There’s a trend in Silicon Valley startups to create a software layer in industries that were traditionally pure human services. Uber and Lyft have created software layers in the taxi industry, 99designs Tasks in the visual design industry, Homejoy in the cleaning industry, and so on. These new software services employ armies of human workers, optimizing their output, productivity and quality while driving price down.
Jobs below the API
Back in February, Peter Reinhardt published his fairly widely circulated blog post Replacing Middle Management with APIs. (If you haven’t read it already, do so now.)
Almost everyone is doing the API economy wrong | TechCrunch
It’s time to hold companies to a higher standard when it comes to APIs. As software "eats the world," it seems like it’s not enough for a business to just serve its customers and hopefully make a profit, they also have to be “platforms” -- and, as any developer would respond, these days you just can’t be a platform without an API.
Google Cabs And Uber Bots Will Challenge Jobs 'Below The API'
Working "below the API" is a dead end. Uber drivers, Amazon Mechanical Turk workers, 99design contestants, TaskRabbit taskers and HomeJoy cleaners are all targets for further automation.
Optimised API Management for the modern business
Join us as we unveil the path to optimised API management, tailored for modern enterprises.
Why Executive Interest In APIs Is Booming
A decade ago, API awareness was limited, with evangelists educating a mostly unaware C-suite. Today, APIs are integral to business, widely embraced by executives and developers alike, reflecting a significant shift in digital transformation strategies.
Below the API
Jobs increasingly fall into one of two categories: Either you tell computers what to do for a living or they tell you what to do.
How Uber uses AI for development: inside look
How Uber built Minion, Shepherd, uReview, and other internal agentic AI tools. Also, new challenges in rolling out AI tools, like more platform investment and growing concern about token costs
Impressions from visiting OpenAI, Anthropic, & Cursor
A peek into where software engineering is headed from inside the sector’s leading AI labs. Agents running in the cloud are a major trend, while coding harnesses are spreading beyond the craft
After automation: Software will work for you, not on you
Alex Komoroske, CEO and cofounder, Common Tools — AI promises “infinite software”—endless tools tailored to every need—but funneled through today's app stores, that abundance just means more silos, more trapped data, and more to orchestr...
Silicon Valley über alles
Every day, computers are making people easier to use
API Integration
Learn about pre-built automation tools and integrations to help your business stay ahead of the curve and deliver IT-as-a service.
Andrej Karpathy: Software Is Changing (Again)
GGV Capital API-First Index
At GGV Capital, we are focused on finding the most promising developer-first software companies commercializing APIs, having already backed Agora, Authing, Pinwheel, Mindee and Stream. We are going all-in on API companies because they will fundamentally simplify software development. APIs will allow developers to offload lower-value and time-consuming components of application development so they can focus on higher-value work. For example, instead of a company asking its developers to spend months writing code to accept payments for its software, they can get up and running quickly with Stripe. For authentication, they can use Auth0. For chat, they can use Stream.We expect the use of APIs to continue growing exponentially in the next few years, and many promising companies are building with an API-first approach, including Algoia for search, Mux for video, and Commerce Layer for e-commerce. The public markets are also taking notice. Twilio and Agora are now publicly traded. Okta acquired Auth0 for $6.5B. SoFi acquired Galileo for $1.2B. We expect this trend to continue.2023 Q2 Update Highlights 1) Investment activity continues at a slower pace in Q22) Cohere raised one of the largest funding rounds of Q2 at $270M 3) Two additions to the API-First Index: Clerk & LibLab2023 Q1 Update Highlights1) Slower investment activity continues in Q1 2023 2) Stripe raised one of the largest funding rounds of 2023 at $6.5B3) Two additions to the API-First Index: Finch & SyncteraIn 2022, we tracked VC deal activity for 120+ API-first companies across categories. Find out what we learned:2022 Year in Review Report.GGV Capital is tracking 150+ API-first companies. We have now expanded the API-First Index to include the 60+ private companies that have raised $50M+ in funding. With this Index, we are focusing on API-first companies and have not included the broader and flourishing API economy (but are also very excited about this, having backed Kong and Tray.io!). If you are building API-first, we would love to meet you! Please contact us at apifirstindex@ggvc.com to be included in our list.
Zach Lloyd on Twitter / X
The software factory approach is getting pretty popular, but it can be daunting to adopt all at once.Let's go through “crawl, walk, run” steps for making the transition from local, interactive agents to automated cloud development. https://t.co/RugDAn4Vqg— Zach Lloyd (@zachlloydtweets) September 15, 2026
A primer on the reality of working with APIs as a new developer
A rundown of some of the issues and realities you'll find moving from education to real-world applications involving APIs.
