Chattanooga-based software startup, Text Request, has doubled its annual recurring revenue and more than tripled its employee headcount since the close of 2018, all without taking a penny of outside investment. The company, which offers text messaging software (SaaS) for businesses and other organizations across the U.S. and Canada, expects to see even higher growth rates in 2020 and beyond, said officials.
"Our company was powered by just six employees for most of 2018," said Brian Elrod, Text Request co-founder and CEO, "which is a testament to our team’s collaborative, production-oriented ethos. By reaching the $2 million ARR mark, we’ve done something only a fraction of a percent of tech startups ever do. And the talent we've recruited in Chattanooga to help triple our staff in 2019 is world-class. This growth shows how big the problem is that we're solving for our clients. Businesses struggle to reach their customers through phone calls or emails, but a text gets their attention instantly."
Since late 2018, Text Request has added 16 new employees to their Chattanooga and global workforce. These new team members were brought on for business development, marketing, customer success, and software development. The company has also doubled its annual recurring revenue from $1 million to $2 million since 2018.
"The product is incredible, we treat our customers like family, we're profitable, and the potential for growth is massive," said Mr. Elrod. "Imagine—or remember—what it was like when email first rolled out. Not having email for your business was essentially like handing your customers over to your competitors. That's what it's like if you’re not utilizing texting, and small businesses are waking up to that."
When asked what's next for Text Request, co-founder and CTO Rob Reagan says the sky's the limit. "We've figured out a lot over the last five years. We've experienced positive traction, and we're on par or better than our competitive peers in the industry who've raised upwards of $100 million in funding. To say I'm excited to see how far we go once we add more fuel to this rocket engine is an understatement."