =?us-ascii?Q?{=22account=5Fname=22=3A=22https=3A=2F=2Fpredictablerevenue-newsletter=2Ebeehiiv?= =?us-ascii?Q?=2Ecom=2F=22=2C=22campaign=5Fid=22=3A=222ca8a0ff-cf55-4c4?= =?us-ascii?Q?7-844e-2da17448a44d=22=2C=22category=22=3A=22newsle?= =?us-ascii?Q?tter=22=2C=22email=5Fgenerated=5Fat=22=3A1738947807=2C=22?= =?us-ascii?Q?user=5Fid=22=3A=223c5b97ff-00a9-4acc-916d-c137b?= =?us-ascii?Q?ca24b1d=22}?= x-beehiiv-type: newsletter x-list-id: 3c5b97ff-00a9-4acc-916d-c137bca24b1d x-list-owner: x-newsletter: =?us-ascii?Q?https=3A=2F=2Fpredictablerevenue-newsletter=2Ebeehiiv=2Ecom=2Fp=2Fis-zoom-co?= =?us-ascii?Q?ming-for-salesforce?= x-newsletter-id: https://predictablerevenue-newsletter.beehiiv.com/ x-newsletter-signup: https://predictablerevenue-newsletter.beehiiv.com/subscribe X-SG-EID: =?us-ascii?Q?u001=2E7ozyt+tmjDsHnEocxX8pymFA2v5OOh2V4Pdr6hGVjZo99sLHT4OeEg7as?= =?us-ascii?Q?oEFtQzIa0qAOkk1QezFA4qrCcff9558yNK8x6zQ?= =?us-ascii?Q?0aLhxDCyAuB9kgcSLas3IIKR+fvCUJBBe2aD1iT?= =?us-ascii?Q?KvNY=2Fxi5Zu5hxCLMI7MXbQmCtIOKUzHvcNpy2zz?= =?us-ascii?Q?JMO1+ZR3UYR5A7PZwIREP0XTGldGAymBaujsDAg?= =?us-ascii?Q?6dku3XNwf=2F5ZkkXFUXYJObsWcF7GiHEEF=2FaSucJ?= =?us-ascii?Q?AD41qBmMpJdoyOq2hQYptt69t9cwI7YjlG07ScJ?= =?us-ascii?Q?AdBfRta0=3D?= X-SG-ID: =?us-ascii?Q?u001=2ESdBcvi+Evd=2FbQef8eZF3BpTL9BgbK5wfSJMJGMsmprAVgeiC8iaV7rEmQ?= =?us-ascii?Q?+cYi2k75eagLgH8NxE1pbS7=2FvHJ5gGWsxg53B48?= =?us-ascii?Q?+qrV43U07+wroqWRZYKL3s0VWggxvXakGN3iiXF?= =?us-ascii?Q?mlyZJyHr1H2iApVw+I5cEbnV=2FJIyCxjwlqIdLyN?= =?us-ascii?Q?48sLgbeFQStTVULEe2p7HfkNrc1GwG1MGiZ4bpR?= =?us-ascii?Q?52=2F2lp3sKQDFDjDghx4zn76aXjruXGwrex5tReF?= =?us-ascii?Q?d=2FUYHYNmAukCMLqsfzgaP5d2Tw=3D=3D?= To: "andrew@sterlingcal.com" X-Entity-ID: u001.RuZ2+X9IBGtjUb8qq3teHQ== X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.3 X-Spam-Score: -32 X-Spam-Bar: --- X-Spam-Flag: NO --0fe8832f415c6c1bb441ab4c5a9818018ccbf24ad8f4cfaead005f193297 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Mime-Version: 1.0 Good morning Andrew,=20 _Today=E2=80=99s email is a little longer than usual because it covers a qu= estion that=E2=80=99s been stuck in my head. I thought that laying out my t= hinking might be an interesting exercise to help you think big picture abou= t your startup. It=E2=80=99s easy to get stuck in the day to day of intervi= ewing customers, building features, and responding to fires and forget to p= ull your head out and stare off into the distance. That=E2=80=99s what toda= y=E2=80=99s email is about. I promise to get back to tactical sales / reven= ue / product market fit topics next week. _ _Also, do me a favour and let me know what you think about these longer pos= ts. Love =E2=80=98em / hate =E2=80=98em? Hit reply and let me know. _ _Before I get to the newsletter, this is your last call for the February _*= *_Founder Revenue_**_ _**_Meetup_**_, I=E2=80=99ve opened it up to any foun= der _**_under $1m ARR_**_, and it=E2=80=99s happening next _**_Friday @ 930= am PT / 1230pm ET_**_. No cost to join, this is something I=E2=80=99m doing= to give back to the community of folks that have helped me with the book. = _ Here=E2=80=99s the post.=20 I was reading _Good Strategy/Bad Strategy_ a few years ago, and it posed an= interesting exercise: pick a company that=E2=80=99s dominant in its indust= ry and ask, =E2=80=9CWhat would have to be true for that company to lose it= s dominant spot?=E2=80=9D Naturally, I thought of Salesforce. I=E2=80=99ve been knee-deep in AI latel= y=E2=80=94using tools like GPT=E2=80=99s Deep Research to do some fact-chec= king and research for this newsletter=E2=80=94and it got me thinking about = them again. Specifically, will AI be the next generational leap in how we i= nteract with software, or will it remain in a supporting role behind the sc= enes? Depending on which way that coin lands, we could be looking at the bi= ggest shift in =E2=80=9Csystems of record=E2=80=9D (like CRM, ERP, or Accou= nting) we=E2=80=99ve seen since Salesforce rose to power. ### History First Oracle built its empire as the go-to relational database vendor. They monet= ized the fact that if you wanted to store, manage, and query large amounts = of enterprise data=E2=80=94especially for things like ERP (Enterprise Resou= rce Planning) systems=E2=80=94you needed an Oracle database. Licensing thos= e databases and the associated support was their cash cow. Salesforce took that foundation (i.e., a database for storing customer info= rmation) and elevated it with an accessible graphical user interface (GUI) = and standardized processes for customer relationship management. Instead of= forcing companies to learn SQL or hire expensive DBAs, Salesforce let you = manage contacts, track deals, and generate reports by pointing and clicking= . They simplified who could use a system of record and opened the door for = non-technical teams to manage their own data. Now you just have to hire exp= ensive SFAs=E2=80=A6 Then, Salesforce stacked on some counter-positioning: instead of having to = buy your own servers and run your own systems, you could rent a small slice= of their server for a low monthly cost. Suddenly, every sales manager or V= P could get real time dashboards and reports without knowing what SQL stood= for and the SaaS industry was born.=20 Salesforce leveraged two key factors to surpass Oracle, at least in the CRM= business, a generational leap in the UI and a new business model that woul= d be unprofitable for Oracle to copy. ### The New Oracle What would it take for Salesforce to become Oracle? I=E2=80=99m not suggest= ing that Salesforce will suddenly stop growing or even making great product= s. After all, Oracle remains a huge, profitable powerhouse. It=E2=80=99s a = staple enterprise player, but not the unstoppable force it was in the 90s a= nd early 2000s. Today, if someone is talking about =E2=80=9Centerprise soft= ware,=E2=80=9D you=E2=80=99re more likely to think of Workday or Salesforce= than Oracle. So how could Salesforce, the CRM giant, slip into the same position Oracle = finds itself in today=E2=80=94profitable, relevant, but no longer seen as t= he cutting edge of enterprise solutions? Below is a look at why Salesforce = might face that future and where the next wave of disruption could come fro= m, especially with AI in the spotlight. ## Is AI the new UI? Salesforce made its name by offering a great UI atop a database. But if AI = really is the next generation of software interaction, we might see somethi= ng far more radical=E2=80=94something that shifts focus away from the _user= _ meticulously clicking around, to the _system_ doing most of the work on i= ts own. Everyone knows the pain of manual data entry in CRMs. Sales managers solve = it with systems, processes and reviews while salespeople simply try to avoi= d it. Salesforce has tried to solve it with things like Einstein and variou= s integrations, but the average user still has to =E2=80=9Cuse the software= =E2=80=9D in a hands-on way. Most reps I talk to still have to manually upd= ate fields or mark deals as advanced. I haven=E2=80=99t personally encounte= red anyone who=E2=80=99s letting Einstein automatically update opportunity = statuses without a human in the loop. It feels like we=E2=80=99re close to that AI-driven future=E2=80=94yet it= =E2=80=99s not here. Maybe Salesforce is technically capable but not fully = committing. Or maybe the barrier is that going truly automatic would mean b= lowing up the old approach: letting AI do 90% of the grunt work while the h= uman just approves final steps would be a major shift to Salesforce=E2=80= =99s model and one that users certainly would rebel against. It took me _ye= ars_ and Salesforce nearly mandating it to get me to convert from Classic t= o Lightning, and I=E2=80=99m a pretty savvy user. Imagine how the average u= ser would feel if suddenly their pipeline was updating itself? ### From =E2=80=9CNo Software=E2=80=9D to =E2=80=9CNo UI=E2=80=9D? Salesforce famously launched with the motto =E2=80=9CNo Software.=E2=80=9D = They wanted to differentiate from the old on-prem install model. Maybe the = next generation of CRMs will come along and say =E2=80=9CNo UI=E2=80=9D: if= the AI can gather, interpret, and file information automatically, the user= barely needs to look at a screen. Don=E2=80=99t expect Salesforce=E2=80=99s interface for sales reps to vanis= h anytime soon. But the work that goes into making sure all those records a= nd fields are kept updated? _That_ might be where the real battleground lie= s. If a new AI-first platform can handle that job seamlessly, it could be a= game-changer. The very thing that made Salesforce brilliant=E2=80=94its powerful, customi= zable interface=E2=80=94might be what holds it back. After all, the bulk of= Salesforce=E2=80=99s revenue comes from retention and, just like Oracle, t= hey are likely to be hesitant to rock the boat too much with existing users= . This means adopting a radical new =E2=80=9CNo UI=E2=80=9D approach=E2=80= =94agents that use the software for you=E2=80=94might be too extreme an ide= a to get off the ground within the Salesforce ecosystem.=C2=A0 ## Switching Costs One big reason Salesforce has maintained its edge is what Hamilton Helmer= =E2=80=99s book _7 Powers_ refers to as Switching Costs. It=E2=80=99s not j= ust about monthly fees; it=E2=80=99s the sheer complexity and expense of up= rooting a system that=E2=80=99s woven into every facet of a business. Teams= would need to migrate massive datasets, rebuild integrations with countles= s third-party tools, and retrain employees who=E2=80=99ve spent years learn= ing the Salesforce workflow. Add in the army of consultants, integrators, and developers out there whose= entire businesses revolve around customizing Salesforce, and you start to = see why many companies opt to just stay put. In other words, companies don= =E2=80=99t just buy Salesforce=E2=80=94they buy into an ecosystem. And afte= r you=E2=80=99ve spent millions of dollars and thousands of hours fine-tuni= ng it, switching feels like an even bigger gamble than staying. On top of that, Salesforce=E2=80=99s acquisitions (like Traction on Demand)= signal that it=E2=80=99s ready to double down on its own complexity=E2=80= =94offering more services to help you handle, well, more Salesforce. Would = Salesforce really risk upsetting users, disrupting their own model, and can= nibalizing that lucrative service revenue by rolling out an almost invisibl= e AI layer that sets itself up in the background? That=E2=80=99s a huge cul= tural and financial leap. ## ZOOM Has Entered the Chat If AI truly becomes the main way work is done in a CRM, the fuel for that A= I will be meetings and emails=E2=80=94the two biggest communication channel= s in most organizations. Google and Microsoft dominate email. It=E2=80=99s always surprised me that = Google hasn=E2=80=99t launched a serious CRM competitor, but hey, never say= never. Zoom effectively owns video meetings, especially in SMB and mid-mar= ket sales cycles. They have the calls, the transcripts, and the raw convers= ation data. That=E2=80=99s gold for training an AI that can update your CRM= automatically. Salesforce does have mountains of data, but it=E2=80=99s siloed across hund= reds of thousands of instances. Zoom=E2=80=99s data, on the other hand, is = singular in format and (theoretically) more standardized. If Zoom wanted to= build an AI that updates deals and pipeline stages on the fly, they might = be able to do it with a level of data uniformity Salesforce can=E2=80=99t m= atch. I=E2=80=99m not sure if Zoom would want to go that direction but thei= r recent changes to the window I routinely close without looking at after m= y meeting suggest they might be thinking about it.=C2=A0 View image: (https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXe90QfJHFGeFW5= I3wZvvYtJUAei1nP2EtkBKzz8nW6xyQJW-89-UGYH8dkPHjKUt6ixCdI-xNp0GTL4kr_GUk54dX= 9KEyhPTo9IdQWgIVA_0qZiEHYzTVzPHu9u7nIs0ZWpOVwGTg?key=3Dnj26KuyVb4dVftYCxERb= NujC) Caption:=20 ## New Model: Self-Implementing Software=C2=A0 If this =E2=80=9Cno UI=E2=80=9D AI approach takes off, then adopting your n= ext CRM might be as easy as syncing your email, calendar, and call recordin= gs. The AI does the rest. You could theoretically even sync it to Salesforc= e itself and let the AI replicate or improve your setup in parallel. That a= lone chips away at Salesforce=E2=80=99s lock-in; if migrating from (or augm= enting) Salesforce is that painless, why not shop around? A new entrant could also offer highly competitive pricing, because after al= l, if =E2=80=9Csetup=E2=80=9D basically comes down to AI processing time, t= hey don=E2=80=99t need the same army of consultants or the same overhead. S= ure, large language models aren=E2=80=99t cheap to run right now. But costs= are dropping fast, and open-source models (like Llama and Deepseek) are ac= celerating that trend. If the cost of training and inference keeps dropping= , the AI-driven =E2=80=9Cno UI=E2=80=9D model starts to look more feasible= =E2=80=94and potentially more profitable for a newcomer willing to undercut= Salesforce=E2=80=99s pricing. ## Final Thoughts Will Salesforce make the leap to this brave new world of minimal manual dat= a entry and near-invisible UI? Or will a competitor outflank them by offeri= ng a =E2=80=9Cno UI=E2=80=9D experience that automates everything behind th= e scenes? It=E2=80=99s hard to say. But if the past is any guide, the thing that made= Salesforce such a juggernaut=E2=80=94a good enough UI and a deep ecosystem= =E2=80=94might be exactly what holds them back from embracing a future wher= e the UI is almost an afterthought. And if a new platform truly does figure= out how to sync your calls, your emails, and all your key data sources int= o a self-assembling CRM, it could chip away at the safe bet that is Salesfo= rce=E2=80=94just like Salesforce once chipped away at Oracle. A lot hinges on how AI evolves, who controls the most valuable data streams= , and whether Salesforce is willing to upend its own business model. No mat= ter what, if =E2=80=9Cno UI=E2=80=9D is the next big wave, the =E2=80=9Cno = software=E2=80=9D message from 20 years ago might sound just as old-school = as installing Oracle on tapes. _Thanks for reading! I=E2=80=99d love to hear your take=E2=80=94could Sales= force become the next Oracle, or will it ride the AI wave and keep dominati= ng? Hit me back here.=C2=A0_ Stay curious, and maybe keep an eye on Zoom=E2=80=A6 Collin=C2=A0 PS - last reminder for next week=E2=80=99s **Founder Revenue meetup**, **Fr= iday at 930am PT / 1230pm ET**, hit reply if you=E2=80=99d like to join. Fe= el free to forward this to anyone that you think might need a little extra = support. Every week, we pick two people and do a deep dive on a revenue pro= blem they=E2=80=99re struggling with.=20 =E2=80=94=E2=80=94=E2=80=94 You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience,= copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://predictablerevenue-newsletter.beehiiv.com/p/is-zoom-coming-for-sale= sforce --0fe8832f415c6c1bb441ab4c5a9818018ccbf24ad8f4cfaead005f193297 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Mime-Version: 1.0 Is ZOOM coming for Salesforce?
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February 07, 2025   |   Read Online

Is ZOOM coming for= Salesforce?

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History First

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3D""

Good morning Andrew,

Today=E2=80=99s email is a little longer than usual bec= ause it covers a question that=E2=80=99s been stuck in my head. I thought t= hat laying out my thinking might be an interesting exercise to help you thi= nk big picture about your startup. It=E2=80=99s easy to get stuck in the da= y to day of interviewing customers, building features, and responding to fi= res and forget to pull your head out and stare off into the distance. That= =E2=80=99s what today=E2=80=99s email is about. I promise to get back to ta= ctical sales / revenue / product market fit topics next week.

Also, do me a favour and let me know what you t= hink about these longer posts. Love =E2=80=98em / hate =E2=80=98em? Hit rep= ly and let me know.

Before I get t= o the newsletter, this is your last call for the February Founder Revenue=C2=A0Meetup, I=E2=80=99ve opened it up to any founder under $1m ARR, and it=E2=80=99s happening next Friday @ 930am PT / 1230pm ET= . No cost to join,= this is something I=E2=80=99m doing to give back to the community of folks= that have helped me with the book.

= Here=E2=80=99s the post.

I was reading Good Strategy/Bad Strategy a few years ago, and it po= sed an interesting exercise: pick a company that=E2=80=99s dominant in its = industry and ask, =E2=80=9CWhat would have to be true for that company to l= ose its dominant spot?=E2=80=9D

Naturally,= I thought of Salesforce. I=E2=80=99ve been knee-deep in AI lately=E2=80=94= using tools like GPT=E2=80=99s Deep Research to do some fact-checking and r= esearch for this newsletter=E2=80=94and it got me thinking about them again= . Specifically, will AI be the next generational leap in how we interact wi= th software, or will it remain in a supporting role behind the scenes? Depe= nding on which way that coin lands, we could be looking at the biggest shif= t in =E2=80=9Csystems of record=E2=80=9D (like CRM, ERP, or Accounting) we= =E2=80=99ve seen since Salesforce rose to power.

Oracle built its empir= e as the go-to relational database vendor. They monetized the fact that if = you wanted to store, manage, and query large amounts of enterprise data=E2= =80=94especially for things like ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems= =E2=80=94you needed an Oracle database. Licensing those databases and the a= ssociated support was their cash cow.

Sale= sforce took that foundation (i.e., a database for storing customer informat= ion) and elevated it with an accessible graphical user interface (GUI) and = standardized processes for customer relationship management. Instead of for= cing companies to learn SQL or hire expensive DBAs, Salesforce let you mana= ge contacts, track deals, and generate reports by pointing and clicking. Th= ey simplified who could use a system of record and opened the door for non-= technical teams to manage their own data. Now you just have to hire expensi= ve SFAs=E2=80=A6

Then, Salesforce stacked = on some counter-positioning: instead of having to buy your own servers and = run your own systems, you could rent a small slice of their server for a lo= w monthly cost. Suddenly, every sales manager or VP could get real time das= hboards and reports without knowing what SQL stood for and the SaaS industr= y was born.

Salesforce leveraged two key= factors to surpass Oracle, at least in the CRM business, a generational le= ap in the UI and a new business model that would be unprofitable for Oracle= to copy.

The New Oracle

What would it take for Salesforce to become Oracle? I=E2=80= =99m not suggesting that Salesforce will suddenly stop growing or even maki= ng great products. After all, Oracle remains a huge, profitable powerhouse.= It=E2=80=99s a staple enterprise player, but not the unstoppable force it = was in the 90s and early 2000s. Today, if someone is talking about =E2=80= =9Centerprise software,=E2=80=9D you=E2=80=99re more likely to think of Wor= kday or Salesforce than Oracle.

So how cou= ld Salesforce, the CRM giant, slip into the same position Oracle finds itse= lf in today=E2=80=94profitable, relevant, but no longer seen as the cutting= edge of enterprise solutions? Below is a look at why Salesforce might face= that future and where the next wave of disruption could come from, especia= lly with AI in the spotlight.

Is AI the n= ew UI?

Salesforce made its name by offeri= ng a great UI atop a database. But if AI really is the next generation of s= oftware interaction, we might see something far more radical=E2=80=94someth= ing that shifts focus away from the user meticulous= ly clicking around, to the system doing most of the= work on its own.

Everyone knows the pai= n of manual data entry in CRMs. Sales managers solve it with systems, proce= sses and reviews while salespeople simply try to avoid it. Salesforce has t= ried to solve it with things like Einstein and various integrations, but th= e average user still has to =E2=80=9Cuse the software=E2=80=9D in a hands-o= n way. Most reps I talk to still have to manually update fields or mark dea= ls as advanced. I haven=E2=80=99t personally encountered anyone who=E2=80= =99s letting Einstein automatically update opportunity statuses without a h= uman in the loop.

It feels like we=E2=80= =99re close to that AI-driven future=E2=80=94yet it=E2=80=99s not here. May= be Salesforce is technically capable but not fully committing. Or maybe the= barrier is that going truly automatic would mean blowing up the old approa= ch: letting AI do 90% of the grunt work while the human just approves final= steps would be a major shift to Salesforce=E2=80=99s model and one that us= ers certainly would rebel against. It took me years= and Salesforce nearly mandating it to get me to convert from Classic to Li= ghtning, and I=E2=80=99m a pretty savvy user. Imagine how the average user = would feel if suddenly their pipeline was updating itself?

From =E2=80=9CNo Software=E2=80=9D to =E2=80=9C= No UI=E2=80=9D?

Salesforce famously launc= hed with the motto =E2=80=9CNo Software.=E2=80=9D They wanted to differenti= ate from the old on-prem install model. Maybe the next generation of CRMs w= ill come along and say =E2=80=9CNo UI=E2=80=9D: if the AI can gather, inter= pret, and file information automatically, the user barely needs to look at = a screen.

Don=E2=80=99t expect Salesforce= =E2=80=99s interface for sales reps to vanish anytime soon. But the work th= at goes into making sure all those records and fields are kept updated? That might be where the real battleground lies. If a n= ew AI-first platform can handle that job seamlessly, it could be a game-cha= nger.

= The very thing that made Salesforce = brilliant=E2=80=94its powerful, customizable interface=E2=80=94might be wha= t holds it back. After all, the bulk of Salesforce=E2=80=99s revenue comes = from retention and, just like Oracle, they are likely to be hesitant to roc= k the boat too much with existing users. This means adopting a radical new = =E2=80=9CNo UI=E2=80=9D approach=E2=80=94agents that use the software for y= ou=E2=80=94might be too extreme an idea to get off the ground within the Sa= lesforce ecosystem.=C2=A0

Switching Costs<= /span>

One big reason Salesforce has maintained = its edge is what Hamilton Helmer=E2=80=99s book 7 Powers refers to as Switching Costs. It=E2=80=99s not just about monthly fee= s; it=E2=80=99s the sheer complexity and expense of uprooting a system that= =E2=80=99s woven into every facet of a business. Teams would need to migrat= e massive datasets, rebuild integrations with countless third-party tools, = and retrain employees who=E2=80=99ve spent years learning the Salesforce wo= rkflow.

Add in the army of consultants, in= tegrators, and developers out there whose entire businesses revolve around = customizing Salesforce, and you start to see why many companies opt to just= stay put. In other words, companies don=E2=80=99t just buy Salesforce=E2= =80=94they buy into an ecosystem. And after you=E2=80=99ve spent millions o= f dollars and thousands of hours fine-tuning it, switching feels like an ev= en bigger gamble than staying.

On top of t= hat, Salesforce=E2=80=99s acquisitions (like Traction on Demand) signal tha= t it=E2=80=99s ready to double down on its own complexity=E2=80=94offering = more services to help you handle, well, more Salesforce. Would Salesforce r= eally risk upsetting users, disrupting their own model, and cannibalizing t= hat lucrative service revenue by rolling out an almost invisible AI layer t= hat sets itself up in the background? That=E2=80=99s a huge cultural and fi= nancial leap.

ZOOM Has Entered t= he Chat

If AI truly becomes the main way = work is done in a CRM, the fuel for that AI will be meetings and emails=E2= =80=94the two biggest communication channels in most organizations.<= /p>

Google and Microsoft dominate email. It=E2=80= =99s always surprised me that Google hasn=E2=80=99t launched a serious CRM = competitor, but hey, never say never. Zoom effectively owns video meetings,= especially in SMB and mid-market sales cycles. They have the calls, the tr= anscripts, and the raw conversation data. That=E2=80=99s gold for training = an AI that can update your CRM automatically.

Salesforce does have mountains of data, but it=E2=80=99s siloed across = hundreds of thousands of instances. Zoom=E2=80=99s data, on the other hand,= is singular in format and (theoretically) more standardized. If Zoom wante= d to build an AI that updates deals and pipeline stages on the fly, they mi= ght be able to do it with a level of data uniformity Salesforce can=E2=80= =99t match. I=E2=80=99m not sure if Zoom would want to go that direction bu= t their recent changes to the window I routinely close without looking at a= fter my meeting suggest they might be thinking about it.=C2=A0

3D""
<= /td>

New Model: Self-Implementing Soft= ware=C2=A0

If this =E2=80=9Cno UI=E2=80= =9D AI approach takes off, then adopting your next CRM might be as easy as = syncing your email, calendar, and call recordings. The AI does the rest. Yo= u could theoretically even sync it to Salesforce itself and let the AI repl= icate or improve your setup in parallel. That alone chips away at Salesforc= e=E2=80=99s lock-in; if migrating from (or augmenting) Salesforce is that p= ainless, why not shop around?

A new entran= t could also offer highly competitive pricing, because after all, if =E2=80= =9Csetup=E2=80=9D basically comes down to AI processing time, they don=E2= =80=99t need the same army of consultants or the same overhead. Sure, large= language models aren=E2=80=99t cheap to run right now. But costs are dropp= ing fast, and open-source models (like Llama and Deepseek) are accelerating= that trend. If the cost of training and inference keeps dropping, the AI-d= riven =E2=80=9Cno UI=E2=80=9D model starts to look more feasible=E2=80=94an= d potentially more profitable for a newcomer willing to undercut Salesforce= =E2=80=99s pricing.

Final Thoughts

Will Salesforce make the leap to this brave new= world of minimal manual data entry and near-invisible UI? Or will a compet= itor outflank them by offering a =E2=80=9Cno UI=E2=80=9D experience that au= tomates everything behind the scenes?

It= =E2=80=99s hard to say. But if the past is any guide, the thing that made S= alesforce such a juggernaut=E2=80=94a good enough UI and a deep ecosystem= =E2=80=94might be exactly what holds them back from embracing a future wher= e the UI is almost an afterthought. And if a new platform truly does figure= out how to sync your calls, your emails, and all your key data sources int= o a self-assembling CRM, it could chip away at the safe bet that is Salesfo= rce=E2=80=94just like Salesforce once chipped away at Oracle.

A lot hinges on how AI evolves, who controls the most v= aluable data streams, and whether Salesforce is willing to upend its own bu= siness model. No matter what, if =E2=80=9Cno UI=E2=80=9D is the next big wa= ve, the =E2=80=9Cno software=E2=80=9D message from 20 years ago might sound= just as old-school as installing Oracle on tapes.

Thanks for reading! I=E2=80=99d love to hear your take=E2=80=94= could Salesforce become the next Oracle, or will it ride the AI wave and ke= ep dominating? Hit me back here.=C2=A0

Stay curious, and maybe keep an eye on Zoom=E2=80=A6

Collin=C2=A0

PS - last reminde= r for next week=E2=80=99s = Founder Revenue meetup, <= /span>Friday at 930am PT / 1230pm= ET, hit reply if you=E2= =80=99d like to join. Feel free to forward this to anyone that you think mi= ght need a little extra support. Every week, we pick two people and do a de= ep dive on a revenue problem they=E2=80=99re struggling with.

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