1. APIs and the Creation of Wealth
in the Digital Economy
Democratizing Value Creation and Distribution in the Second
Machine Age
Steven Willmott, steve@3scale.net @njyx

2. Who Am I?
• Steven Willmott
• CEO of 3scale
• Leading API Infrastructure provider: 700+
Customers, billions API calls Month
• Our Mission: Enable companies and
individuals to unlock the power of their APIs
http://www.3scale.net/
@3scale and @njyx on Twitter

3. The Next 20 Minutes
• The Power of APIs
• Why it is critical that benefits are broadly
accessible
• What you can do to lean on the scales to make
change

4. Background
The Second Machine Age: Work,
Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of
Brilliant Technologies, 2014, Erik
Brynjolfsson, Andrew McAfee
The Price of Inequality: How Today's
Divided Society Endangers Our Future,
2012 Joseph E. Stiegliz
APIs and Scripting: The Future of Creativity In The Second Machine Age: http://bit.ly/apiage

5. THE POWER OF APIS

6. APIs are the Ultimate Levers of Power
in the Digital World

7. < Read, Submit, Edit, Ship, Activate,
Learn, Infer, Process, Pay, … >

8. APIs form the Infrastructure for
Automation
Climate
Home
Transport
News
Safety
Social
Political
Food

9. Question: Is all this automation a
“good thing”?
Answer: It depends…

10. For API Providers: Yes!

11. For everybody else, a key question:
Are they pure Consumers of Value or
are they Creators of Value?

12. Consumers v’s Creators
Consumer
• E.g. Uber rider: I am a
consumer of the API
• I get value
• It helps me achieve a
goal
• I’m willing to pay for the
achievement of that
goal
• BUT I am not a creator
Creator
• Create new value with
an API (personalize,
improve, augment)
• Offer that value to
others
• I may pay, but I may
also get paid
• I can enhance my
business in some way

13. Who are the users of your API?
Who benefits from it?

15. In this World…
Most users obtain value
But most of the wealth goes to the
companies / individuals that create
complex apps

16. Why does this matter?

17. Because the ability to create value is
inherently intertwined with Economic
Opportunity

18. Software is Eating the World
Done right: this is fantastic
Done wrong: this is a disaster

19. Two Problems
1: Concentration of Wealth
2: Under delivering on our opportunity

20. HOW APIS AND AUTOMATION WILL
CHANGE THE ECONOMY

21. A Glimpse of the Future
Amazon Echo A Voice UI for the
World
“What’s the distance
to CDG”
“Where is the nearest
Bakery”

22. Florists
Atelier Green Factory
17 Rue Lucien Sampaix,
75010 Paris
Vert Lézard
5 Rue Beaurepaire, 75010
Paris
Faubourg Saint Martin
82 Rue du Faubourg Saint-
Martin, 75010 Paris
La Fontaine Fleurie
3 Rue de la Fontaine au Roi,
75011 Paris
Axel Fleurs
30 Avenue Simon Bolivar,
75019 Paris

23. Example: Florist
Consumer (Application)
• Drives Business
• Adds a known brand
But:
• Homogenizes product
• Controls pricing
• Keeps %age cut of the
resulting revenue
Creator (APIs)
• Empower change
– Digital Devices,
Personalization, Delivery,
Payments, Ambience
etc.
• Create a richer
experience
• Capture more value

24. Paris Taxi
Companies
09 70 44 75 75
06 68 35 52 48
01 76 49 76 49
06 07 60 49 14
01 76 21 89 89

25. Example: Taxis
Consumer (App)
• Fantastic User Experience
• Good management for
drivers
• Drives demand, Lifts the
Market
But:
• Loss of Control
• Pricing Influence
• Conflict
Creator (APIs)
• Differentiated Experiences:
– Local knowledge, personality,
vehicles, local knowledge
– Tap into mapping, dispatch,
facebook graph, reputation,
and more
• Small taxi collectives could
hook into the same APIs as
Uber
• Collective by collective, or
smaller platforms.

26. Example: Bookshops
GAME OVER for Bookshops?

27. Example: Bookshops
Consumer (Apps):
• Large platform competes
with independents
• Customer has access to
huge catalogue, shipping,
reviews
But:
• Cuts out independent
book shops
• Homogenizes product
• Concentrates Value
Creator (APIs)
• Build your OWN Modern
Bookshop:
– Lighting
– Personalization
– Local Authors
– Shipping
– Online Catalogues
• Individual shops or small
collectives

28. Not saying that Amazon, Uber, et. Are
“evil”: Amazing companies
However: broadening who can create
1. Spreads economic opportunity
2. Net increases the value being
created

29. WHAT DO WE DO TO MAKE THIS
HAPPEN?

30. Who Me?

31. Ask the Question
• Who are the beneficiaries of your APIs?
– Developers?
– Partners?
– Customers?
– End Users?
• Do these groups Consume or do they Create?

32. Draw a DiagramOpportunitytoCreate
Opportunity to Distribute Value Created
Place: Developers,
Partners, Customers,
End Users…
Access
Data
Connect
IFTTT
Control
Lighting
Resell
Automation
?

33. Enable & Empower Users
Docs
Code
Samples
SDKs IFTTT
Zapier
Use Case
Studies
Excel
Plugins
Query
builders
Terms of
Service
Block-
spring

34. As an industry …

36. There is Progress…

37. We should not be having to teaching
everybody to become an Engineer

38. TAKE AWAY’S

39. 1:
APIS are the most powerful tools we
have ever had as Software Engineers

40. 2:
Automation will only truly benefit
Society if the majority of people can
be Creators of Value as well as
Consumption

41. 3:
Your company will be 10x* better off if
you manage to broaden users and
enable more creation

42. Two Pies
Automation Created by the
Few, to serve the many
Automation created by
the many, for everyone

43. Homework for us all: Figure out who
your users are and enable them to
create value
You will make an enormous difference
to the impact of technology
http://www.3scale.net/
@3scale and @njyx on Twitter

44. REFERENCES

45. Images
• Twilio Billboard, Andy Raskin, San Francisco
• https://500px.com/photo/110775059/hustle-bustle-of-
hong-kong-by-nardus-taljard Nardus Taljard
• https://s-media-cache-
ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b6/70/64/b67064cd831ecfc6cdf
3f2bc44d8753e.jpg
• https://500px.com/photo/92169509/soul-s-artist-by-
jacopo-benedetti Jacopo Benedetti
• https://500px.com/photo/99980663/rouge-by-
artvideo-studio Art Video Studio
• https://500px.com/photo/215416/-by-taras-
perevarukha Tara Perevarukha