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As a former herokai, communication was always the #1 point of discussion internally. This idea that they "can" do better is a half truth. They DID do better.

As a former herokai, communication was always the #1 point of discussion internally. This idea that they "can" do better is a half truth. They DID do better. I leave it as an exercise to the reader to determine what the limiting resource was here. By the way, how many senior devs and cofounders are left at Heroku Bob? Why doesn't it show up at dreamforce anymore?

hthrowaway1 4y ago
(Former) Salesforce employee here, long enough to have been there a couple of years before the Heroku acquisition. I can't let this stand without a comment. Heroku never seemed to want to integrate, but instead be the "cool kids", those who just do not have to worry about the enterprisy stuff such as automated backups, DR, high availability, enabling Java, etc. Everything they did was great, everything "Salesforce" sucked, yet they never made any money before the acquisition. The acquisition was a waste of money in first place (IMHO). The founders did not even try and so they left.
- glenngillen 4y ago
  Former Heroku employee here: everything you list happened within the first year of acquisition. You’re correct that the lack of real integration with SFDC was a large part of the problem though. Though as far as SFDC acquisitions go Heroku was cheap. More expensive ones had far worse outcomes even with integration.
- throwawa3238273 4y ago
  Trying to integrate with SFDC was a mistake. The product never fit inside of the company. Of course their investment made Heroku successful over the first few years (and eventually highly profitable as I understand) but they should've just spun it off and let it succeed without trying to figure out how to "enterprise" it. What we knew how to do at Heroku was build a great platform for developers to launch apps. We never claimed to know how to make that model work for enterprise. In fact we were awful at trying.
- Aeolun 4y ago
  > Heroku never seemed to want to integrate, but instead be the "cool kids", those who just do not have to worry about the enterprisy stuff such as automated backups, DR, high availability, enabling Java, etc. Seems like Salesforce got exactly what they bought. Not sure why they’d be surprised about it.
teej 4y ago
I knew the writing was on the wall for Heroku a few years back. I had asked a group of Salesforce sales reps about Heroku Connect (two-way sync between postgres and salesforce - amazing!), and they had no absolutely no idea what it was. They checked back with their team and weren't able to get any information. We basically couldn't buy it.
- chupchap 4y ago
  That's crazy! I work with Salesforce reps a lot for some pre-sales bids and they've been pushing connect (both salesforce connect and heroku connect) for the last few years. Cost is in the range of 5k/m or so for salesforce connect (from what I recall).
inopinatus 4y ago
Is Matz still there?
- glenngillen 4y ago
  Matz might have been on the payroll, but he never really worked for Heroku.
  - inopinatus 4y ago
    Sure, that was always clear enough. I'm asking whether or not the arrangement continues.

hthrowaway1 4y ago

(Former) Salesforce employee here, long enough to have been there a couple of years before the Heroku acquisition. I can't let this stand without a comment. Heroku never seemed to want to integrate, but instead be the "cool kids", those who just do not have to worry about the enterprisy stuff such as automated backups, DR, high availability, enabling Java, etc. Everything they did was great, everything "Salesforce" sucked, yet they never made any money before the acquisition. The acquisition was a waste of money in first place (IMHO). The founders did not even try and so they left.

glenngillen 4y ago
Former Heroku employee here: everything you list happened within the first year of acquisition. You’re correct that the lack of real integration with SFDC was a large part of the problem though. Though as far as SFDC acquisitions go Heroku was cheap. More expensive ones had far worse outcomes even with integration.
throwawa3238273 4y ago
Trying to integrate with SFDC was a mistake. The product never fit inside of the company. Of course their investment made Heroku successful over the first few years (and eventually highly profitable as I understand) but they should've just spun it off and let it succeed without trying to figure out how to "enterprise" it. What we knew how to do at Heroku was build a great platform for developers to launch apps. We never claimed to know how to make that model work for enterprise. In fact we were awful at trying.
Aeolun 4y ago
> Heroku never seemed to want to integrate, but instead be the "cool kids", those who just do not have to worry about the enterprisy stuff such as automated backups, DR, high availability, enabling Java, etc. Seems like Salesforce got exactly what they bought. Not sure why they’d be surprised about it.

teej 4y ago

I knew the writing was on the wall for Heroku a few years back. I had asked a group of Salesforce sales reps about Heroku Connect (two-way sync between postgres and salesforce - amazing!), and they had no absolutely no idea what it was. They checked back with their team and weren't able to get any information. We basically couldn't buy it.

chupchap 4y ago
That's crazy! I work with Salesforce reps a lot for some pre-sales bids and they've been pushing connect (both salesforce connect and heroku connect) for the last few years. Cost is in the range of 5k/m or so for salesforce connect (from what I recall).

inopinatus 4y ago

Is Matz still there?

glenngillen 4y ago
Matz might have been on the payroll, but he never really worked for Heroku.
- inopinatus 4y ago
  Sure, that was always clear enough. I'm asking whether or not the arrangement continues.