As much as I want you to succeed, I don't know if this is the right way to do it.
(Assuming Patrick is even using Twilio and that the code is in any way relevant.)
I hope this is not how we create innovation going forward.
When, exactly, did he claim that "innovation" was some critical portion of his business models?
One of Patrick's most charming features is his unwillingness to tie himself up in emotional knots over his status as an "innovator", or fret about whether or not his products sufficiently express the essence of his cutting-edge twenty-first-century personality. He just makes things that people want, and markets them systematically with a great deal of focus. And he writes about that.
My lawyer, my accountant, my dentist, my doctor, my grocer, and my pharmacist don't have particularly innovative business models. They just provide things that I want, and I pay for them. There is no sin in that.
"My lawyer, my accountant, my dentist, my doctor, my grocer, and my pharmacist don't have particularly innovative business models."
This has nothing to do with his business model. It's about using someone else's work and passing it off as your own. I'm sure I'll get downvoted again, but I hate the blatant disregard for intellectual property. Twilio paid its $90-100K+ developer to program and document the appointment reminder script, and in the end, weren't credited for the crucial component of the work.
I didn't even use that code as a base for mine. Again, it is sample code. Take a look at the user experience or error handling -- they're clearly inadequate for a real product, but suffice to give a competent Rails developer a taste of what API it takes to actually have Twilio make a phone ring. After you can make a phone ring (in one line -- and, again, one line I don't even use), you only need the other 3,500 lines of AR to actually make that phone call worthwhile for business purposes.
[1] http://blog.500startups.com/2010/09/23/twilio-fund-for-500-s...
That's quite misleading. One of the workers encouraged him to apply. This was 75 days before the product actually launched.
I recall at one point they were actively soliciting people that were interested in the service but didn't have ideas to contact them and they would provide you with ideas and/or brainstorm.
They want people to take their ideas/code so they can make money. They aren't in the appointment reminders business but would love for anyone in that business to use their service.
Really, you're clueless about Patrick and just about everything else you're commenting on how about you spend some time familiarizing yourself with all the actors here before making snap judgments that are bordering on libel?