as
No Money, No Support, Just Code: The Twilio Founding Story
@ a16z speedrun
05/24/25
Takeaways
JL
Jeff Lawson
05/24/25
@ a16z speedrun
Reputation is the most important thing in Silicon Valley, not your idea or even if your current company worked.
JL
Jeff Lawson
05/24/25
@ a16z speedrun
The best way to learn something new is to get your hands dirty and commit to doing it.
JL
Jeff Lawson
05/24/25
@ a16z speedrun
In Silicon Valley, failure can happen, but if you act honorably and do your best, people will fund your next idea.
JL
Jeff Lawson
05/24/25
@ a16z speedrun
When your first startup crashes and your second burns you out, it's the relationships you build that matter most for future opportunities.
JL
Jeff Lawson
05/24/25
@ a16z speedrun
The two most important things in your career are your knowledge and your reputation; no one can take those away from you.
JL
Jeff Lawson
05/24/25
@ a16z speedrun
When targeting college students, it's crucial to understand that they are valuable to advertisers due to their earning potential and decision-making as they start their adult lives.
JL
Jeff Lawson
05/24/25
@ a16z speedrun
To reach college students effectively, local marketing strategies like hiring street teams and chalking sidewalks were used, but these methods may not scale well today.
JL
Jeff Lawson
05/24/25
@ a16z speedrun
When I started talking about the Twilio idea, I noticed that developers would initially seem uninterested, but then they would ask questions about potential use cases, indicating a latent need.
JL
Jeff Lawson
05/24/25
@ a16z speedrun
After receiving positive feedback from potential customers about the Twilio API, I decided to drop everything else and focus on building it full-time.
JL
Jeff Lawson
05/24/25
@ a16z speedrun
We built the Twilio prototype in about four months, and early customers provided encouragement by building interesting ideas on the platform, validating our direction.
JL
Jeff Lawson
05/24/25
@ a16z speedrun
In 2008, I struggled to raise funds for Twilio due to the global financial meltdown, and many investors dismissed our developer service idea as foolish.
JL
Jeff Lawson
05/24/25
@ a16z speedrun
Despite not raising significant funds, we decided to launch Twilio on November 20, 2008, and immediately started gaining customers who were willing to pay for our service.
JL
Jeff Lawson
05/24/25
@ a16z speedrun
The key lesson I learned is to follow your customers rather than investors, as they are the true indicators of what will be successful.
JL
Jeff Lawson
05/24/25
@ a16z speedrun
When we launched our messaging product, it quickly became a significant part of Twilio's revenue, surpassing our voice services.
JL
Jeff Lawson
05/24/25
@ a16z speedrun
I believe in creating an organization that encourages risk-taking and innovation, which has been crucial for our growth.
JL
Jeff Lawson
05/24/25
@ a16z speedrun
We learned the importance of understanding our customers' needs, especially as we scaled, to ensure we were meeting the right demands.
JL
Jeff Lawson
05/24/25
@ a16z speedrun
After realizing we needed to expand our sales team, we went from 12 to 100 salespeople in less than a year to better serve our growing customer base.
JL
Jeff Lawson
05/24/25
@ a16z speedrun
When I acquired The Onion, it was about saving the company from a failing business model and focusing on creating content that resonates with readers.
JL
Jeff Lawson
05/24/25
@ a16z speedrun
We shifted The Onion's business model to prioritize readers over advertisers, launching a subscription service that has successfully attracted tens of thousands of subscribers.