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Return can be two things: profit now or future profit.

A traditional business with $166m in revenue has few places to invest extra cash that turn $1 into $4 in < 24 months. Twilio has this.

What would be crazy is not investing in growth.

>Don't investors usually look for a return on their investments within 2-3 years?

no

I am a Twilio API customer. It definitely is a land rush. I am far less likely to switch to its competitors as my integration with their systems grows deeper. There is a finite number of large enough companies that would materially affect Twilio's revenue. 166million at $0.015/minute is not that much of business compared to what they are aiming for, which is global domination of computer-controlled telecommunications.

The stock price is a result of many factors, future profit and growth is a big part of it. Having a good long term outlook is better than slashing everything for the short term.