The Double Life of the API Product Manager

Keynote from apidays Munich, July 3d, 2025
Did you know that the best API Product Managers live a double life?
Like any other PM, they deeply understand the needs of their direct customers (developers and businesses). But the most experienced ones have learned to look beyond that—discovering the needs of their customers’ customers.
In this session, I'll share the single most valuable lesson from my 15 years in API Product Management: successful APIs are built by embracing this dual perspective.
Join me to:
* Understand why managing APIs requires thinking beyond your immediate customers to their end-users.
* Discover how neglecting indirect users leads to generic, ineffective APIs that miss the mark.
* Learn practical methods for uncovering secondary use cases, expanding market opportunities, and creating winning API products.
Whether you're a developer, product manager, designer, or executive, you'll gain insights into how a deeper, dual understanding of your audience can significantly boost the impact and success of your API products.

Transcript

1. The Double Life of the API PM The Double Life of the API Product Manager apidays Munich July 3, 2025 Emmanuel Paraskakis 15+ years in APIs | Product Consultant for SaaS and API Companies | 3x VP PM Welcome
2. The Double Life of the API PM Q: Who Here is a Product Manager? API PM?
3. The Double Life of the API PM Q: What % of Internet Traffic is API Traffic? A. >20% B. >40% C. >60% D. >80%
4. The Double Life of the API PM More than half of Internet traffic is from APIs, but only 1 in 20 PMs is a Platform or API Product Manager, and they earn 19% over their peers
5. The Double Life of the API PM Q: Why is API/Platform PM so rare? A. It’s tough job B. Organizations are not sure they need it C. Most PMs don’t know how to do it well D. All of the above
6. The Double Life of the API PM It’s Tougher Than You Think (But I’ll Show You How to Make it Easier) 6
7. The Double Life of the API PM You’re are 2x the PM 7 🧕 PM 🎨 1. For developers building with your API. 🏾 ♂ 🏼 ♀ 💻 🏻 2. For their customers’ end users who experience the downstream impact.
8. The Double Life of the API PM Example 1: Sales Tax App 8 👷🖥 📊 🧕 Uses UI to calculate tax before sending an order Talks to users, observes behavior, uses product analytics to uncover needs and pain points
9. The Double Life of the API PM Example 2: Sales Tax API 9 👷 🖥 📊 🧕 Builds apps for many different use cases and personas Can only directly observe API calls and talk to developers 💻 🥷 📱 󰳒 🔌
10. The Double Life of the API PM If you’re the PM for an API: 10 ➔ Your product is powering solutions you might never have imagined. ➔ You must discover the secondary use cases: ◆ Ask developers to intro you to their customers & see their analytics ◆ Build community!
11. The Double Life of the API PM The API PM Paradox: 11 "…solve problems you never thought of for people you never met." - Mike Amundsen, RESTful Web API Patterns
12. The Double Life of the API PM Do You Even Need It? 12
13. The Double Life of the API PM If You Don’t Have an API PM… … And are Shipping an API Product… … Someone is Already Playing that Role • Eng Lead? • Architect? • Project Manager? • API Designer? • Sales??? 👻
14. The Double Life of the API PM What’s Common Among the Top-5 API Orgs? 1. Stripe 2. Twilio 3. OpenAI 4. Anthropic 5. Plaid
15. The Double Life of the API PM What API PM Brings to the Table: Monitor and Optimize Usage Execute API Strategy & Vision Bridge Business & Tech Teams Manage API Lifecycle API Design, Standards Author & Validate Stories Usability & Developer Experience Promote Availability, Security, Scaling
16. The Double Life of the API PM 5 Ways to Do It Well (That Most People Miss) 16
17. The Double Life of the API PM How to do API PM Really Well: 1. Use API Product Analytics 2. Don’t Skip on Customer Discovery 3. NFRs Up Front 4. Use AI to Automate your Job 5. Prepare your APIs for Agents
18. The Double Life of the API PM 1. API Product Analytics (Quantitative) Use Tools like Moesif to become intimately familiar with usage patterns
19. The Double Life of the API PM Example: Funnel Analysis
20. The Double Life of the API PM 2. Customer Discovery (Qualitative) Reach out and become BFFs with your Users, Customers, Critics, Advocates. Use API Mocks as Prototypes
21. The Double Life of the API PM Lean Canvas Discovery API Prototype Surveys Analytics Strategy/strategy Product Pitch* Roadmap API Design Design Ideate Analyze Measure Build Learn
22. The Double Life of the API PM 3. Delegate Non-Functional Requirements Decide Standards, Guidelines, Rules, Formats, Styles, Processes, Tools and NFRs once - No need to verify on each feature
23. The Double Life of the API PM Examples: Use JSON Payloads Pagination Format Use UUIDs 1 Yr Sunset Policy OAuth 2.0 HTTPS Mandatory P90: 150ms
24. The Double Life of the API PM 4. Automate to Get Back Your Time Use AI for everything: ◦ API Design ◦ Prototype ◦ Research ◦ PRD/Stories ◦ Tests/Acceptance ◦ Analysis
25. The Double Life of the API PM Start with OpenAPI (Generated?)
26. The Double Life of the API PM Upload to LLM
27. The Double Life of the API PM Ask it to Do the Tedious Work
28. The Double Life of the API PM Steal My Prompts: TinyURL.com/APIPMPrompts
29. The Double Life of the API PM Last/Not Least: Agent traffic is coming, but our APIs were not designed with AI in mind
30. The Double Life of the API PM 5. Checklist: Optimize your API for Agents 1. Make sure you actually have full API coverage and will not be scraped - make APIs public and accessible. 2. Describe everything with accurate API documentation and use good naming - but keep it concise & relevant, to minimize input token consumption. 3. Limit API scope to minimize context size (speed & cost) and make sure API calls work. Also, consider GraphQL. 4. Aggregate APIs instead of requiring agents to make multiple calls. - pick just the APIs to fit the use case (and generate an MCP for just those tools). Keep tools number to 15-20. 5. Be concrete - not abstract. E.g. not just CRUD, or objects/fields, or Rows/columns. 6. Minimize schema nesting & complexity. 7. Use protocols, standards & conventions correctly - e.g status codes, rate limiting headers, pagination & authentication. 8. Return relevant, clear errors, for example use Problem Details - RFC 9457. 9. Required Fields: Clearly document how to use them, their format, values & enums. 10. Avoid unnecessary optional fields - agents & LLMs get confused - less is more
31. The Double Life of the API PM AI Agents are Coming for Your API Are You Ready? TinyURL.com/AgentAPIs
32. The Double Life of the API PM Learn & Build With Me! 32
33. The Double Life of the API PM Save 20% with code: APIDAYS Rated ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.8 by students TinyURL.com/APIPMapidays API Product Mastery for Experienced PMs August 7-19 • 6 Live Sessions + AI Project • Q&A After Main Sessions • Bonus - Free 1:1 hour with instructor • Guest Speakers from Industry Email b2b@maven.com for a bulk purchase. View course syllabus: 33
34. The Double Life of the API PM Q&A 34
35. The Double Life of the API PM Backup Slides 35
36. The Double Life of the API PM Emmanuel Paraskakis ➔ 15+ years API PM ➔ 3 x VP PM ➔ Apiary, OCI, Swagger ➔ Consulting @Level250 ➔ Training @Maven ➔ I ❤ APIs
37. The Double Life of the API PM Quick story - how I got into API PM ➔ Entrepreneur & Comp. Sci. Major with a Background in Insurance, ➔ Came to the USA in 2008, in the middle of the Great Recession ➔ Lucky enough to get an API PM role due to my Insurance Background ➔ Built larger and larger API Programs over the next 5 years ➔ Accidentally went to an API Conference in 2013 - In Detroit, in the middle of Summer 37 ➔ Started a Meetup group in SF - API Craft with >1,100 members ➔ Got involved in the OpenAPI Initiative ➔ Led to building API Tools as VP at Apiary, Oracle, SmartBear (Swagger) > million APIs ➔ Speak at all major API conferences ➔ Today: Consultant and Trainer at my company, Level 250
38. The Double Life of the API PM Look beyond direct customers’ use cases
39. The Double Life of the API PM See your customers’ customers’ use cases
40. The Double Life of the API PM Example 1: Sales Tax App: 40 • Your customers are likely merchants. • They might use a UI to calculate the tax before sending an order. • You’d talk to these users, observe their behavior, and use your product analytics to uncover needs and pain points.
41. The Double Life of the API PM Example 2: Sales Tax API: 41 Your customers are developers, and their use cases can vary widely: • Billing company integrating your API into a checkout form. • Solo developer building a mobile app to compare tax rates. • Retailer selling appliances online. • Software vendor developing an e-commerce plugin.
42. The Double Life of the API PM Customer Discovery & The API Lifecycle 42 Ideation: Collect requirements, data model, vocabulary, goals[Product Manager] Design: Iterate on API Description with API Consumers via Mock [Architect/Product Manager] Development: Implement design against contract and functional requirements [Developer] Configuration: Prepare and set up for deployment [Developer] Measure Build Learn
43. The Double Life of the API PM Standards to Follow: 43 ❏ HTTP: RFC 9110, RFC 9111, RFC 9112, RFC 9113, RFC 9114 ❏ URIs: RFC 3986 ❏ Problem Details: RFC 9457 ❏ ISO 8601 Dates: RFC 3339 / RFC 9557 ❏ UUIDs: RFC 9562 ❏ MUST, SHOULD, MAY: RFC 2119 ❏ IANA Media Types ❏ Mark Nottingham on Status Codes
44. The Double Life of the API PM API Guidelines/Style Guides 44 ➔ Dramatically increase user adoption/satisfaction ➔ Can test designs against them (once codified) ➔ Internal document & agreement ➔ Ensure consistency ➔ Part of API Governance ➔ Eliminate “bikeshedding” ➔ Reduce bugs, issues and help testing ➔ Negate need to verify NFRs in User Stories
45. The Double Life of the API PM Execute API Strategy & Vision 45 You help define both Strategy and Vision: • Vision = Next 2-5 Years • Strategy = Focus (what are the few things?) Keep aligning stakeholders on these
46. The Double Life of the API PM Monitor and Optimize Usage 46 Monitor and drive key API metrics: • Transactional revenue • Retention • Ecosystem growth • Adoption Inform decisions on monetization/pricing
47. The Double Life of the API PM Manage API Lifecycle 47 Own key API Lifecycle points: • Introduction • Evolution/Change • Deprecation • Sunsetting One of the most challenging aspects of API PM
48. The Double Life of the API PM Bridge Business & Tech Teams 48 Act as a bridge between the technical and business worlds, speaking the language of both developers and stakeholders. This is essential!
49. The Double Life of the API PM Author & Validate Stories 49 Create clear requirements, often using technical artifacts, ensure feasibility, and validate delivery - the latter is even more important than in core PM. Often authors technical specs, schemas etc.
50. The Double Life of the API PM API Design, Standards 50 Guide API usability by shaping API designs and standards, in collaboration with architects. HTTP, RFCs, Media Types, Formats, Authentication, Data Structures, Naming…
51. The Double Life of the API PM Ensure Availability, Security, Scaling 51 Establish and maintain standards for availability, scalability, and security Non-Functional Requirements are critical to APIs.
52. The Double Life of the API PM Usability & Developer Experience 52 Own developer experience and onboarding, including the dev portal, documentation, sample code, and learning resources
53. The Double Life of the API PM +Core PM skills 53 • Guide Pricing & Packaging • Drive roadmaps and prioritize effectively. • Influence and align stakeholders without direct authority. • Serve as the voice of the customer within the organization. • Participate in sales calls to gather feedback and help close deals. • Deep knowledge of customers, industry, market, and emerging trends.
54. The Double Life of the API PM API PM FAQ 54 ➔ Do they code? ➔ Do they write docs? ➔ Do they design the API? ➔ Do they need to know PLG? ➔ Do they need to be good at UX? ➔ Do they need to know OpenAPI? ➔ Do they do Customer Discovery? ➔ Do they set-up API Management?
55. The Double Life of the API PM maven.com/emmanuel
56. The Double Life of the API PM