Thread by @jasonlk

Twilio has long been one of our favorite companies at SaaStr, combining B2D + B2B, long-tail, SMB + enterprise, and much more

They are >still< growing 52% at $2B+ in ARR

Here are 5 Interesting Learnings from Twilio:

#1. The Top 10 Customers at Twilio have been 15%-20% of its revenue for years.

Yet Twilio has 200,000+ active accounts.

So they work hard to make a long tail AND big whales work together in 1 company

You don't have to choose. Don't let folks force you to.

#2. NRR has come down a bit from 140%-150% around the IPO, but is still world-class at 137%.

It's a great reminder NRR does not have to come down as you scale

Accounts can remain less than fully penetrated for many, many years

All the way to $2B+ in ARR

#3. Gross Margins were 60% at IPO and have remained high enough to be "SaaS".

Unlike many pure software cos, Twilio has significant network costs

It also has a lot of competition

But by anchoring its brand as the trusted player, GMs have stayed high enough to be "SaaS"

#4. Twilio had ~2,400 employees at $1B in ARR, or ~$250,000 in revenue per employee

Not as efficient as Bill.com the other day, or Zoom at IPO, but a good yardstick to think about at scale

#5. Even with "whale" customers worth $10m+ a year, the average Twilio customer pays just $7k a year for com products, less for Sendgrid/email.

So Twilio is still SMB and B2D at heart. Again, yes you can do both.

Finally, Twilio is a reminder that large markets matter

When Twilio started, the API-for-communications market itself was small. But communications overall is huge

As the category became established, Twilio grew at incredible 80% YoY at $1B ARR including Sendgrid, 56% without

A deeper dive here:

saastr.com/twilio-crossed…