The Financial Post reports in its Tuesday edition that for much of the past decade, software companies just focused on growing as quickly as possible. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post says that changed in 2023. Profit and operating margin became the industry's watchwords. As interest rates climbed and corporate technology budgets got cut, hawking computer applications began to look less like an endless well of expansion. Investors grew tired of the growth-at-all-costs mindset that had dominated the software industry since the 2008-09 financial crisis. Companies responded by firing workers, offshoring labour, closing offices, ending speculative projects and scrutinizing software budgets. Broadly, they tried to replace cultures of abundance with ones of frugality. The most dramatic change in emphasis was by Salesforce, which is often seen as a bellwether for the industry. Facing slowing sales growth, activist investors called for the company to stop burning cash like a start-up and boost margins. Many figured highly visible marketing such as its Dreamforce conference in San Francisco was the source of Salesforce's overspending. In reality, the biggest issue was compensation for its massive team of salespeople.