I just joined this group but I think this could be an intere

Question

I just joined this group but I think this could be an interesting discussion from not written be me I ve been thinking recently about API businesses This movement seems to have started with some companies many Indie Hackers will know well such as Stripe amp Twilio I m seeing it more and more API for open banking API for travel API for student loads API for open banking I wanted to understand what makes these markets suitable for APIs as a business Thinking out loud here 1 There seems to be a bias towards finance fintech 2 The underlying supplier seems large slow complicated incumbents banks airlines etc 3 Some of these are regulated industries Any other things you noticed about these API companies What makes them good businesses Has anyone else seen any other interesting API businesses

karki · Answer

< Tem optemization com > Hey could you remove all the attached images It makes scrolling through the channel a bit of a hassle slightly smiling face

Brent · Answer

Took me a few years to bother to look but there is a setting for it under Preferences Messages amp Media and scroll down Well I think its those there are a bunch of preview settings in there

Ian Rumac · Answer

< karki> hit collapse command as a temporary solution

Ian Rumac · Answer

Also I dont think this discussion is for this group maybe in < C5U3SEW6A|random> but this discussion is more for a entrepeneur group API businesses have been around for years on end it s not a movement And the only common thing among all of them is that they re a layer that does something wether it be getting weather or sending nukes they are just a layer that does a task Even calling them all API businesses is wrong some are API businesses where invoking a command does something others are only database like some are just middleware and proxy connecting the dots and their business is more sales than API

Steve · Answer

< Tem optemization com > I can speak on API for banking paying subscriptions I built a company around the time Stripe came out more or less doing the same thing but did not take it to market as we used it internally in another company The complexities inside banking ACH creditcards is insane Honestly it s the definition of insanity Banks and cards are very difficult to work with because their tech is absolute shit So APIs that make that easy very valuable Happy to share more of my experience there just DM me I don t think the finance fintech note is exclusive or even a bias It s more business as a whole Consumers rather use interfaces so I would be comfortable drawing the line of a bias towards businesses API tools are all about ease of use providing a better UX than dealing with the terrible tech underneath it Think of API s as more access to information than a programming interface If you are intereseted in building an API as a business I have a friend Travis that would love to chat more building the company Saasify sh who has a lot of experience in this topic

Steve · Answer

If you want to build an API as a business don t start there A business is something that solves a problem API is an implementation detail You need to find the problem before applying API as a solution

Ivan Reese · Answer

< karki> Agreed attachments removed < Ian Rumac> Agreed this is off topic for our community but would be just fine in < C5U3SEW6A|random> I say this for anyone reading to help calibrate their filter of on off topic ness

Tem (optemization.com) · Answer

< Ian Rumac> < Ivan Reese> got it thank you for the tip on content relevance raised hands < karki> i actually don t see the attachments myself i usually remove them

Paul Butler · Answer

APIs might be the purest form of avoiding Schlep Blindness <http www paulgraham com schlep html> in the sense that you turn a schelp into something that can be abstracted away through an API call

karki · Answer

< Tem optemization com > looks like Ivan removed them before you got to it smile He s an admin so he can do such stuff