Marc Benioff

On a split-adjusted basis, Apple went public at $2.75 a share 31 years ago; the stock closed at $378.25 yesterday. Investors lucky enough to hold for the entire period have enjoyed a 17% annualized return. Find a founder capable of delivering on a similar scale and you'll have a much easier time funding your retirement.

On-demand-software giant Salesforce.com just acquired a cloud software startup called Heroku for $212 million in cash. That's par for the course these days as cloud computing goes from buzzword to reality. And venture capitalists are flocking to put money into the next Heroku.

I was so shocked that he personally returned an email plea for help that I recently fired off to him, immediately escalated my query to an executive vice president and thanked me. Actually, he said "Mahalo," a Hawaiian word for "thanks."