While working at IBM Research, software engineer Tristan Ratchford and Todd Soule had a couple frustrating experiences that made one thing very clear: there was a need for a tool to quickly and flexibly share data — a service to rapidly create an API without having to code, deploy, or host it.
The first incident was when a non-technical HR professional requested that Ratchford generate a spreadsheet of data from one of the system’s databases. He constructed a database query, exported the data, and emailed the report. A week later, the professional contacted him with the same request, because she required the most up-to-date data. And within a few days, that request rolled in for a third time, but with a slight variation.
“Since the database query was saved on my machine, tweaking and reproducing the report took little time for each request, but the requests were beginning to add up,” he told me in an email interview. “Several times I thought, if I set up an API to generate the report, the HR professional could simply go to a URL to get the latest data, and could slice and dice the data as she saw fit.”
The only problem? Individual requests only took minutes to fulfill, and since Ratchford was already overwhelmed with work, he could hardly justify taking the time to build an API.
Later, while Ratchford and his colleague Todd Soule were building a large production system that continuously gathered, processed, and stored social media data, another group within IBM realized the data could be useful for a project they were working on and requested direct access to that database. As database administrators for two production systems, Ratchford explained that they ran the risk of their database becoming overwhelmed from the additional load. It seemed like a no-brainer to build an API to control access and rate limit requests, but once again, they simply didn’t have the time to code, deploy and host one.
But then it dawned on them: If there was a need for this kind of service at IBM, it was likely true at other companies as well. Thus, the duo set off to finally bring this project to fruition — and Apitite officially launched Jan. 25. Since then, the duo has been working out of their Back Bay and South End apartments to grow their venture.
An obvious need
Ratchford noted that APIs have “exploded in recent years,” and they have immense potential—that is, if businesses can figure out how to leverage them more effectively.
“If companies can use APIs to interconnect departments, create better tooling, and share data with their partners/vendors, they stand to benefit from new efficiencies and insights,” he told me. “I have come across companies that manually email or upload files to a remote server to send orders to a vendor. An API could easily automate this process, free up employees, and reduce the likelihood of errors.”
A lot of businesses fail to realize the possibilities with APIs because they only think of public-facing interfaces, and as Ratchford noted, not all companies benefit from sharing their data with the public. On the other hand, nearly all businesses can benefit from efficiently sharing their data internally or with partners.
There’s a reason why many small and mid-sized businesses still aren’t able to fully harness the power of APIs: they typically don’t have to expertise or the resources necessary to build and maintain them.
There’s a reason why many small and mid-sized businesses still aren’t able to fully harness the power of APIs: they typically don’t have to expertise or the resources necessary to build and maintain them. That’s especially true when the firm only has a small handful of people on their team who are focused on growing the core business, and thus can’t spare the weeks it takes to build and maintain a proper production API. Meanwhile, outsourcing to a third-party development shop can be expensive, and still demands certain knowledge and maintenance when the API needs a change or update.
Empowering businesses of all technical levels
Ratchford says that businesses often view APIs as “technical beasts,” but he’s adamant that they don’t have to be so intimidating. That’s where Apitite comes in: It helps any business build apps and change their API on the fly, as well as manage access control and use analytics to learn about users. Those APIs can be used to connect and grow with business partners and vendors. Moreover, companies can use the service to get more value out of their existing data. All of this frees up developers to focus on other matters.
“We are trying to get APIs to the point that they’re easy to create, and dead simple to use,” he said. “When someone wants to get an Excel file of the latest data from the company’s database, she shouldn’t have to write a script that fires off an HTTP request. She should simply click a button labeled ‘Download.’”
Ratchford added that he and the company’s cofounder/CTO Soule have already imagined a number of different ways they could build on Apitite’s current functionality, but first they want to make sure the main direction is meaningful to customers. What they do know is that they want to continue lowering the bar in terms of the technical knowledge someone needs to use Apitite’s service. The ultimate goal? To become the “TurboTax for APIs.”
“The day my grandmother can use Apitite, we know we’ll have succeeded,” he said.
Screenshot via Apitite.
