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Twilio•Oct 2021 - Sep 2022•2 min read

Post-COVID Video Streaming

Product Manager - Video

Identified gap competitors missed. Built 0→1 streaming product. $200K MRR, 100+ customers

APIVideo0-to-1GTMB2B

TL;DR

Identified a gap competitors missed in the post-COVID video market. Built Twilio Live from 0→1, driving $200K MRR with 100+ customers and 35% enterprise growth.

Context

Post-COVID, everyone needed video. But competitors focused on meetings and conferencing—Zoom, Teams, Google Meet. I identified an unserved need: streaming at scale for broadcasts, events, and one-to-many use cases.

Problem

  • Competitors focused on meetings (many-to-many), not streaming (one-to-many)
  • Enterprises needed to broadcast to thousands, not host meetings
  • Existing solutions required stitching together multiple tools
  • No developer-friendly streaming API existed

What I Did

  1. Customer Discovery: Conducted extensive interviews to validate the streaming gap
  2. Business Case: Built ROI models for new product investment
  3. Product Development: Owned feature prioritization and roadmap
  4. Sales Enablement: Created technical sales materials and trained the team

Key Decisions

Find Gaps, Not Competition

Instead of competing head-to-head on meetings, found the underserved streaming market.

Customer-Validated Features

Every feature started with customer validation. Built features that customers committed to paying for before development.

Enterprise Focus

Concentrated on enterprise segment where Twilio had competitive advantages (reliability, compliance, scale).

API-First Design

Maintained Twilio's API-first philosophy, ensuring Twilio Live integrated seamlessly with other Twilio products.

Technical Details

  • WebRTC Architecture: Selective Forwarding Unit (SFU) for scalable video
  • Video Streaming: Low-latency HLS for broadcasting to thousands
  • SDK Design: Native SDKs for iOS, Android, JavaScript with consistent APIs
  • API Documentation: Interactive API explorer and comprehensive guides

Results

$200K
MRR Achieved
100+
Monthly Active Customers
35%
Enterprise Growth
  • Successfully launched 0→1 product in competitive market
  • Built technical sales capability for video product line
  • Established enterprise customer relationships

Lessons Learned

  1. Look for gaps, not competition: Instead of competing head-to-head, find underserved markets.
  2. Customer validation de-risks features: Features built with customer commitment had much higher adoption.
  3. Enterprise sales needs PM support: Technical content and training directly impacted deal velocity.
  4. API consistency matters: Developers expect products to work together seamlessly. Design for the ecosystem.