API Days Paris

Turn your API into a strong Product

Arnaud Breton

Who am I?

Arnaud Breton Head of API Product

and Developers Relations

arnaud_breton

Endorphin addict

3

All-in-one email service provider

A team of experts+ 110 employees globally

80% growth YoY Global deliverability consulting

Email sending at scale+ 1B emails a month

+40,000 clients

A rapid growth#23 in Deloitte’s EMEA Technology Fast 500

3185% growth over 4 years

A trusted technologyEmail sending specialist

Marketing & transactional email

From a Software to a Product

API Product Management

What’s next?

GET/agenda

010203

1func Product(Software)

1

It all starts with a great software01

At this stage, you aim to:

• Validate your product value.

• Build the technical foundations.

• Onboard your first developer users.

7

YES!

8

BEGINNING

4

Documentation

Libraries

Support

Versioning

Sunset

Scaling

Community

The 3 pillars of a strong API Product1. It’s not only about the best software

02

Support your users Show your customers that they’re not alone, there’s a

community to support them!

Document Guide developers on

their first steps. Show them the real value of

your API.

Ecosystem Not everyone codes in PHP

or NodeJS.. nor wants to spend time connecting your

API with 3rd parties.

DOCUMENTATION

01.01

API Guides01.01

Great API guides are made of:

• Step by step guide, allowing the developers to

understand how your API works

• Clear structure and content, enabling your users

to find key information, quickly.

• Plug’n’Play code samples in major programming

languages.

• Up-to-date information, few like to troubleshoot.

API Reference01.01

An API reference, what for?

• Enabling advanced users to quickly find key

information.

• Provide another view of your API, endpoints

oriented.

BUILD AN ECOSYSTEM

01.02

3rd party integration01.02

Leveraging 3rd parties will:

• Increase your product value.

• Increase your audience and revenue.

• Save time for your users.

Libraries01.02

Developers love libraries:

• Ease the integration within their system.

• Deal with the specifics of each environment.

• Make them feel at home.

• Allow them to contribute.

SUPPORT YOUR COMMUNITY

01. 03

Share updates Tell where you’re going.

Go out Be where your users are.

Meet with people.

Encourage Contributions Make contributions easy

and reward them.

Build a strong community01.03

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Developers want to speak to developers.

Don’t make the experience with your support team

another pain.

Be here when your users need you most01.03

1Product

Management

2

What it takes to get there02.01

Mailjet API team is composed of various profiles:

• Product Managers, listening to the market, users and giving global product directions.

• Developers, building a first class API.

• Project Managers, turning ideas into developer friendly APIs.

• Customer Success, guiding developers to production.

• Ecosystem Developers, integrating with the best.

• Dev. Evangelists, making sure all developers send emails via Mailjet.

• QA, the production gatekeepers.

Iterate fast02.02

Learn from your customers:

• Determine what they care the most about.

• Streamline scenarios.

• Be backward compatible, never break.

• Consistency is key.

Measure02.03• Define KPIs and goals every time you add new

features.

• Implement them as early as possible.

• Track them regularly and take actions.

Scaling up02.04

Your API is a living product, hence it’s normal to:

• Add new, non backward compatible features.

But, never break!

• Deprecate features, even endpoints deserve a

bit of REST.

• Identify bottlenecks in your system and

unlock them, one after the other.

1What’s next?

3

Never settle03.01• Publish content, to reach out to new

developers and provide the best developer

experience.

• Grow our ecosystem, tech moves fast and you

don’t want to be left behind.

• Keep improving our Product.

• Build channels to reach out our community

• Feature our customers’ success stories

Questions

Thank You