Startup APIs: Don't waste your investor's money
summary
Built prototypes attract funding but hide messy APIs so expect to be sole back-end dev for ~6–18 months and to have thrown away quick hacks; invest a few developer-hours up front to avoid paying consultants later. Use Apiary/API Blueprint for runnable docs, keep fewer endpoints, enforce input validation and roll back transactions on bad data, return machine-friendly descriptive error messages specifying array index or field-level problems, minimize payloads, and document before hiring so new hires don’t waste investor money.
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chapters (6)
- 0:00Introduction and background
- 2:02Prototype development
- 4:40Documentation importance
- 6:42Data protection strategies
- 8:22Effective error messaging
- 10:22Key takeaways
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