developer

While attending my first Business of API’s Conference in New York City, one of the key points that stuck with me was the idea of your API being a Product.

This concept is changing the way companies in all industries think and act. Normally, companies see their API’s as an extension and support for their product, but a new wave of thinking has come about that is rapidly changing the business playing field.

Open APIs allow partners, developers and entrepreneurs to innovate with your data, content or service from outside the walls of your company. Startups on a strict VC budget crave outside innovation as much as the Fortune 500 companies challenged with limited product or engineering bandwidth. Through this proven platform strategy, companies can invoke new partnerships, watch their brand proliferate to new users through cutting edge apps & devices, and discover ways their APIs can fulfill previously unknown, but desirable user features.

As a matter of practice at Mashery, we regularly poll developers about their pain points in order to learn which resources help best address the points they identify. We advise clients to make it a habit to actively listen to developers -- both inside and outside their company -- if they want to design an API that developers will use. Listening can take the form of monitoring Twitter, Quora, and Stack Overflow, setting the right Google alerts, but if you prioritize correctly, you should also schedule opportunities to listen to developers in person.