Meet Twilio, The CPaaS Rising Star That Takes Cloud Comms to Another Level

Here’s what you didn’t know about this cloud service provider

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Twilio
CPaaSUnified Communications

Published: July 19, 2017

Ian Taylor Editor

Ian Taylor

Editor

When it comes to cloud service providers, it’s hard to find any company more impressive than Twilio lately. It seems like everyone is talking about the potential of Twilio, and what the API has already achieved. In fact, if you’ve used Netflix, Airbnb, or Lyft, then you’ve already used Twilio.

Twilio is a cloud communications platform that’s simple, powerful, and innovative. It allows you to add messaging, video, voice, and authentication solutions to your software, all in the programming language that you’re already using. But, you probably already know all that…

Here are a few things that you might not know about the poster-child of cloud comms.

1.     It’s CEO and Co-Founder Contributed to AWS

Not sure about the expertise behind Twilio? The fact that Jeff Lawson, CEO and co-founder help to build Amazon Web Services should be enough to put your mind at ease. Apparently, Amazon welcomed Lawson to the team in 2004, and though he only spent 15 months with the company, he learned everything he needed to build IaaS solutions.

Lawson quickly realised that he could use the AWS model on mobile devices by integrating communication solutions into apps directly, through APIs. This concept became the very foundation of Twilio. Today, Twilio still runs on AWS, and Amazon still uses the Twilio API in its SMS notifications, chatbots, and Chime communication service, among other things.

2.     All “Twilions” Contribute to Company Growth

All Twilio employees, known as “Twilions”, are required to create a new app based on Twilio, and show it to the company. Even people without tech know-how are sent through a coding boot camp to do the same thing.

Although many of the apps produced aren’t practical, the idea is that anyone, including people without a coding background, can learn to build an app on Twilio. Once a Twilion has passed their coding test, they get a branded track jacket and an Amazon Kindle with $30 of credit. The company is all about encouraging its employees to invest in themselves.

3.     It Gained a Boost from 500 Start-ups

One of the biggest backers for Twilio towards the beginning was “Dave McClure’s 500 start-ups“. This was a seed accelerator solution and early-stage venture fund. By 2010, 500 start-ups had launched the “Twilio Fund“, which set aside about $250,000 in seed money for start-ups using Twilio’s API.

The aim of this process was to build brand awareness for Twilio and boost its ecosystem. However, that’s not much of a concern today, since Twilio’s platform now dominates the cloud-based voice and text API niche. Its top customers include WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Netflix.

4.     It Captured the Media with a Rick Roll

Twilio hasn’t always been in the limelight. Though it was founded in 2007, people beyond the app development community had no idea it existed until late 2008, when Lawson designed an app to “rick roll” people with a single call. The prank was picked up by media sites like TechCrunch, which helped to pique interest in the brand.

A couple of days after it’s media burst, Twilio officially introduced Twilio Voice, a new API to receive and make calls entirely hosted in the cloud. This first delivery laid the foundations for its video and text-messaging APIs later.

5.     It’s One of 2017’s Most Innovative Companies

Finally, Twilio was ranked at number 8 on Fast Company’s list of the most innovative companies this year, which makes it just as impressive as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Netflix, and Uber. In fact, Fast Company noted that banking group ING recently replaced all of the software and hardware that’s responsible for its worldwide call centre system with Twilio’s cloud service.

Today, Twilio services are becoming so pervasive, that most people don’t even know that they’re using them every day when getting a new password from Netflix, or a notification from their Uber driver.

The Growth Keeps Coming

Twilio had a rocky start as a start-up, and it still faces a number of uncertainties in its future, particularly when you consider the growing competition from internally developed APIs and bigger companies. However, it’s safe to say that Twilio is a versatile and adaptive company. In the future, we could see it evolve into an even more successful, and diversified business.

 

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