A presentation given by Alex Akimov, Head of API Platform, Monite, at our 2023 Platform Summit, October 17-18, 2023

1. TheRoleofAPI-firstApproach
inShapingtheFutureof
EmbeddedFinancein2024
Alex {API} Akimov,
Head of API Platform

2. Embedded finance is booming, its growth potential is huge,
and it can become one of the key enablers for the global
economy to recover
Those EmbFin providers who adopt API-First and deliver
their services via APIs, will see the biggest market adoption
in the coming years
Executivesummary

3. TheRoleofAPIFirst

4. WhatisAPIFirst?
Positioning APIs as discrete, well-defined and universally
applicable products – instead of integrations subsumed within
other systems

5. GGV Capital
API First index
AdoptionofAPIFirst
Postman API
report 2023

6. Let's call it "Non- API First"
What'sanalternative?

7. API First
Extra effort and time required to plan and
build a product
Non- API First
Faster go-to-market delivery
▸
▸
▸
▸
Custom-tailored product with high cost of extra
customization
Business model catered to B2C or B2B, with
strong competition and high risks from
partnerships
Hard to create a sustainable ecosystem until
gaining enough market power
Universal product that fits better needs
of wider audiences​
Business model either open to extensive
partnerships, or infrastructure-as-a-service
Benefit from a network effect and
ecosystem evolution at low margin costs

8. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4585422-
billcom-holdings-quickbooks-flips-from-
asset-to-serious-threat
Non-APIFirstbusinessrisks

9. EmbeddedFinance

10. EverycompanyshouldbecomeFinTech

11. Becomingasuperapp

12. According to Oracle, the value of the
embedded finance market is expected to
exceed $7 trillion by 2032
Howbigistheopportunityhere?

13. EmbeddedFinance

14. You can follow these trends,
or find new…
EmbeddedFinance

15. “Small and medium businesses are the
backbone of global economic growth,
contributing to half of global GDP and global
employment.”
Underservedaudiences-SMBs
Jeroen Hölscher, Capgemini
According to the surveys, more
than 80% of SMBs feel
underserved by their primary banks

16. Undevelopedproducts-B2Bpaymentsandcashflow
https://www.vantagemarketresearch.com/industry-report/b2b-payments-market-1385

17. Still a lot of manual processes and
inefficient payment methods, like checks
that comprise around 40% of B2B
payments in the US
Undevelopedproducts-B2Bpayments

18. Products-Businessdocumentautomation

19. APIFirst+
EmbeddedFinance

20. TheroadtoEmbeddedFinance
It's not Build vs Buy anymore,
it's Build vs Die​
Jeff Lawson, "Ask Your Developer"

21. TheroadtoEmbeddedFinance
APIs are embeddable components
for Embedded Finance
Alex Akimov, Platform Summit 2023

22. API-Firstinpractice

23. Treat your API-as-a-Product from the very beginning,
to make your API as universal as possible​
API-Firstinpractice

24. API-Firstinpractice
Inverse Conway maneuver:
"Change the communication patterns of the designers to encourage the
desired software architecture"
source: https://martinfowler.com/bliki/ConwaysLaw.html
Conway's law:
"Any organization that designs a system will produce a design whose
structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure"

25. Use federated API governance as part
of your inverse Conway maneuver
API-Firstinpractice

26. Focus on helping your API clients while hiding all the
technical complexity from them (security, orchestration,
microservices, observability, etc.)
API-Firstinpractice

27. Thankyou!