I think point 2 aligns with my question. I wouldn't consider 1 to be a tech moat. More of a market moat imo. Patent moats in SaaS can be super powerful - profitability plus zero competition
It's funny though. The patented technology at Salesforce was pretty cool but wasn't required to build a CRM or similar platform.
Overall, Salesforce's technology looked long in the tooth in most ways when it was 10 years old, it's not sure if their way of doing multitenant was the right way, etc. It's a highly reliable system that performs well, but also dependent on Oracle and gold plated (expensive to run.)
Salesforce was able to pass on the high costs of their system to their customers (it costs a small fraction of the salesperson that it controls) but it kept them out of applications that were more cost competitive.
PaulHoule|4 years ago
Overall, Salesforce's technology looked long in the tooth in most ways when it was 10 years old, it's not sure if their way of doing multitenant was the right way, etc. It's a highly reliable system that performs well, but also dependent on Oracle and gold plated (expensive to run.)
Salesforce was able to pass on the high costs of their system to their customers (it costs a small fraction of the salesperson that it controls) but it kept them out of applications that were more cost competitive.