# Business Models for Your API as a Start-Up #APIDays

**Author:** kinlane  
**Canonical:** https://apievangelist.com/2012/12/07/business-models-for-your-api-as-a-startup-apidays/

The organizers of [APIs Days](http://apidays.io/) asked me at the last moment if I'd like to do a third talk at the European API event, due to last minute cancellations.  Of course, I jumped on the opportunity to generate to material and work through it in front of a live audience.  

The talk was on [business models for your API as a start-up](/admin/blog/Business Models For Your API as a Start-Up).  On the plane ride over I reviewed [John Musser's great material on API business models](http://www.slideshare.net/jmusser/j-musser-apishotnotgluecon2012), and prepared a walk through, from a startup's perspective.  

Then after watching Guillaume Ballas ([@guillaumebalas](https://twitter.com/guillaumebalas)) from 3Scale give his talk [APIs for Biz Dev 2.0, Which Business Model?](http://www.slideshare.net/3scale/apis-for-biz-dev-20-which-business-model-15473323)  And watching other speakers I decide to scrap what I had put together, and went an entirely different direction.

I decide to walk through the evolution of an imaginary startup, keeping in mind 3Scale's philosphy that:

> Let's not ask what business model for my API.You should be deploying an API for your business model. @[3scale](https://twitter.com/3scale) @[guillaumebalas](https://twitter.com/guillaumebalas) [#apidays](https://twitter.com/search/%23apidays)
> 
> — Kin Lane (@kinlane) [December 3, 2012](https://twitter.com/kinlane/status/275622596689661954)

Then I walked through what I would consider a robust, healthy startup business model with five tiers:

*   Free users
*   Paid users
*   Free developers
*   Paid developers
*   Partners
*   Incubation

Of course, this approach isn't for every startup.  I highly recommend checking out 3Scale's presentation if you want to better understand [which API business model is right for your startup](http://www.slideshare.net/3scale/apis-for-biz-dev-20-which-business-model-15473323).

I wanted to tell the story of how you could apply some or all of the monetization strategies outlined by John Musser in his work, while also listening to Guillaume from [3Scale](http://www.3scale.net "3Scale").

The talk is rooted in my research on the [Business of Twitter's API](http://twitter.apivoice.com/ "Business of Twitter's API") and experience I've had in the field consulting and building strategies with existing API owners.

You can view the presentation of my [Business Models For Your API as a Start-Up](/talks/apidays/business-models/ "Business Models For Your API as a Start-Up"), and I believe the session was video taped so I'm sure there will be video coming soon.