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.

Looks like an exciting company but cant understand the tech moat behind it.

Sales GTM's have changed drastically. The movement from Sales led to marketing led to now product and community led is something that can be added to this analysis. Software is no longer bought by CIO's. The user and the buyer are the same for most SaaS companies and ARR is generated through the product now