TWLO - Big Time Board of Director - Jeff Immelt

Twillo just announced Jeff Immelt will join their Board of Directors.

Mr. Immelt was CEO of General Electric for 16 years. The SA article states “…led the company through several innovative changes…” Some would say “…tumultuous years…”

https://seekingalpha.com/pr/17550721-twilio-welcomes-jeff-im…

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At first I didn’t understand this at all. What could an old CEO of a super slow moving and potentially dying company offer in terms of advice to our incredibly innovative company Twilio?

Then it hit me. Immelt knows exactly how the priorities and decisions are made in these big massive, slow moving companies that are desperately trying to innovate and improve customer experience.

They also have some of the largest contact centers around which is a target for Twilio Flex.

So I like this move.

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To the extent relevant to your investing strategy–and accepting both that (i) the skill set and level of commitment of a board member is different than that of a day-to-day executive; and (ii) a name like Immelt adds some legitimacy to a growing issue like TWLO (though, query whether that is needed), Immelt was an abject disaster in leading GE. The write-downs and government investigations stemming from Immelt’s time at GE are myriad.

E.g.,

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/07/15/ge-ceo-wel…
https://money.cnn.com/2017/11/20/investing/general-electric-…
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/18/former-ge-ceo-jeff-immelt-us…
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/30/ge-says-sec-expanding-scope-…

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Immelt knows exactly how the priorities and decisions are made in these big massive, slow moving companies that are desperately trying to innovate and improve customer experience.

Yeah… like when Apple hired John Sculley.

🆁🅶🅱
wordlessly watching, he waits by the window and wonders…

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I agree. Immelt name is more of a negative than a positive.

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from my point of view Twillo just pulled off an easy entrance to a lot of different boards of huge companies and all potential customers. boards to a great extent are still an “old boys club” and this gentlemen will know which to contact and they will all take his call. for me this is a smart move to give them a lot of upside and no real downside.

just sayin’
coatails,
enjoying the ride!

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Given Immelt’s entire career experience was within GE, and GE became overly dependent on Finance to subsidize the rest of the business units that were failing, and it’s debatable whether he was a negative or a positive to a conglomerate that has been declining for years…

I wonder out loud whether TWLO just jumped the shark.

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Sorry but I can’t imagine Mr. Immelt has too many coat tails given his disastrous performance at GE. I’m sure other CEOs are polite to him but really, he ruined a great American company. I’m not sure I
view this as a positive for TWLO.

Fortunately I never invested in GE - Phew

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