This is a session given by Matthias Biehl at Nordic APIs 2016 Platform Summit on October 25th, in Stockholm Sweden. Description: APIs come from the technology side. But quite recently APIs have evolved from “something that the techies do” to a product with serious business value. The IPOs of API-based companies, such as Twilio, are examples of that mind shift. So when designing new APIs we have to stop seeing APIs as merely cool technology. We have to design APIs as products for customers with needs, wants and desires. In this talk I will show you how we use approaches from Design Thinking to elicit the needs of API customers and identify valuable APIs. But we should not stop there, we also want to find a viable business model for the API. We use the Business Model Canvas as a methodology for describing the business model of the API and iterate over several business models quickly, until we find the one that works.

1. What is the Business Model
of your API?
Matthias Biehl
www.api-university.com
@mattbiehl

2. API

3. 3
API Consumer

4. View of API Consumer

5. 5

6. eMail-API
Payment-API
Voice-APIMaps-API
Location-API
View of API Consumer

7. 7
API Provider

8. View of the API Provider

9. 9
Consumer and Provider
in the API Value Chain

10. Value Chain
API
Provider
API
API Consumer
= App
Developer
App
End User
Business
Asset

11. 11
Challenges for
API Providers

12. 3 Challenges for Business with API
How can I make my API
easy to use?
How can I make money
with my API?
Am I building an API that
developers need?

13. 3 Challenges for Business with API
• Challenge 1: Identify APIs that Developers need
• Challenge 2: Find a Business Model for APIs
• Challenge 3: Build APIs that People Want to Use
Methods and Tools to support us in all 3 Challenges

14. 14
Challenge 1
Identify APIs that People Need

15. Challenge 1 - Identifying APIs that People Need
How? Design Thinking

16. 16
Challenge 2
Make Money with APIs

17. Challenge 2: Making Money with APIs
Business Drivers for APIs
• Revenue
• Reach
• Innovation
• Growth
• Compliance
• Insight

18. CRM System
Telco Infrastr.
Billing Infrastr.
Operations
Maintenance
Extensions
Billing Phone Service
+
Mobile Data
Subscription
Extention Offers
+
Phone Upgrade
Private
Customers
Business
Customers
Network
Infrastructure
Freq. Licenses
Leasing
Infrastructure
Staff
Usage
Flatrate
Retail Partner
Telco Business
18

19. CRM System
Telco Infrastr.
Billing Infrastr.
Freq. Licenses
Leasing
Infrastructure
Staff
Usage
Flatrate
API Business
Payment API
HTTP
API PortalSoftware
DevelopmentSoftware
Companies
Software
Infrastructure
Online Shops
19

20. Business Models in the API Value Chain
20
API
API
Business Model of
API Consumer
Business Model of
API Provider
Value Chain

21. 21
Challenge 3
Build APIs that People Want to Use
21

22. Challenge 3: Building APIs that People Want to Use
• Focus: Developer Experience, Experience of the API Consumer
• Tools:
• API Developer Portal
• API Architecture
• API Description Languages
• RESTful API Design
• Lots of Resources that can help you
• E.g. at www.api-university.com/books

23. 23
Summary
23

24. 3 Challenges for Business with API
• Challenge 1: Identify APIs that Developers need
• Challenge 2: Find a Business Model for APIs
• Challenge 3: Build APIs that People Want to Use REST
Developer Portal

25. Thank You
Matthias Biehl
www.api-university.com
@mattbiehl