To Kill an API
So, you have been using an API that has become a core component of your application. Then you wake up and see the announcement:
“Dear customer, our API will be shutdown on August 17, 2017 at noon PST. So long, and thanks for all the fish.”
Your heart starts beating rapidly. Your palms get sweaty. And you realize that you have been dumped by your vendor.
This week Stormpath was acquired by Okta and announced that their API would be shutdown.
Why Does this Happen?
I’m going to speculate a bit here, so bear with me. In most cases, companies run into 2 situations that cause the death of an API.
- They are acquired and the acquirer primarily wants their employees and to stop their own customer attrition. In these cases, the acquirer probably wants the top 10% of the customer base as well, usually based on MRR (monthly recurring revenue). Beyond that, they couldn’t care less.
- The API got killed by the venture capital machine that has been running rampant in the technology section over the last 10 years. This happens when a company isn’t sustainable because of the investment they took and the investors no longer want to prop them up with another round. I won’t go deep into my thoughts on this, but let’s just say that VCs can kill an API. My full set of thoughts on this is another post for another day.
Every other API probably has a lot of great customers paying for it and the likelihood that it will be shut down is virtually zero.
Help us Obi-Wan
Honestly, this happens all the time and a lot of people get burned. Here are a few ways to avoid this mess.
- Be careful where you use multi-tenant, cloud-hosted APIs
If you are implementing an API for a core component of your infrastructure (i.e. authentication and authorization), you might consider avoiding a multi-tenant and cloud-hosted API. When these APIs are acquired, they are often shutdown. Since everything is hosted in one giant deployment, when that goes away, so does the API. - Consider on-premise solutions
If you can manage an on-premise solution, it might insulate you from these issues. You’ll install the software on your servers (real or cloud based) and can manage upgrades yourself. If the company folds or is acquired, you likely can continue to use the software since it is running on your servers. Although, this isn’t always the case. - Negotiate safeguards in the contracts
Read the license agreement thoroughly. Many times, on-premise software will include mechanisms for continued use of the software if the company disappears. If the license doesn’t contain these clauses, ask for them to be added. Any company that values their customers will be happy to accommodate.
Thanks for the Heads Up, but I’m a Stormpath Customer. Is it too late for me?
The short answer: yes. You are going to have to make migrate and recode your app. Sorry.
But you should consider looking at other solutions that check all the boxes I listed above. You should also look for companies that have strong relationships with large companies. This often lends itself to companies that don’t intend to shutdown their API, offer on-premise solutions and often have already negotiated favorable contracts.
And here’s the pitch!
Inversoft has been in business for 8 years and works with some of the largest companies in the world (Disney, Activision, Comcast, E*Trade, QuickenLoans, Ubisoft, and many more). We pride ourselves on customer relationships and have no intention of killing our APIs, even if we are acquired. We’ve negotiated many contracts that include long term use if the API is ever killed and this works because all of our software is designed to run on-premise first and then ported to our own private cloud infrastructure.
If you are looking for Stormpath alternatives, we’d love to help you switch to Passport and set up a long-term relationship to help your company be successful.
Feel free to reach out to me if you’d like to discuss your needs (oh and we are writing Stormpath migration scripts for free).
Email: brian@inversoft.com
URL: https://www.inversoft.com
