INTERFACE, by apidays 2021 - It’s APIs all the way down June 30, July 1 & 2, 2021 Why are API Products so hard? Allan Knabe, API Product Manager at apiable.io

1. Why are API Products so hard?
...and how can we make them easier?
Allan Knabe, API Product Manager & Co-founder- apiable.io

2. Allan Knabe
API Product Manager | CEO | Co-founder
https://apiable.io/ API Portals-as-a-Service
@apiable_io
apiable-io | allanknabe
Twenty years of experience working with large organization across a wide range of industries:

3. We’re a proud member of
Globally recognized API Experts
https://www.theapicollective.com/

4. Why treat your APIs as
Products?

5. The day
Apigee told
us to start
treating our
APIs as
Products
(circa 2015)

7. Digital Business
Success
Organizations are looking to survive
and make more revenue.

8. API Products are hard
because...

9. 1. There’s no GUI.

10. { APIs are, by
nature, abstract }

11. 2. It’s hard to agree on
the decision maker.

12. Developer vs
Business Roles

13. “A customer is someone who
pays for your product. A user
does not.”
- Maurya, Ash. Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That
Works

14. Can you pay by Credit Card?

15. 3. It’s easy to fall into
the utility trap.

16. IP2ZIP
● Millions of daily calls.
● No revenue.
● No target market.
● No business case.
= Utility

17. Payments API
● Thousands of Customers.
● Revenue with 12% target
margin
● Targeting SMEs in
Switzerland
= Product

18. Product, or Utility?
At what point does a utility become a product? And vice
versa?

19. 4. Activation is difficult.

20. Signup vs Activation (Digital Products)
Activation
The moment a person completes an
action where they see the value
your product provides.
Signup
The moment when a person signs
up for an account/free trial.

21. The “Eureka!”
Moment =
Activation

22. Activation:
How do we
SEE the
value
proposition
of an API?

23. 5. Product Managers 💔
APIs.

24. Product Managers
like tangible
products.

25. API Product Managers
exist...
… but there are precious few of them.

26. 6. We think about them
the wrong way.

27. If it works
internally then...
Inside Out
We like it, so someone outside the
organization probably will too. Right?
vs Outside In
What needs exist outside the organization
that we can solve with digital products?

28. 7. We don’t have an API
Strategy

29. If you build it, will
they come?

30. API Strategies
API-first
The natural successor to
“Mobile-first.” Start with the
API.
API-only
No GUI. No console. Just
naked APIs.
API-led
APIs at the epicenter of
company strategy.

31. Mature examples: API-led
Any more?

32. Is your company
API-led?
It’s hard to build great API-Products
when your organization is not API-led.

33. How could API Products be
easier?

34. A good API
Product
should
answer the
following
questions:
What market are you targeting?
What problem are you solving?
What does the product do?
What business benefit does the
product provide?
What market are you targeting?
What problem are you solving?
What does the product do?

35. Hire more API
Product
Managers

36. Follow a
defined
Product
Management
Methodology

37. Work with your
stakeholders
Is there stakeholder alignment
for your product?
Could you help move your
organization to be API-led?

38. Build a demo
App to
showcase your
API Products
Your developers
will love this, it
will give them
something cool to
build :)

39. Find Examples: API Products that work
● For organizations your size
● In your industry
● Ask the core product management
questions

40. Register your API Products
We’re collating an open list of API Products with proven success.
apiable.io
api + able + .io
allan.knabe@apiable.io
apiable-io | allanknabe

41. Backup