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Deriving Motivation from Adversity with Sameer Dholakia, CEO of Twilio SendGrid

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All of us are shaped by our personal stories and experiences, and at times, the unfortunate events that occur throughout our lives are the ones that can motivate us beyond our own belief.

Openness, optimism, and dedication are few of many words to describe Sameer Dholakia, the CEO at Twilio SendGrid. Founded in 2009 and acquired by Twilio in 2018, SendGrid is an industry-leading, cloud-based email and communications platform.

Key Discussion Points:

  • CEO Sameer Dholakia likes to describe his role as Chief Cultural Officer at SendGrid, a cloud-based customer communications platform founded in 2009.
  • Ideas surrounding adversity, trauma, and how to derive motivation from them.
  • Memories of graduating and being recruited in Silicon Valley in the mid-90s.
  • The difficulties surrounding job relocation when considering marriage, family, and location.
  • Tips on the early days of parenthood and how implement work/life balance.
  • Having the stability to remain optimistic in a state of crisis and harness opportunities that may come about as a result of an unfortunate circumstance. 
  • How Sameer and his team are empowering emergency response teams around the world to help in the fight against COVID-19.
  • The challenge of blending cultures after a major company acquisition and how Twilio/SendGrid managed to reshape their individual core values into a shared cultural philosophy.
  • The importance of looking ahead in the early stages of a company and predicting future outcomes and challenges that you will face.

Mentions:

This episode of Mission Daily is brought to you by our friends at TriNet. Just this week, TriNet published a blog and webinar series to help small and medium-sized businesses manage the impact of COVID-19. It covers actions you can take to be prepared should one of your employees test positive for Coronavirus. It also covers other factors you should consider, including employee compensation, if your business is required to shut down due to the pandemic.

There’s a lot happening now in real-time. Go to trinet.com and get the information you need to protect your business.

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