Strange but TrueCounterintuitive Paths to Building a Business on

APIs

Thomas BouldinSoftware EngineerParse+Facebook@inlined

TL;DR:

Building a business on APIs requires as

much psychology as technology

PHYSICAL SERVERS

LOAD BALANCING

DATABASE BINDINGS

RESTful API

ROUTING

MIDDLEWARE

APP SECURITY

APP BUSINESS LOGIC

NETWORKING

CACHING

DATA MODELS

USER SESSIONS

SOCIAL

PUSH NOTIFICATIONS

FILES

UI BINDINGS

Parse+Facebook

PHYSICAL SERVERS

LOAD BALANCING

DATABASE BINDINGS

RESTful API

ROUTING

MIDDLEWARE

APP SECURITY

APP BUSINESS LOGIC

NETWORKING

CACHING

DATA MODELS

USER SESSIONS

SOCIAL

PUSH NOTIFICATIONS

FILES

UI BINDINGS

YOUR APP

Parse+Facebook

PARSE

YOUR APP

Parse+Facebook

Parse+Facebook

What did we learn?(A Cynic’s Guide to building a business on APIs)

How to build a business on APIs:1. Don’t build a business on APIs

2. Don’t be Creative

3. Treat Customers like (Your) Children

4. Do Fewer Things

5. Focus on the Docs that Nobody Reads

6. Sweat the Small Stuff

1. Don’t Build a Business on APIs

1. Don’t Build a Business on APIscontroller.parseClassName = PFUser.parseClassName;

controller.textKey = @“username”;

controller.imageKey = @“avatar”;

2. Don’t be Creative

“You’re so vainYou probably think this song is about you”

—Carly Simon

2. Don’t be Creativestr_repeat

strcmp

str_split

strlen

str_word_count

strrev

2. Don’t be Creativevoid object.save()

Task<Void> object.saveInBackground()

void object.saveInBackground(SaveCallback)

void object.fetch()

Task<T> object.fetchInBackground()

void object.fetchInBackground(GetCallback<T>)

3. Treat Customers like (Your) Children

3. Treat Customers like (Your) Children

4. Do Fewer Things

“Deciding what not to do is just as important as deciding what to do.”

—Steve Jobs

4. Do Fewer Things

4. Do Fewer Things

4. Do Fewer Things

4. Do Fewer Things

5. Focus on the docs that nobody reads

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there”

—Lewis Carroll

6. Sweat the Small Stuff

“A stitch in time saves nine”

—Unknown

How to build a business on APIs:1. Don’t build a business on APIs

2. Don’t be Creative

3. Treat Customers like (Your) Children

4. Do Fewer Things

5. Focus on the Docs that Nobody Reads

6. Sweat the Small Stuff