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Goodbye, Twilio

blog.miguelgrinberg.com

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Re: Goodbye, Twilio

#191

Post by __d »

sparrish wrote: post #167
netr0ute wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is, it's called a USB 4G modem that plugs straight into whatever server you want.

Many carriers don't allow non-authorized devices like 4g modems to send SMS on their networks now. That's a recent change (last year).

So now you need a phone, maybe with USB Ethernet, and you write an app that exposes a REST API, and you call that?

Not a great solution, I guess, but ... zip-tie/hot-melt the hardware into a box with a fan and I guess it'd be mostly as reliable as a Raspberry Pi?

Is there a cheap Android phone with an external antenna socket still?

Re: Goodbye, Twilio

#192

Post by AndrewKemendo »

satvikpendem wrote: post #187
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #103

There’s nothing surprising here. This is a typical cycle for a venture backed technology business. There’s just nothing else to say here other than this is 100% expected outcome if you decide to build a product on venture capital money, which requires an exit and an increasingly large exit to the point where you IPO. Unless you avoid this structural pathway, you will be 100% guaranteed to do this. I am unaware of a v…

But...Twilio is a public company, VC shareholders have already sold their stock, so most of what you say isn't applicable, unless you mean to imply that a public company also acts similarly to a VC backed one.

It likely wouldn’t be publicly traded without VC

The public market is the idealized landing spot for VC and in fact is usually the default and desired pathway for all institutionally funded companies

To the extent that startup boards choose or heavily push a specific category of CFOs in order to drive company structure that would lead to an IPO.

Go look at the employee history of a lot of startups and you’ll see they either changed CFOs or got one for the first time, after a massive B but certainly not long after a C round.

Re: Goodbye, Twilio

#193

Post by Solvency »

gamesbrainiac wrote: post #163
paxys wrote: post #97

"The company was great when it was just engineers, but then they hired account managers and sales reps and business people and marketers who ruined everything." Common refrain from developers at SaaS companies who don't realize that the party they were enjoying all these years was directly funded by VC dollars, and these other people who they hate so much in fact do critical jobs and are necessary for converting all…

I think you read a different article. Miguel is aggrieved by the fact that it is no longer a developer focused company, which was the reason for its success. Sure, you need sales, marketing and the rest of it; it does not mean that you need to forget what made you great in the first place.

The article is all over the place. Miguel spends most of it bemoaning the change of his favorite billboard, as if that can be universally unpacked and extrapolated by others as why Twilio is no longer "for developers".

The remainder of his post says only that their shift from focusing on one specialization (communications) to another (customer data and engagement) doesn't align with HIS values.

Now, that's ok. He doesn't have to be down for it. But it also doesn't prove how they're no longer for developers. They could still have the best API, documentation, and developer support in the game. They could pay developers well, respect their input, and their process.

And yet he doesn't speak to any of this. I want to know how Twilio is no longer for developers. What actually changed! That was his root proposition, and he doesn't address it or substantiate it ever.

Re: Goodbye, Twilio

#194

Post by __d »

balozi wrote: post #168

For my teams, we used Twilio services on projects very early in the company's lifecycle. Its always been a running joke about how the company's trajectory will play out. So far the cynics seem to have won out. In hindsight it wasn't very difficult to predict but the trajectory Twilio is on appears to repeat itself on more than a few of the tech companies we invested in or utilized. ugh! Moral of the story, is to get…

I think this is a massively undervalued point of view, and I agree completely.

Especially if the company is using developer engagement to build. The day will come when they're too big for that, and all the stuff you liked will steadily fall away.

Re: Goodbye, Twilio

#195

Post by AndrewKemendo »

mlyle wrote: post #179
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world is 100% legally zero sum unless you can legally appropriate property with no money or any other type of compensation then where is this magical free pie?

If we're looking at how many pies there are in the world-- yes, that's zero sum. But if we're considering utility-- how useful stuff is to me-- it is far from zero sum. If I produce lots of wheat, being able to trade some of it for my neighbor's beef makes both of us richer.

Your example proves my point

You have a fixed amount of already acquired property

You do specified labor on that

You exchange your labor + property for someone else’s labor + property

That’s commerce and has nothing to do with the question I’m talking about, which is: How you acquired the property in the first place is the ethical question.

What’s unethical is if your a neighbor was struggling to survive and instead of caring for him out of your property and labor, you convinced him to trade your excess money for a portion of his property in perpetuity.

So no, there is no more uncaptured “pie.” It should have never been caputured in the first place - it’s equally everyone’s right

Re: Goodbye, Twilio

#196

Post by holografix »

jeffiel wrote: post #36

Thank you Miguel for all of your contributions to Twilio over the past four years, and I hope your next gig is just as rewarding! For all those interested in why we acquired Segment, and are focused on the integration of data and communications -- several years ago, we came to the conclusion that the world doesn't need more communications, it needs better communications. More relevant. More effective. As a developer,…

What better example of Twilio becoming a completely sales driven organisation than this opportunistic and self serving response, with a paragraph directly lifted from you sales 101 deck no doubt.

Well done!

Re: Goodbye, Twilio

#197

Post by ethbr0 »

VirusNewbie wrote: post #182
reaperman wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stock buybacks represent excess profits which otherwise could be used for employee bonuses or salary raises. There's a lot of room for argument here, because it's not clear if in the absence of stock buybacks, that excess profits wouldn't go more directly into the pockets of the owners via direct capital withdrawal. But it's not an entirely invalid viewpoint. There really is a lot of room for reasonable minds to disa…

Stock price increase benefits workers quite a bit though.

Assuming workers own stock.

Re: Goodbye, Twilio

#198

Post by makeitdouble »

VirusNewbie wrote: post #182
reaperman wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stock buybacks represent excess profits which otherwise could be used for employee bonuses or salary raises. There's a lot of room for argument here, because it's not clear if in the absence of stock buybacks, that excess profits wouldn't go more directly into the pockets of the owners via direct capital withdrawal. But it's not an entirely invalid viewpoint. There really is a lot of room for reasonable minds to disa…

Stock price increase benefits workers quite a bit though.

Stock holder =/= worker

Re: Goodbye, Twilio

#199

Post by WWLink »

Solvency wrote: post #193
gamesbrainiac wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you read a different article. Miguel is aggrieved by the fact that it is no longer a developer focused company, which was the reason for its success. Sure, you need sales, marketing and the rest of it; it does not mean that you need to forget what made you great in the first place.

The article is all over the place. Miguel spends most of it bemoaning the change of his favorite billboard, as if that can be universally unpacked and extrapolated by others as why Twilio is no longer "for developers". The remainder of his post says only that their shift from focusing on one specialization (communications) to another (customer data and engagement) doesn't align with HIS values. Now, that's ok. He doe…

" The article is all over the place. Miguel spends most of it bemoaning the change of his favorite billboard, as if that can be universally unpacked and extrapolated by others as why Twilio is no longer "for developers"."

I think his point is hella clear with the two screenshots. Originally they provide "Voice, SMS, and Video APIs"and then they switch to "Customer Engagement Platform"

Both messages are likely nonsense for the vast majority of people that drive by them. The "ask your developer" one specifically targets software devs and mentions why. The "How can I reduce acquisition costs by 65%?" targets business owners ... but it's a little vague because the first thing I'd think when I hear "acquisition costs" is buying another business lol. What the hell is a "customer engagement platform"? Well, a developer isn't gonna give a shit then.

So the first billboard goes with a "hey boss I found out about this cool twillo stuff we can use!" to "Hi it's the CEO, we're now going to use twillo and if you don't like it, eat shit"

Re: Goodbye, Twilio

#200

Post by jeffiel »

alberth wrote: post #154
jeffiel wrote: post #36

Thank you Miguel for all of your contributions to Twilio over the past four years, and I hope your next gig is just as rewarding! For all those interested in why we acquired Segment, and are focused on the integration of data and communications -- several years ago, we came to the conclusion that the world doesn't need more communications, it needs better communications. More relevant. More effective. As a developer,…

Hi Jeff If I understand the page for Fraud Guard correctly, this appears to cost money. Seems like Twilio should be filtering spam (a) by default / auto-enabled for all and (b) at no cost to the user. Much like how spam is included & auto enabled for all (and free) from Gmail/Outlook/etc.

It's no cost to the user! Defaults are rolled out to everybody, but the users opts-into aggressive protection because of the risk of false positives. Note, this is Verify today. All Programmable SMS customers will get it soon as well.
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