Salesforce EVP John Somorjai told a16z that acquired AI agents must go live in days, not quarters, or Salesforce will not buy them.
He pointed to Finn, which averages 16 days to deployment and now handles over 40% of help site traffic with 65% autonomous resolution, according to Somorjai.
Support teams on Service Cloud will feel that shift first as Salesforce pushes outcome-based pricing for resolutions instead of seats.
Somorjai said Salesforce screens deals on customer fit, tech and culture fit, and shareholder value, and he warned that inflated AI valuations face a reckoning because most startups will not grow into them.
That discipline follows eight acquisitions in 2025, the most since 2016, plus the Informatica close in November 2025, per Aventis Advisors, while Slack revenue has nearly tripled since 2020 to anchor AI distribution through 15,000 reps, according to Somorjai.
Salesforce Ventures now backs infrastructure, voice, video and robotics including Physical Intelligence, yet Somorjai said security alone can kill a six to nine month deal after one pen test reached source code and the CEO laptop.
