SendGrid CEO Jim Franklin talks to Bambi Francisco

Jim Franklin says international sales should be at parity in three years

SendGrid, a leading cloud-based provider of email services, recently raised a $21 million Series B round of funding, led by Bessemer Venture Partners this past January. Part of those funds will go toward hiring and international expansion.

In my interview with CEO Jim Franklin, the second in a two-part series, Franklin talks about where SendGrid plans to grow overseas. The Boulder, Co-based firm is targeting Europe, Latin America and Asia. At the moment, it has 33 job openings in those regions as well as in San Francisco, New York, and London. He also talks about the challenges SendGrid faces as it expands, such as working in areas where developers and accelerators are decentralized, such as Germany, or not knowing how the freemium model that works so well in the U.S. will work in other parts of the country.

Franklin is targeting international sales, which accounts for 25% of sales today, to be at parity in three years. Franklin also updates us on the company's partnership with Microsoft Azure to tap into larger enterprises. Right now, SendGrid's sweet spot is start-ups that are venture backed with 10 or fewer employees.