I sent this letter to our team and investors today and since our customers are our key stakeholders, I wanted you to see it as well.
It happened. 2020 is finally over and we have so much to be proud of. I can still remember last year, we all knew 2020 is gonna be a special year for us. The challenge we had to overcome was no small feat though. We had to create a differentiating product for a very large market in a very mature space. And there were only 8 of us.
The only way to succeed was for every bet we make to pay off and for it to pay off just in time. We knew the world needed a better business phone and we had the team to get it done. So we embraced ourselves for the journey ahead. And now looking back, what a journey that was. Sometimes when everything goes your way, it’s hard not to believe in destiny.
Here’s all that happened:
- 4.8x growth in MRR.
- Best rated business phone system of Fall 2020 and Winter 2021 on G2.
- 19.8 million calls and messages on OpenPhone.
- 10x more phone numbers ported into OpenPhone every month.
- 100% organic growth, no marketing or sales spend.
- 200%+ net revenue retention on teams.
- 49k visits to our blog last month compared to 500 in December 2019.
- Launched various highly-requested features that contributed to the success above (desktop/web app, teams, shared numbers, IVR, lightweight CRM functionalities, integrations, search, group/direct messaging, international calling, analytics, auto-replies, and so much more).
- Grew our team to 13 amazing people.
As YC puts it, building a startup is a journey of counter-intuitive decisions. The one decision early in our company that follows that paradigm was the decision to go broad instead of a niche. Meaning focusing on building a better phone for individuals and teams more so than a specific type of individual or team. The decision was a risky one because getting to Product-MarketFit on a very defined persona is much easier especially when competing against the conglomerates, but we thought OpenPhone will be a much larger business when the foundation has large market applicability.
In 2021 we have to change course. Now is the time to add depth to OpenPhone. To make the product amazing for use-cases and personas that are most valuable to us and to equip the company with people who will take us to the next level. This year we have the money, the vision, and the core team to get it done.
2021 is gonna be a hard-fought year too. We will likely face stiff competition not just from the existing players but new ones. But I’m sure we will continue winning as long as we are a customer-first company and execute at the highest level.
To my OP crew, thank you for all your work in 2020. To our investors, thank you for trusting us. And to our customers, thanks for all your support. We wouldn’t be here without you.
Happy new year!
