Twilio Video Needed a New Mindset for Growth

TL;DR

In Twilio's Video business unit, growth had stalled as the post-pandemic world changed what customers needed from video — demand was moving from meetings to streaming at scale. I helped build Twilio Live, a dedicated tool for that new market, starting with our largest, most at-risk accounts and then generalizing it into the core product for every customer. It kept customers engaged and growing, and reached ~$200K MRR for Twilio.

Context

Twilio Video gave developers real-time video as an API. Coming out of the pandemic, the first wave of demand — meetings and conferencing — was saturating, and growth in the business unit had flattened. A handful of large accounts drove most of the revenue, and their interest was waning: the standard product no longer matched where their use cases were heading.

Problem

• Post-pandemic, growth had stalled — the meetings wave was leveling off.
• The biggest accounts (most of the revenue) were losing interest and at risk of churning.
• The emerging need was streaming at scale (one-to-many) — broadcasts and events — not meetings.
• Competitors were all crowded into meetings; no one served streaming well.
• The org had scaled headcount — including PMs — ahead of growth, so reigniting growth wasn't just upside; it was existential.

What I Did

1. Read the shift in demand: I worked with our largest at-risk accounts to understand where their video use cases were actually going — and the answer was streaming at scale, not more meeting features.
2. Built Twilio Live for the new market: I helped take Twilio Live 0→1 — a dedicated tool aimed squarely at the streaming use case the standard product didn't serve.
3. Started with the whales, then generalized: I built first for the biggest at-risk accounts to keep them engaged, then productized the capability into the core offering so every customer benefited — not just the accounts that demanded it.
4. Drove adoption: I built the technical sales materials and worked with the team to land the first accounts on the new product.

Key Decisions

Build a New Offering, Not More of the Old One

Growth had stalled because the market had moved. Rather than add incremental meeting features, I bet on a dedicated tool for the new streaming demand — and that's what brought waning customers back.

Solve for the Whale, Then Productize

I built first for the largest at-risk accounts to stop the bleeding, but designed the capability to generalize — so one retention save became a feature the whole base could adopt.

Find Gaps, Not Competition

Competitors crowded into meetings. I went after streaming at scale, the segment everyone else had skipped.

Results

• Brought waning, revenue-critical accounts back by giving them a tool built for where they were headed.
• Turned a retention play into a 0→1 product the whole base could adopt.
• Launched into an underserved streaming market competitors had ignored.

Lessons Learned

1. When growth stalls, the market usually moved. The fix wasn't more of the old product — it was a new offering aimed at where demand was actually going.
2. Build for the whale, ship for everyone. Solving for the biggest at-risk accounts is only worth it if you design the capability to generalize.
3. Look for gaps, not competition. The biggest 0→1 openings are the segments everyone else skipped.
4. Growth has to justify the org around it. The unit had grown its team — PMs included — faster than the business itself; when growth stayed flat, it was ultimately caught in a layoff. The lesson I carry: size the team to the trajectory, and treat reigniting growth as priority zero, not a nice-to-have.