EP 628: RapidAPI w/ 19 YO Founder Raises $3.5M, Helping You Connect to API's Faster with CEO Iddo Gino

Published: April 13, 2017, 9 a.m.

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In Episode #628, Nathan interviews Iddo Gino. He\\u2019s the CEO and co-founder of RapidAPI which he founded when he was 16 years old. He\\u2019s listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 list and previously, he was the co-organizer at Hacking Gen Y. Originally from Israel, Iddo, currently resides in San Francisco, California where he runs RapidAPI and runs JavaScript projects on the side.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? \\u2013 The Hard Thing About Hard Things
  • What CEO do you follow? \\u2013\\xa0 Stewart Butterfield
  • Favorite online tool? \\u2014 GitHub
  • Do you get 8 hours of sleep? \\u2014 6-7 hours
  • If you could let your 10-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? \\u2013 \\u201cI wish I knew what I didn\\u2019t know back then\\u201d

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Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:22 \\u2013 Nathan introduces Iddo to the show
  • 01:57 \\u2013 RapidAPI let developers find APIs online
  • 02:09 \\u2013 RapidAPI has a marketplace model where developers can pay for the APIs
  • 02:16 \\u2013 RapidAPI\\u2019s processing fee is from 10% - 25%
    • 02:30 \\u2013 The fee depends on the API vendor
  • 02:46 \\u2013 RapidAPI is like a point connection for developers to find APIs
  • 02:55 \\u2013 Iddo was part of Hacking Gen Y
    • 03:09 \\u2013 Iddo realized how powerful APIs were while he was at Hacking Gen Y
  • 03:18 \\u2013 Iddo created the first version of RapidAPI
  • 03:41 \\u2013 Together with Iddo is his co-founder, Mickey Haslavsky
  • 03:49 \\u2013 Team size is 20
  • 03:58 \\u2013 The engineering team is in Israel and marketing and sales teams are in San Francisco
  • 04:10 \\u2013 Developers\\u2019 salaries in Israel
  • 04:34 \\u2013 RapidAPI just announced their seed round in November
    • 04:44 \\u2013 Total amount raised was $3.5M and an equity round
  • 05:00 \\u2013 RapidAPI started as an open-source project
  • 05:40 \\u2013 There are 148K apps or projects that have used Slack in RapidAPI\\xa0
  • 05:54 \\u2013 Slack is a free API and the service is free, but there are paid APIs
  • 06:43 \\u2013 Average MRR
  • 07:06 \\u2013 The fee is charged from the API and not the consumer
  • 07:16 \\u2013 Any consumer transaction in RapidAPI is free
  • 07:31 \\u2013 One of the most popular paid APIs is Twilio
  • 08:01 \\u2013 If someone connects to Twilio API through RapidAPI, that\\u2019s when RapidAPI takes the processing fee
  • 08:31 \\u2013 \\u201cRapidAPI is all about neighboring developers to connect with APIs\\u201d
  • 08:40 \\u2013 RapidAPI will soon open a facility for developers
  • 09:12 \\u2013 Iddo volunteered for Hacking Gen Y and helped Hackathons
  • 09:21 \\u2013 Iddo was working on creating apps and websites prior to RapidAPI
  • 09:36 \\u2013 Iddo is currently 19 and his parents are just excited for him and what he does
  • 09:54 \\u2013 Iddo still thinks of going back to college, but is currently enjoying RapidAPI\\u2019s success at the moment
  • 11:10 \\u2013 The Famous Five

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3 Key Points:

  • APIs are powerful and having a one point connection is beneficial for the developers.
  • In the process of helping people, you also learn from them.
  • Being an entrepreneur at an early age opens you up to the opportunity to learn more.

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Resources Mentioned:

  • The Top Inbox\\xa0 \\u2013 The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
  • Organifi \\u2013 The juice was Nathan\\u2019s life saver during his trip in Southeast Asia
  • Klipfolio \\u2013 Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
  • Acuity Scheduling \\u2013 Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
  • Host Gator\\xa0\\u2013 The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
  • Audible\\xa0\\u2013 Nathan uses Audible when he\\u2019s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books
  • Freshbooks \\u2013 Nathan doesn\\u2019t waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
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