Surge

What do they actually do

Surge is an SMS‑first developer platform that lets teams add texting to their products with a simple REST API, official SDKs (Node/TypeScript, Python, Ruby), and embeddable UI components. Developers can send and receive messages, handle webhooks, and use tools like a two‑way chat widget and no‑code message blasts from a hosted dashboard and API surge.app docs.surge.app npm/@surgeapi/node github python‑sdk.

A key part of the product is managing carrier compliance and onboarding. Surge guides customers through “campaign” and phone number registration and handles the carrier paperwork, which they advertise can be completed in 24–48 hours with a guaranteed response within 72 hours Register a campaign guide surge.app. Pricing spans hobby to growth tiers and a custom/enterprise plan that covers needs like short codes, SSO, and HIPAA‑aligned options, signaling support for both small projects and larger buyers surge.app/pricing YC profile.

Who are their target customer(s)

• Early-stage developer teams adding SMS for signups and alerts: They lack time and staff to navigate carrier registration and brittle APIs, so texting becomes a weeks‑long distraction from core product work.
• Small businesses (ecommerce, restaurants, local services) sending updates/reminders: Setup is complex, delivery is inconsistent with big providers, and slow approvals or high setup costs are hard to justify.
• Marketplaces and SaaS needing two‑way messaging or embedded chat: Building inbound handling, inbox UI, and compliance across many numbers is time‑consuming and expensive to maintain.
• Regulated startups (healthcare, finance) with privacy/audit needs: They face heavy compliance overhead and need secure messaging, audit logs, and enterprise controls without building everything in‑house.
• Growth-stage teams scaling volume and adding channels like WhatsApp: They run into slow high‑volume approvals, complex short‑code and carrier processes, and lack team/billing features as usage grows.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Manually recruit early developer teams via YC/startup networks and dev communities (GitHub/npm), offering free credits and concierge onboarding where Surge handles carrier registration to get them live quickly docs npm YC.
• First 50: Publish step‑by‑step carrier‑registration guides, open‑source samples, and SMB templates (order updates, reminders); drive signups via dev outreach, referrals, and targeted outreach to SMBs with no‑code/embeddable demos docs surge.app/features surge.app/pricing.
• First 100: Layer SEO/content for “SMS + carrier registration,” integrations/marketplace connectors, and paid search for developer queries; run a small SDR/AE motion to close higher‑ARPU needs (short codes, SSO, HIPAA) with pilots and SLAs while keeping self‑serve onboarding low‑touch surge.app/pricing surge.app.

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Surge participates in the CPaaS/platform layer of business messaging rather than the full value of A2P traffic. Research places CPaaS in the low double‑digit billions and growing (e.g., ~$13.6B in 2023 to ~$22.5B by 2028 per Metrigy; Gartner projects higher by 2029) Metrigy Gartner. A2P itself is far larger (tens of billions to ~100B by late 2020s), but much of that accrues to carriers rather than platforms MarketsandMarkets ResearchAndMarkets.

Bottom-up calculation:

Using Metrigy’s 2028 CPaaS forecast ($22.5B), assume messaging is ~48% of CPaaS and SMEs/developer teams are ~37% of messaging revenue. Messaging CPaaS ≈ $22.5B × 0.48 = ~$10.8B; SME/dev slice ≈ $10.8B × 0.37 = ~$4.0B global by ~2028 Metrigy Mordor Intelligence.

Assumptions:

• Messaging APIs are ~48% of CPaaS revenue (central estimate from industry sources).
• SMEs/developer teams represent ~37% of messaging CPaaS revenue; large enterprises hold the remainder.
• Global scope and ~2028 time horizon; excludes carrier wholesale fees outside the platform layer.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Twilio: The most feature‑rich, global messaging platform (SMS, WhatsApp, RCS, Conversations, short codes) with extensive ecosystem; powerful but can feel heavyweight for small teams.
• Vonage (Nexmo): Developer‑oriented messaging APIs covering SMS/MMS and modern channels like WhatsApp; a straightforward alternative for programmatic messaging and pay‑as‑you‑go billing.
• MessageBird (Bird): Omnichannel messaging (SMS, WhatsApp, more) with a focus on global delivery and workflow tooling; chosen by teams wanting one vendor across channels and regions.
• Bandwidth: Closer to the telecom network with owned infrastructure; offers APIs plus a registration center for 10DLC/short codes, appealing when direct carrier control and provisioning speed matter.
• Plivo: Cost‑focused SMS API with straightforward setup and billing; favored by startups needing reliable basics without the breadth of larger platforms.