56 min listen
How to build a $65b company, with Twilio Co-Founder and CEO Jeff Lawson
How to build a $65b company, with Twilio Co-Founder and CEO Jeff Lawson
ratings:
Length:
49 minutes
Released:
Jul 19, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Today’s guest is at the helm of probably the biggest company we’ve ever had on Secret Leaders. Jeff Lawson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Twilio, a cloud communication platform that helps businesses use everything from text to video calls in their sites and apps.
Since its founding in 2008, Twilio has grown to 4,500 employees, annual revenue of $1.74 billion, and is valued at $65 billion. Yup, $65 billion. Woof.
All this despite investors not being interested at the beginning which forced Jeff and his team to make a decision.
“When choosing between listening to investors and customers, we're gonna choose customers. And we're gonna let customers guide our actions. And if that works, then investors will follow suit. And sure enough, they did.”
But how did Jeff actually do it? How do you build a company like Twilio?
We chat about:
Learning how to start companies
How big companies work
How to reinvent yourself if you want to stay CEO
How to have difficult conversations
IPOing on the day of the Brexit vote
Since its founding in 2008, Twilio has grown to 4,500 employees, annual revenue of $1.74 billion, and is valued at $65 billion. Yup, $65 billion. Woof.
All this despite investors not being interested at the beginning which forced Jeff and his team to make a decision.
“When choosing between listening to investors and customers, we're gonna choose customers. And we're gonna let customers guide our actions. And if that works, then investors will follow suit. And sure enough, they did.”
But how did Jeff actually do it? How do you build a company like Twilio?
We chat about:
Learning how to start companies
How big companies work
How to reinvent yourself if you want to stay CEO
How to have difficult conversations
IPOing on the day of the Brexit vote
Released:
Jul 19, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Skimlinks: Alicia Navarro on how to build an advertising giant: Our second Australian guest in a row for our 10th episode of Secret Lives of Leaders. This episode we have the pleasure of hosting Alicia Navarro - the co-founder and CEO of Skimlinks. Known for her energy and enthusiasm, Alicia has been in the heart of the tech scene in London for over a decade. Her company has gone through many highs and lows along the way as well as receiving over $20m in venture funding. Alicia gives us an insight into running starting and then running a high growth company as well as what she gets up to when she's not working. by Secret Leaders with Dan Murray-Serter