Sold Without a SalespersonNarrow moat

Text (TXT) — moat facet

The cheapest distribution in this collection, being rebuilt on two fronts at once - one by choice, one by Google.

The reason a company this small could earn margins this large is that for twenty years nobody at Text had to sell anything.

The economics of no sales force271people, noneemployed1,21m złrevenue per person38,6%operating margin6,5m złemployeebenefit costThird-party services are 159,8m zł - 79% of all operating costs
The cheapest distribution in this collection, now being rebuilt on two fronts at once.

Customers found the product through search results, marketplace listings and affiliate partners, started a 14-day trial without producing a credit card1, and converted themselves. Text describes the automated sales process as one of its significant competitive advantages2. The consequence runs straight to the income statement: 271 people3 produced 329,1 million złoty of revenue at a 38,6% operating margin4, with the entire cost of employee benefits amounting to 6,5 million złoty5.

That model is now being reconstructed on two fronts simultaneously, and the company chose one of them.

The chosen one is the sales organisation. Text has closed its traditional sales department outright, with its responsibilities assumed by the customer support team supported by other teams across the company6. That is not a cost-cutting measure dressed as strategy — it follows from the new positioning, in which support is meant to generate revenue rather than absorb it.

The unchosen one is search. Text discloses that traditional search engines are being replaced by language models and assistants, and that leading players are changing their algorithms, which may negatively affect the search-optimisation work of the company and its affiliate partners7. The channel that fed the machine for two decades is being rebuilt by other people.

Set against a base losing 4% of its customers a month8, both changes land on the same requirement: Text has to acquire continuously, and it is remodelling how it acquires while the recurring revenue line is already flat.

Do not watch the margin, which will fall for as long as marketing spends. Watch customers added.

Moat trajectory: Narrowing

The traditional sales department has been closed and the search channel that fed self-serve signup is being replaced by assistants - both mechanisms of a twenty-year acquisition model rebuilt in one year, with marketing spend replacing them.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
Revenue per team member
1,21m zł from 271 people

Text carries no sales department and no employees, only contractors, which is how a company this size runs a 38,6% operating margin. The model is being rebuilt on two fronts at once: the traditional sales department has been closed, and Text discloses that search engines - its historic acquisition channel - are being replaced by language models and assistants. Watch customers added rather than the margin, which will fall while marketing spends.

Source: Text Group Management Board report for the financial year 2025/26 ↗
Aspects of the moat
DIG DEEPER 01
Two Hundred and Seventy-One People, None of Them Employed
1,21 million złoty of revenue per person, and not one of them on an employment contract.
DIG DEEPER 02
The Trial That Closes Itself
Fourteen days, no credit card, 19 dollars a seat: Text never has to be chosen, only tried.
DIG DEEPER 03
The Marketplaces Do the Selling Now
Three of the largest software shopfronts in the world in seven months - and not one disclosed customer from any of them.
DIG DEEPER 04
Thirty-Eight Percent, Down From Fifty
The margin is this moat's report card, and it lost 11,5 points in a single year.
⚠ Threats to the moat
⚠ THREAT 01
The Department That Was Closed
Text abolished its sales team and handed the job to customer support, in the year recurring revenue went backwards.
⚠ THREAT 02
The Search Results Are Being Replaced
The channel that fed a 38,6% operating margin for twenty years is being rebuilt by companies that never asked Text's permission.
References
  1. ReportedCustomers found the product through search results, marketplace listings and affiliate partners, started a 14-day trial without producing a credit card, and converted themselves.
    Text pricing (Essential at USD 19 per user per month billed annually, or 25 monthly, including 10 AI Agent resolutions a month; Growth at USD 79 per user per month, or 99 monthly, including 200 resolutions a month; Enterprise on custom pricing; additional resolutions at USD 49,50 for a package of 50, or 0,99 each; a resolution counted when the AI Agent provides an answer that directly solves at least one customer question; and a 14-day free trial with full platform access and no credit card required) — September 2026 · publ. September 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedText describes the automated sales process as one of its significant competitive advantages.
    Text Group Management Board report for 2025/26, strategy, products and market (the Service on Offense goal of turning customer service teams into revenue-generating centres, with the suite monitoring live traffic, recognising visitor intent, identifying returning visitors, enabling proactive outreach and tracking steps to monetisation or a qualified lead; a Go-To-Market period expected to be a long-term process requiring marketing expenditure with effects observed gradually; over 20 years of experience; competing solutions named as Fin, previously Intercom, Zendesk and Freshworks; the live-chat market valued at USD 1,06-1,17bn in 2024 growing 8-11%, the chatbot market at USD 0,7-6,95bn and the helpdesk market at USD 9,82-12,5bn; and Datanyze counting more than 210 different live-chat technologies, a substantial number offered freemium, with monetisation of free users judged difficult and ineffective) — FY2025/26 · publ. June 2026 · source ↗
  3. ReportedThe consequence runs straight to the income statement: 271 people produced 329,1 million złoty of revenue at a 38,6% operating margin, with the entire cost of employee benefits amounting to 6,5 million złoty.
    Text Group Management Board report for 2025/26, team, intellectual property and shareholders (a team of 271 people at 31 March 2026, up 6,7%, consisting of independent persons and sole proprietors called Partners on civil-law contracts, with the company having no employees under employment contracts, a rotation rate of 22% and turnover of 15%, mostly working from Wroclaw on a hybrid basis with 95% Polish citizens; the disclosed risk that because no team member works under an employment contract copyright does not vest automatically, transfers require individual agreements, Polish law forbids contracting for all future works of a given type, and an absent contract leaves the company dependent on the creator's will and open to dispute; a seventh United States patent granted in June 2026 for configuring a communication widget directly on a website; and 25 750 000 shares of 0,02 złoty each, one vote per share and none privileged, with a shareholders' consortium holding 10 625 752 shares or 41,27% of votes and two Polish pension funds above 5%) — FY2025/26 · publ. June 2026 · source ↗
  4. ReportedThe consequence runs straight to the income statement: 271 people produced 329,1 million złoty of revenue at a 38,6% operating margin, with the entire cost of employee benefits amounting to 6,5 million złoty.
    Text Group Management Board report for 2025/26, team, intellectual property and shareholders (a team of 271 people at 31 March 2026, up 6,7%, consisting of independent persons and sole proprietors called Partners on civil-law contracts, with the company having no employees under employment contracts, a rotation rate of 22% and turnover of 15%, mostly working from Wroclaw on a hybrid basis with 95% Polish citizens; the disclosed risk that because no team member works under an employment contract copyright does not vest automatically, transfers require individual agreements, Polish law forbids contracting for all future works of a given type, and an absent contract leaves the company dependent on the creator's will and open to dispute; a seventh United States patent granted in June 2026 for configuring a communication widget directly on a website; and 25 750 000 shares of 0,02 złoty each, one vote per share and none privileged, with a shareholders' consortium holding 10 625 752 shares or 41,27% of votes and two Polish pension funds above 5%) — FY2025/26 · publ. June 2026 · source ↗
  5. ReportedThe consequence runs straight to the income statement: 271 people produced 329,1 million złoty of revenue at a 38,6% operating margin, with the entire cost of employee benefits amounting to 6,5 million złoty.
    Text Group Management Board report for 2025/26, team, intellectual property and shareholders (a team of 271 people at 31 March 2026, up 6,7%, consisting of independent persons and sole proprietors called Partners on civil-law contracts, with the company having no employees under employment contracts, a rotation rate of 22% and turnover of 15%, mostly working from Wroclaw on a hybrid basis with 95% Polish citizens; the disclosed risk that because no team member works under an employment contract copyright does not vest automatically, transfers require individual agreements, Polish law forbids contracting for all future works of a given type, and an absent contract leaves the company dependent on the creator's will and open to dispute; a seventh United States patent granted in June 2026 for configuring a communication widget directly on a website; and 25 750 000 shares of 0,02 złoty each, one vote per share and none privileged, with a shareholders' consortium holding 10 625 752 shares or 41,27% of votes and two Polish pension funds above 5%) — FY2025/26 · publ. June 2026 · source ↗
  6. ReportedText has closed its traditional sales department outright, with its responsibilities assumed by the customer support team supported by other teams across the company.
    Text Group Management Board report for 2025/26, corporate events (the Text App suite reaching first existing customers in June 2025 and opening on text.com in August, with the first new customers acquired organically in the following quarter; full migration of infrastructure to Google cloud servers in July 2025; SOC 2 Type 1 attestation in December 2025 and Type 2 in May 2026 audited by Sensiba, described as significant support in acquiring enterprise-class customers especially in the United States; Meta Business Partner status in January 2026; products introduced to the Microsoft marketplace in February 2026; a partnership with Golden Whale for the iGaming industry in April 2026; the closure of the traditional sales department with responsibilities assumed by the customer support team; the new visual identity and Go-To-Market campaign in May 2026; and the end of price grandfathering, with LiveChat Team and Business prices raised in September 2025, customers on older price lists notified in March 2026, monthly payers transferred from April 2026 and annual payers transferring as their subscription periods expire) — FY2025/26 · publ. June 2026 · source ↗
  7. ReportedText discloses that traditional search engines are being replaced by language models and assistants, and that leading players are changing their algorithms, which may negatively affect the search-optimisation work of the company and its affiliate partners.
    Text Group Management Board report for 2025/26, risks and key factors (currency risk arising because revenue is generated in US dollars while a significant portion of costs is incurred in Polish złoty, affecting reported results and the dividend, with the company not hedging its open foreign exchange positions; competition risk from more innovative or cost-effective solutions and from rivals allocating far greater funds to development and promotion, and from AI changing how software is developed and marketed in a way that could erode the advantage derived from the company's technology and experience; distribution risk from the loss or reduced effectiveness of channels such as Google, Shopify or BigCommerce, and from traditional search engines being replaced by LLM models or AI assistants in a way that may harm the SEO activities of the company and its affiliate partners; product concentration risk, since Text generates almost all revenue from LiveChat products; and risk from entities using patents to enforce compensation) — FY2025/26 · publ. June 2026 · source ↗
  8. ReportedSet against a base losing 4% of its customers a month, both changes land on the same requirement: Text has to acquire continuously, and it is remodelling how it acquires while the recurring revenue line is already flat.
    Text Group Management Board report for 2025/26, key performance indicators (monthly recurring revenue of USD 6,93m at 31 March 2026, down 2,7% year on year and 0,7% on December, giving annual recurring revenue of USD 83,12m; revenue in US dollars of 88,2m against 88,6m, down 0,5%; payments received of USD 87,9m, down 0,7%; Q4 dollar revenue of 22,56m, the highest since Q2 2024/25; a LiveChat customer churn rate of 4% on a monthly basis with net MRR churn described as significantly lower; LiveChat at 83,7% of group revenue with ChatBot 8,7% and HelpDesk with KnowledgeBase 7,5%; and an average USD/PLN translation rate 8,0% lower than the prior period) — FY2025/26 · publ. June 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 24, 2026