THE BUSINESS OF APIS

Shafqat Islam CEO NewsCred

ABOUT ME

•  Cofounder and CEO of NewsCred •  Creating a better Associated Press and

reinventing the newswire industry •  Our core product is an API •  I helping publishers build APIs •  Contacts:

– shafqat@newscred.com – @shafqatislam

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SYLLABUS

•  Brief History/Background •  Definition •  Examples •  The Business Case: Why Build an API •  Getting Started •  What Makes a Good API •  Risks

HISTORY OF APIS

•  Sears Catalogue (1886) – Getting closer to customers – Direct to Indirect Model – Going beyond the store

•  RSS (1999) – Distributing underlying content to create and

enable new experiences

HISTORY OF APIS

•  Ebay (2000) •  Creating a symbiotic relationships with

developers to enlarge markets •  Powering 60% of listings today

•  APIs are how people get to your business

THE FIRST MASHUP •  Housingmaps.com (Craiglist vs GMaps)

DEFINITION

•  Application Programming Interface

•  “a particular set of rules and specifications that a software program can follow to make use of the services and resources provided by the software program that creates that API.”

•  Huh?

IT’S JUST AN INTERFACE

•  A web site is a user interface between a human and a computer.

•  An API is a programmable interface between two computers.

•  Examples:

AUTOMATING WORKFLOWS

WHERETHELADIES.AT

AMAZON MECHANICAL TURK •  Scaling crowd sourced tasks •  Used during the Haiti Earthquake to save

lives

YOUR APPLICATION STACK

BUT WHAT ABOUT 3RD PARTY APPS AND SITES?

THE API LAYER

READ VS WRITE APIS

•  Read APIs

•  Write APIs

APIS BY CATEGORY

BUSINESS SEGMENTS

BUILDING YOUR BUSINESS

…YES YOU CAN

TECHNOLOGY •  There are standards, so use REST •  Use XML, JSON, oAUTH – nothing weird

WHY BUILD AN API?

•  Distributed Growth •  Syndication •  Outsource Innovation •  Decentralized Business Development •  Reduce Costs •  Branding •  Revenues and New Business Models

DISTRIBUTED GROWTH

•  10x more traffic to the API than actual website

•  “The API has been the most important thing we’ve done with Twitter.” – Biz Stone

GROWTH VIA ECOSYSTEM

SYNDICATION

•  Syndicate content and data (archives?)

•  Putting information in the hands of the public

•  Drive links and traffic back

•  Multi-platform and multiple form factors

WHERE DOES API TRAFFIC COME FROM?

OUTSOURCE INNOVATION

•  Let others do the hard work

•  New insights and re-imagination of what’s possible with your content and data

•  Remember: saving lives in Haiti

EASY BIZDEV

APPLE – NYT

NO BIZDEV

3 TYPES OF APIS

•  Public

•  Partner

•  Private

REDUCE COSTS

•  Reduce Operational Costs –  Internal development efficiencies across

business units – Speed up time to market – NPR API

•  Facilitate Self Service Integration with Partners

BRANDING

•  Spread your brand through the web and other channels – Twitter – Google Maps (300% growth versus

Mapquest’s 20% growth)

•  Become an intrinsic part of the experience – New York Times & Guardian vis a vis news

BUSINESS MODEL

•  Bake your business model into your API •  Release early, monetize early •  Treat it as a distribution channel for your

“core business” (Ebay) •  Make money as an extension to your core

business model

BUSINESS MODELS

•  Advertising

•  Licensing – Tiered – Flat Fee

•  Affiliate

BUSINESS MODEL EXAMPLES

GETTING STARTED

•  Inventory of Assets: “Nouns” – Content – Listings – Products – Actions (Checkin, Tweet)

•  Establish Goals – Read versus Read/Write – Transactions

“API FIRST” APPROACH

•  Build your own site/product on top of API •  Eat your own dogfood! •  Single codebase •  No additional work for a public API •  Consistent behaviour •  Full set of services exposed means more

innovation

ESTABLISH TARGET MARKET

•  Establish who the API is for: – Developers – Business Partners –  Internal Business Units – End users

ESTABLISH SUCCESS CRITERIA

In order of difficulty/value: •  API Registrations •  API calls •  Business events (i.e. checkins, tweets) •  Content distribution •  User acquisition •  Revenue

WHAT MAKES A GOOD API?

•  The underlying service •  The right business model •  Simple, open and easy to get started •  Choices •  Developer support (they are your clients)

RISKS

•  If you build it, no one comes •  Scalability •  Cannibalization •  Legal challenges (rights) •  Brand/reputational risk •  Pricing

THE API JOURNEY

•  Developing an effective API strategy is a journey, not a single project

•  Invest in assets – API – Developer docs and community – Sample apps

•  …then iterate on the long term strategy/ROI

THE TIME IS NOW

EXAMPLE: VISUALIZATIONS

EXAMPLE: MOBILE APP

EXAMPLE: LOGIN SYSTEMS