# Twilio: Jeff Lawson

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2023-04-03
- Length: 1h 14m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-04-03-twilio-jeff-lawson

## Summary

Jeff Lawson, founder and CEO of Twilio, recounts his journey from dropping out of college to build Varsity.com, through the dot-com crash and a failed extreme sports retail venture, to co-founding Twilio in 2008. He explains how his frustration with complex telecom infrastructure at Amazon AWS led to the idea of a developer-friendly communications platform, which gained traction with early customers like Uber and Sony Music despite initial investor skepticism. Lawson details Twilio's growth strategy, including guerrilla marketing at hackathons, the challenges of managing a major client like Uber, and his perspective on remote work and the current tech industry cycle.

## Chapters

- [2:18](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-04-03-twilio-jeff-lawson#t=138) Introduction: Jeff Lawson and Twilio
- [6:26](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-04-03-twilio-jeff-lawson#t=386) Early Ventures: Varsity.com and the Dot-Com Crash
- [23:22](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-04-03-twilio-jeff-lawson#t=1402) The Failed Retail Venture: 9 Star
- [36:49](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-04-03-twilio-jeff-lawson#t=2209) The Insight at Amazon AWS
- [41:10](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-04-03-twilio-jeff-lawson#t=2470) Founding Twilio and Early Customer Validation
- [47:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-04-03-twilio-jeff-lawson#t=2853) Investor Skepticism and Guerrilla Marketing
- [53:43](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-04-03-twilio-jeff-lawson#t=3223) Scaling with Uber and Managing Key Accounts
- [1:04:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-04-03-twilio-jeff-lawson#t=3840) Public Markets, Layoffs, and Remote Work

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Marketing & brand](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/marketing-and-brand)
- [Growth, exits & acquisitions](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/growth-exits-and-acquisitions)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)

## Most relevant to

founders before launch, companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Twilio (company)
- Uber (company)
- Sony Music (company)
- Amazon Web Services (company)
- Cisco (company)
- Varsity.com (company)
- CollegeClub.com (company)
- DoubleClick (company)
- 9 Star (company)
- Taco Bell (company)

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- [#035 - How a hardware startup’s product goes viral, with Christian Smith of TrackR, USA](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-hardware-entrepreneur/2017-08-16-035-how-a-hardware-startups-product-goes-viral-with-christian-smith-of-trackr-us) (The Hardware Entrepreneur)
- [Competing with Tech Giants: Approaches and Challenges with Morgan Teachworth of Cisco](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/over-the-air/2023-03-02-competing-with-tech-giants-approaches-and-challenges-with-morgan-teachworth-of-c) (Over the Air)
- [Ep. 23 | Arduino Co-founder Massimo Banzi on How Arduino Took the World by Storm](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2021-04-29-ep-23-arduino-co-founder-massimo-banzi-on-how-arduino-took-the-world-by-storm) (Moore's Lobby)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-04-03-twilio-jeff-lawson. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to How I Built This.