twilio - TJ's Blog

The Q3 2024 Valuation Update

Klaviyo has maintained its position as a stock market darling. Trading at over thirteen times last-twelve-months (LTM) revenue, its $11.53 billion market cap places it…

Twilio Completes the BFCM Picture

From Monday, November 25, 2024, to Monday, December 2, 2024—i.e., the e-commerce Cyber Week—Twilio sent over 5.2 billion messages and processed over 65.5 billion emails.…

A 10DLC Origin Story

Some unsolicited career advice: When the platform owner invites you to partner with them, say yes. In telecom, if an operator asks for your help,…

One Expert, One Topic — Melissa Blassingame Talks Branded Calling

She studied piano at age four, sang with the Houston Children’s Chorus, was in musical theater, studied cello in grade school and college, and monetized…

Sinch, LINK, Klaviyo, and Upland Report on 2024 Progress

With the exception of Klaviyo, sustaining momentum within increasingly demanding markets remains a challenge for the cohort. Over 80% of Klaviyo’s top fifty customers use…

Twilio and Bandwidth Deliver a Stellar Q3 2024

Not only did the two companies outperform their Q3 targets, but Twilio and Bandwidth also raised their FY 2024 guidance. RCS was top of mind…

The Good, The Interesting, The Unknown: a 2024 Earnings Check-In

In one week, the US will elect a new president; in four weeks, the biggest Black Friday / Cyber Monday (BFCM) ever will kick off…

Klaviyo Leads the 2024 Valuation Race

At over ten times its last twelve months’ (LTM) revenue, Klaviyo leads the valuation race. Its $8.31 billion valuation puts it in the same zip…

The Growth Endurance Calculation

Growth endurance measures a company’s ability to sustain high revenue growth as it scales. It’s calculated by dividing the current year’s growth by the previous…

Braze Rounds Out the Q2 2024 Earnings Cycle

The last one to release its results, Braze too presented healthy revenue growth—a first-ever non-GAAP profit—and gave some interesting insights into its RCS adoption roadmap.…

One Expert, One Topic — Nick Parmar Talks CX Platforms

With a robust background as a Global Product and Sales Leader, Nick Parmar has consistently propelled global sales growth and spearheaded business development in highly…

Klaviyo Flexes into the Enterprise to Deliver a Stellar Q2

Klaviyo reported $222 million in revenue with a 35% year-over-year growth rate and SaaS-like 77% gross margins. At this rate, it is possible that the…

Q2 Earnings from Twilio, Sinch, Bandwidth, and Upland

At $1.1 billion in revenue, with a 51% gross margin and improved free cash flow, Twilio took the prize for both earnings and profitability beats.…

Why Everyone Should Root for Twilio to Win Its TCPA Lawsuit

Twilio is the target of a TCPA complaint that could redefine the industry’s compliance landscape. TCPA complaints are routine for any large communications platform; however,…

Braze Delivers a Strong Quarter

With 117% Net Dollar Retention (NDR), $15 million net cash flow, and 44% of revenue from non-US customers, Braze delivered a strong quarter despite a…

The 2024 SaaS Growth Snapshot

Since 2012, I’ve maintained a dynamic list of public companies I follow. If it is true that software is eating the world, then understanding these…

Twilio, Sinch, Bandwidth, Upland, LinkMobility and Klaviyo Announce Q1 2024 Earnings

Overall, the cohort delivered double-digit revenue growth but with some disclosing single-digit declines; many showed no appetite for M&A, but one is evaluating eleven acquisitions;…

Pass-Thru Fees & the Asymmetric SMS Market

Mobile operators charge companies to access their SMS networks. These charges, commonly known as pass-thru fees, are immune to the sender's purchasing power. In fact,…

The Three Kinds of Interoperability Every Startup Needs to Know

“Interoperability” is a long word to write and say. Yet it’s at the heart of any David vs. Goliath tech story. The success of any…

Twilio’s Spring Surprise

Much to the relief of industry insiders, Twilio is keeping its Segment business. Some feared that Twilio would bow to investor pressure, and that would…

The Four Growth Investments You Must Make

The five companies I watch—Bandwidth, LinkMobility, Sinch, Upland, and Twilio—ended 2023 with $9.2 billion in revenues. Collectively, they are projected to end 2024 with a…

The Klaviyo Papers

In a series of posts I call ‘the Klaviyo papers’ I wrote about Klaviyo’s business model. Klaviyo, like Attentive before it, and Twilio before it,…

The Not-So-Secret Salesforce Playbook

Salesforce made “as-a-Service'' a noun. Attach it to the end of any category, and the business model is self-evident. Not only has Salesforce a SaaS…

Messaging and Growth in the Pandemic

By March 2020, the pandemic had shut down the world. Its effect on businesses was swift and brutal. Airlines, hotels, restaurants, manufacturing, retail, health, and…

Three Key Learnings from Twilio, Sinch, and LinkMobility Earnings

Twilio, Sinch, and LinkMobility together brought in a total $7.6 billion in revenue for 2023, and there are three learnings from their earnings reports. Efficiency…

Growth and Valuation in 2024

The seventh week of the year kicks off the earnings season for the messaging space. On Valentine’s Day, within twenty-four hours of each other, Twilio,…

An FCC Ruling puts a Spotlight on Customer Data Platforms

Last week we discussed the first three FCC rulings from December. This week we examine the final ruling and its industry impact. The FCC ruled…

Twilio Announces a Transition

Ariana Huffington, Bill Gates, Ben Chestnutt, Jeff Bezos, Marc Benioff, Michael Dell, and Steve Jobs changed entire industries and, in some cases, the world. HuffPost…

A Look into Q3 Earnings of Twilio, Klaviyo and Others

In the latest round of Q3 earnings in the CPaaS sector showed a steady march towards profitability and responsible growth. Growth and the CPaaS Market…

My Best Advice — John Lauer

John Lauer is your archetypical serial entrepreneur. While most famous for founding Zipwhip—sold to Twilio for a whopping $952 million (based on the closing date…

September 2022: Chat with Ajit Pai and other Discussions

One of the highlights of my September was the recently concluded Mobile Ecosystem Forum’s MEF Connects USA conference. I helped bring together a lot of…

The Exclusive Untold Story Behind Twilio and ZipWhip

I knew writing about Twilio's ZipWhip acquisition would take time. I didn't expect it would require over 6,000 words across six posts. Of all the posts,…

Why We Need Interoperability and How to Protect It

Wireless networks are universal, pervasive, and heterogeneous. They are a fertile testbed for interoperability-driven innovation. Text messaging is but one example of how complex event…

How Interoperability Created a Unique 800 Million Dollar Acquisition – III

In the payments industry, your leverage is your proximity to the payment providers: Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. In the messaging industry, your leverage is…

How Interoperability Created a Unique 800 Million Dollar Acquisition – II

In 2016—the year it went IPO—Twilio had 36,000 customers paying it $270M to transmit messages. This was an eight-fold increase in revenue and a three-fold…

How Interoperability Created a Unique 800 Million Dollar Acquisition – I

Twilio paid $800 Million to acquire ZipWhip. At 10x revenue, the valuation was high for the asset. As deals go, it wasn't the biggest in…

How Interoperability Made Texting a Big Deal

US customers sent 2.2 trillion text messages in 2020. In other words, the wireless operators have created a big party—one which application developers, marketers, and software companies…