Twilio SendGrid Sameer Dholakia led $30m to $3b acquisition w/marketing, product, team, culture | E901

Jason Calacanis interviews Sameer Dholakia, discussing his journey with SendGrid, workplace culture, competition in the transactional email space, and dealing with hackers and spammers. They also touch on SendGrid's acquisition by Twilio, the current state of American politics, and the impact of GDPR.

Speakers

AI Chat

Unidentified

Jason Calacanis

Host • 43%

Sameer Dholakia

Guest • 55%

Partners

Chapters

0:00	Opening
0:45	Jason introduces Sameer Dholakia who shares his experience joining SendGrid as a professional CEO.
3:49	How to implement good workplace culture and values, and the 4 H’s (happy, hungry, humble, honest) at SendGrid.
11:52	Jason thanks sponsor Walker Corporate Law. Visit WalkerCorporateLaw.com or talk to Scott Walker, the founder, directly at [email protected] or (415) 979-9998.
13:20	Competitors like AWS and MailChimp going head-to-head with SendGrid in the transactional email space.
19:24	Thoughts on Gmail introducing the ‘tabs’ feature as either in user’s best interest or keeping marketers out of inboxes for their benefit.
23:03	Jason thanks sponsor Kruze Consulting. Visit kruzeconsulting.com/twist to receive a free tax consultation and tax credit white paper.
24:44	Sameer shares his experiences as an Indian growing up outside of Boston and working in the tech industry, and thoughts on the “move fast and break things” mentality.
30:36	What SendGrid is doing to mitigate hackers and spammers and how often do attacks happen, and protocol followed by inbox and email service providers when dealing with spammers/bad actors.
33:40	Going from $30m to $150m and what to focus on when scaling.
38:26	Jason thanks sponsor Netsuite, by Oracle. Get your free download to NetSuite’s guide “Crushing the Five Barriers to Growth” by visiting netsuite.com/twist and unleash the potential of your business!
39:52	SendGrid’s road to going public and then announcing their acquisition by Twilio shortly after.
51:45	Thoughts on the current state of American politics and how immigrants have shaped the country.
56:50	Sameer reflects on lessons learned and what he would have done differently if he could go back in time, and reasons for email resurgence.
1:02:22	How Twilio and SendGrid will integrate, and the effects of GDPR on the industry.

Transcript

Clip

Loading transcript...