DZone
Integration Zone
Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile
  • Manage Email Subscriptions
  • How to Post to DZone
  • Article Submission Guidelines
Sign Out View Profile
  • Post an Article
  • Manage My Drafts
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone.
Log In / Join
  • Refcardz
  • Trend Reports
  • Webinars
  • Zones
  • |
    • Agile
    • AI
    • Big Data
    • Cloud
    • Database
    • DevOps
    • Integration
    • IoT
    • Java
    • Microservices
    • Open Source
    • Performance
    • Security
    • Web Dev
DZone > Integration Zone > Investing in Your API Community Like Amazon and Slack

Investing in Your API Community Like Amazon and Slack

If you're trying to build a community around your API, consider following the leads of companies like Slack, Amazon, and MailChimp.

Kin Lane user avatar by
Kin Lane
·
Aug. 19, 16 · Integration Zone · Opinion
Like (1)
Save
Tweet
2.08K Views

Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.

Join For Free


The messaging platform Slack made waves when they launched their Slack Fund as part of their API release, putting up $80M to invest in developers who were interested in building cool things on the API. Slack has continued telling their story, talking about how they have invested some of the fund and are being pretty transparent about which API integrations made the cut. 

After reading about the Slack Fund, I wanted to see which other APIs were investing in their communities like this. Next, I came across the Alexa Fund where Amazon is investing in developers building voice-enabled apps, giving their Echo platform the boost of applications it will need to find success. After poking around the AWS platform, you also find they have also had their AWS Grants program, investing in the best of breed projects that use the AWS platform to give back to the world.

I came across a number of other fund announcements about available funds, only to find the pages gone, but MailChimp had an interesting accounting of their fund which they started in November of 2010, pledging $1M to "provide developers with funding assistance to build integrations on our email platform". I also found another fund developer fund out of Cisco, to encourage development with Cisco Spark and Tropo and the other APIs they provide at Cisco DevNet, that was noteworthy.

There are not enough examples of API investment funds out there for me to add the concepts as what I'd consider being a common API building block, but there are enough out there, especially from leading pioneers, to keep me paying attention. API developer funds don't seem like something you have to go as big as AWS or Slack did, but it seems to me, if you provide a small fund like MailChimp did, it could incentivize development significantly — at least make your launch be fewer crickets.

API Slack (software)

Published at DZone with permission of Kin Lane, DZone MVB. See the original article here.

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Popular on DZone

  • Get Started With Kafka and Docker in 20 Minutes
  • Externalize Microservice Configuration With Spring Cloud Config
  • Data Science: Scenario-Based Interview Questions
  • Debugging a Wordle Bug

Comments

Integration Partner Resources

X

ABOUT US

  • About DZone
  • Send feedback
  • Careers
  • Sitemap

ADVERTISE

  • Advertise with DZone

CONTRIBUTE ON DZONE

  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • MVB Program
  • Become a Contributor
  • Visit the Writers' Zone

LEGAL

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

CONTACT US

  • 600 Park Offices Drive
  • Suite 300
  • Durham, NC 27709
  • support@dzone.com
  • +1 (919) 678-0300

Let's be friends:

DZone.com is powered by 

AnswerHub logo