Isaac Saldana got started in 2009 with the intention of making email easier for developers and soon found himself running a fast growing company. Faced with all the challenges of running a business, SendGrid’s founder decided to hire a CEO from the outside to run the company so he could continue to focus on the technical challenges of building a great product. Join SendGrid founder Isaac Saldana and CEO Jim Franklin October 31st, 1:30 PM EST as they break down how they found success by making the technical and business sides of the company work together.

1. The Best of Both Worlds
How SendGrid’s Founder and CEO Work Together to
Combine Technical and Business Smarts
Presenters:
Jim Franklin and Isaac Saldana
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2. “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress;
working together is success.”
-Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Company
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3. SendGrid Overview
$27M venture capital raised
•Founded July 2009 Series B closed Jan 2012
•TechStars graduate
(Boulder, CO)
•110 employees across 4 offices
-HQ: Boulder, CO
-R&D: Anaheim, CA / Romania
Angel investors include:
• Scott Petry (Founder, Postini)
• Matt Mullenweg (Founder, Wordpress)
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4. Delivering Email at Scale
Serving 60,000+ customers
Sending over 5 billion emails
per month
Transactional and marketing
email solutions
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5. Isaac Saldana: SendGrid Founder, Former CEO
• Technical background in
Computer Science and Electrical
Engineering
• Co-Founded themebid.com and
notpaul.com in 2006 and 2007.
• Moved from California to Boulder
in 2009 to found SendGrid
• SendGrid CEO from 2009-2011
• Responsible for SendGrid’s
Product Vision
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6. Jim Franklin: SendGrid CEO
• CEO at Decisioneering from
2003-2007
• GM of the Crystal Ball
Business Unit at Oracle.
• Former CFO of Vericept
Corporation.
• Mentor for TechStars and
Founder Institute.
• Serving as SendGrid CEO
since March, 2011
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7. Use Chat to Submit Your Questions
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8. Isaac:
What made you realize
you needed to bring on a
CEO? Did you come to
that realization on your
own or did you have input
from other trusted
mentors?
Use Chat to Submit Your Questions
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9. Jim:
How did you get up to
speed on talking about
email infrastructure and the
industry in general after
coming from a different
background?
Use Chat to Submit Your Questions
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10. Isaac:
Was it difficult to turn over
the reigns of the
company?
Use Chat to Submit Your Questions
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11. Jim:
How much of a role did your
impression of Isaac make in
deciding to accept the CEO
role?
Use Chat to Submit Your Questions
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12. Isaac:
When you came up with
the idea for SendGrid,
were you thinking mostly
of solving a technical
problem you had
encountered, or were you
driven by market potential?
Use Chat to Submit Your Questions
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13. Jim:
How difficult was it to build a
team to support the
business side of a company
that was so technically
focused?
Use Chat to Submit Your Questions
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14. Isaac:
What was the process you
took to find the right CEO?
Did you interview for the
role?
Use Chat to Submit Your Questions
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15. Jim:
I’ve heard you say before
that being a CEO is a lonely
job, why is that?
Use Chat to Submit Your Questions
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16. Isaac:
Now that you are free from
running the company, what
do you focus on within
SendGrid?
Use Chat to Submit Your Questions
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17. Jim:
We know that you have
brought the idea of the 4H’s
to SendGrid, why are these
so important to you?
Use Chat to Submit Your Questions
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18. Jim:
What are the top qualities
that you feel a good CEO
needs to have?
Use Chat to Submit Your Questions
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19. Jim:
What are the key areas you
keep an eye on (sales,
marketing, development,
etc.) and what key indicator
do you look at for each
department?
Use Chat to Submit Your Questions
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20. Jim Franklin
@jimfranklin
Isaac Saldana
@isaldana
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