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

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

In Episode #628, Nathan interviews Iddo Gino. He’s the CEO and co-founder of RapidAPI which he founded when he was 16 years old. He’s 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? – The Hard Thing About Hard Things
• What CEO do you follow? – Stewart Butterfield
• Favorite online tool? — GitHub
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep? — 6-7 hours
• If you could let your 10-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – “I wish I knew what I didn’t know back then”

Time Stamped Show Notes:

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

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.

Resources Mentioned:

• The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
• Organifi – The juice was Nathan’s life saver during his trip in Southeast Asia
• Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
• Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
• Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
• Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books
• Freshbooks – Nathan doesn’t 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