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How Twilio Built a Developer Partner Ecosystem That Competes With AWS
Description
Twilio started as a simple API for sending SMS. Today it's a $12 billion communications platform whose partner ecosystem gives AWS and Microsoft a real run for their money. In this episode, Lucas and Luna unpack how Twilio turned developers into a partner army without the traditional sales-led playbook. They explore the 'land and expand' strategy that let Twilio embed its APIs into thousands of startups before those startups grew into enterprise customers. They also examine the tension between platform lock-in and open standards — and how Twilio navigated it. Specific numbers include: the 10 million developer accounts, the 250,000 active customers, and the 80 percent of revenue that comes through the partner ecosystem. Plus, a look at how Twilio's acquisition of Segment changed the game for data partnerships.