Fortune

Where the Action Is


Some in Silicon Valley have learned to stop worrying and love the bust. Here's why. The blessings were bouncing off the walls of New York's Carnegie Hall. It was a late February evening, and the banquet crowd of 350, dressed in everything from jeans to suits, sat silently as six Tibetan monks chanted a guttural prayer. Once it was over, everyone dug into the sushi and waited for Marc Benioff to tell them where to go next. Benioff, the CEO of a company called Salesforce.com, had arranged the event to precede a benefit concert for New York's Tibet House, a cultural preservation group. Tall and boisterous, Benioff gave a brief talk, then led the assembled customers, analysts, press, and hangers-on into the adjacent auditorium to hear performances by David Bowie, Ray Davies, Lou Reed, and Laurie Anderson.