[hippo22]

But a query optimizer only matters once you have an established business with large customers.

You seem to be implying Salesforce’s business is successful because they have their own query optimizer. But the causality is reversed. Salesforce has their own query optimizer because they’ve built a successful business.

[Jweb_Guru]

My point is that a lot of people think it'd be really easy to build the next Salesforce until they actually try to compete with Salesforce in the market. Like it or not, if you want to build a Salesforce competitor (or try to get your company to build its own) you're going to be compared to actual Salesforce, not the version of Salesforce that existed when the market was new.