Brian Elrod, left, speaks at Twilio Engage
Brian Elrod, CEO of Text Request, spoke at the Twilio Engage Roadshow in Nashville about the rapid growth his company has enjoyed over the past few years and how quality partnerships have propelled Text Request forward.
Mr. Elrod founded Text Request, a business texting service, in 2014, along with his wife Jamey and the company’s CTO Rob Reagan. Since that launch, Text Request has experienced tremendous growth, achieving numerous milestones, including surpassing the 1,000 client mark in February of this year and surpassing $1 million in annual recurring revenue in August of 2018.
Gaining attention for these accomplishments, as well as Text Request’s 100+ percent year-over-year growth, led Twilio, a Text Request business partner, to ask Mr. Elrod to share his insights at the Twilio Engage Roadshow.
“We’ve been growing at what feels like lightning speed over the past few years,” said Mr. Elrod. “Many factors have fueled this expansion, and one of the most consequential has been the great business partnerships we’ve formed. Twilio has, without a doubt, been one of these positive partnerships. Since Text Request was built using Twilio, it would’ve been almost impossible to achieve what we have been able to without them.”
Twilio’s co-founder, Jeff Lawson, describes the platform as “AWS [Amazon Web Services] for telecomm.” Essentially, it’s a software platform that allows developers to integrate user-friendly communications systems into their tools. According to Twilio’s website, “If you have used Lyft, Airbnb, or Netflix, you have probably used Twilio.”
The Engage Roadshow focuses on bringing developers, product managers, and other IT professionals together to inspire the future of communication and streamlined customer interactions.
"It was an honor to take the stage with some of the most recognizable names and businesses in the technology space, sharing what we’ve been able to build as a bootstrapped startup in Chattanooga,” said Mr. Elrod.
Mr. Elrod was interviewed, fireside chat-style, by Marc Boroditsky, Twilio’s SVP of Global Sales in the event that also featured leaders from TL Connects, a Nashville-based marketing, communications and loyalty platform, and Lyft, a titan in the ridesharing industry.