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This is common approach in the middleware world.

The problem - there are lots of APIs required to talk to many endpoints. So a business model is to make an API which takes many APIs and makes them into one API.

 Let's invoke a middle earth anology

One Ring to rule them all,
One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

https://www.facebook.com/officialtolkien/videos/one-ring-to-rule-them-all/500930807838083/

Okay I get that is a rather creepy analogy (smile) but it’s idea of ruling your (evil) empire with just one ring versus needing a whole bunch of (evil) rings.

 Explain it a technical way

This is me explaining the idea using a video talking about an API which allows you to get quotes for insurance from many different endpoints.

73100377545__BE03BE8D-603A-4F6C-8D08-AF972676FEC2.mov

 Let's give some real life examples

Here are a couple of these API type products

The value proposition is quite similar

 Can it work? Core drivers

Good question.

Anything can work, it really depends on the use case, how well the team behind it has implemented the idea.

Electric cars as attempted early on by General Motors was not successful. The narrative from the environmental industry is the did it through deliberate malice. I always assume incompetence is a better narrative (see Narratives) - at least an inability to execute.

Part of the problem is this:

  • Is there a sufficiently large enough group of customers that have the same problem?

  • Can this problem be solved such the cost of implementing the solution is LESS THAN the money that group of customers will pay in aggregate to get the problem solved.

 Where can it be difficult?

There can be problems if there the needs of customers diverge from what the API provider needs.

Say you needed to access a specific feature of Whatsapp and your single API to talk to all social media platforms doesn’t implement that feature?

If this is a bottleneck for the growth of your business then being stuck with the single API becomes a problem.

73100624748__7E1A3DF7-7195-4252-AC17-E38E6784FCAD.mov

 How do you manage risk?

Going in with eyes wide open.

Recognize that a single API might get you faster to where you need to go initially, but be prepared to educate yourself to go beyond this type of solution to a more open system approach.

Iguana X for instance is a very open system - more effort to learn the system but then you have no bottleneck that you cannot resolve.

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