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Ask HN: Anyone making a living from a paid API?

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Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living from a paid API?

#101

Post by tiffanyh »

gervwyk wrote: post #41
aaviator42 wrote: post #3

On the same topic: does anyone have an API concept that they wish existed and that they'd be willing to pay for?

not an api but, Internally we’re just looking for a native text to speach app that auto records all meetings and call a webhook with the transcript. not the notes! for some reason all most rmeetings apps gives you only notes and seldomly a webhook or similar. also not interested in zapier etc. After two weeks off looking for a solution, we’re going to vibe code something basic and use deepgram. If we just skipped the…

This is included in Microsoft Teams.

Will even auto detected who spoke, transcribe, video records and AI summarize it (with defined actions / next steps).

You can set it up to auto perform once the first person joins the meeting.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living from a paid API?

#102

Post by rsync »

sanjayparekh wrote: post #80
gervwyk wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any idea how a company like this would go about building a user base? Would love any sources of how to learn to market something like this.

The whole geo-IP space started back with my startup, Digital Envoy, in 1999 ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39734355 ). The way we went about it was by providing an API to clients but we actually hosted our entire database (encrypted and in a proprietary format) with clients. The reason for this was for latency (back in 1999 we could get about 0.03ms per transaction something that you can't get on any edge del…

Did running the geolocation service allow you to see otherwise hidden abuses by ISPs and other service providers ?

What I mean is: did anything ever break or behave badly ... and then when you investigated you discovered "Oh, look at what these people are doing ..." ?

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living from a paid API?

#103

Post by jlundberg »

xelxebar wrote: post #88
jlundberg wrote: post #63

I make a living from the SMS & telephony API I made. Our MRR is ~500 000 EUR and our pricing model is pay-as-you-go (per SMS, per MMS, per phone call minute, per month for virtual mobile phone numbers). The problem we solve is programmatic access to the mobile networks, specifically in Europe/Sweden. We got out first paying customers through offline networking: going to hackathons, meetups and poking tech friends to…

Mind if I ask what stack you use? I've got some acquaintances working with Swedish infrastructure, and they have lots of stories.

We connect directly with the operators using the protocols of their choice. Mostly IP-based protocols such as SMPP, SIP, MM7 and various kinds of VPN/TLS technology.

Very custom contracts and back in 2011 when we started there was no such thing as a virtual mobile phone number.

These days the operators are a bit more aware of the value of A2P (application-to-person) versus P2P which was/is very much on the decline. That also means the operators have capacity built of ready to be used without new investments.

As for our own software, we are mostly a Python based shop. And we use tons of open source. The most heavily used components we replace over time with cusomized software as these are generally fully not suited for our needs.

The true value for our customers is our technical support, our operator conectivity, the robustness of the platform, and lastly the nice REST API with it’s debugging capability.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living from a paid API?

#104

Post by gervwyk »

satvikpendem wrote: post #78
gervwyk wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not an api but, Internally we’re just looking for a native text to speach app that auto records all meetings and call a webhook with the transcript. not the notes! for some reason all most rmeetings apps gives you only notes and seldomly a webhook or similar. also not interested in zapier etc. After two weeks off looking for a solution, we’re going to vibe code something basic and use deepgram. If we just skipped the…

I was working on a work based STT system (I assume that's what you meant, not text tk speech) but might have to add in a webhook as well. What's the use case you need it for, just storing the transcripts somewhere?

We want to process the transcript to build up project context. Making it easy for team members and customers to ask project questions and brainstorm ideas with a chatbot

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living from a paid API?

#105

Post by gervwyk »

tiffanyh wrote: post #101
gervwyk wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not an api but, Internally we’re just looking for a native text to speach app that auto records all meetings and call a webhook with the transcript. not the notes! for some reason all most rmeetings apps gives you only notes and seldomly a webhook or similar. also not interested in zapier etc. After two weeks off looking for a solution, we’re going to vibe code something basic and use deepgram. If we just skipped the…

This is included in Microsoft Teams. Will even auto detected who spoke, transcribe, video records and AI summarize it (with defined actions / next steps). You can set it up to auto perform once the first person joins the meeting.

Many meetings happen that are not on teams.. So that would only do for 10%.. Id like to meet the teams where they are working instead of telling them to change how they work.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living from a paid API?

#106

Post by selcuka »

tkiolp4 wrote: post #76
mtlynch wrote: post #44

Not making a living, but I make about $200/mo from an API that parses recipe ingredients like "2 cups finely chopped onions" into structured JSON.[0] I put it in maintenance mode in 2019, so it's about 99% passive income, as I spend only about an hour or two on maintenance per year. I'm surprised all my clients haven't switched to LLMs, but maybe I still outdo LLMs on price/accuracy since it's so niche. I'd like to s…

In my country it costs around 200 euro/month to be a freelancer (I think most of that money is for health insurance). So making $200/month would be a no go for me. How do people manage to legally earn that money when the margins are so low?

> it's about 99% passive income, as I spend only about an hour or two on maintenance per year.

Looks like that $200 is just side income, not their main job.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living from a paid API?

#107

Post by satvikpendem »

gervwyk wrote: post #104
satvikpendem wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was working on a work based STT system (I assume that's what you meant, not text tk speech) but might have to add in a webhook as well. What's the use case you need it for, just storing the transcripts somewhere?

We want to process the transcript to build up project context. Making it easy for team members and customers to ask project questions and brainstorm ideas with a chatbot

Interesting, I'm working on that exact type of use case on the consumer side as more of a mobile app chatbot, didn't realize there was an enterprise version need too of the same idea.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living from a paid API?

#108

Post by [deleted] »

ambicapter wrote: post #22
Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #8

I know of a guy, but his scenario was quite unique. I was working for an energy company who shall remain nameless, but who's internal IT was a tangle of external consultants milking the place for millions, and ineffective/underserved full time staff who couldn't run a query on a database without a change control committee of consultants milking them for yet more cash. Anyway, this guy was the go to guy for gas custom…

Sounds like extortion with extra steps? Maybe there’s a more charitable way to tell the story.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living from a paid API?

#109

Post by [deleted] »

nkrisc wrote: post #34
ambicapter wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like extortion with extra steps? Maybe there’s a more charitable way to tell the story.

Without debating whether it’s ethical, it doesn’t sound like extortion. It sounds like taking advantage of dysfunctional decision making in an organization.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Anyone making a living from a paid API?

#110

Post by leoh »

geiger01 wrote: post #7
longnguyen wrote: post #4

My friend Dmytro[0] has been running a screenshot API called ScreenshotOne[1]. He's been building it solo and has reached $20K MRR recently. [0]: https://x.com/DmytroKrasun [1]: https://screenshotone.com

I also have a similar api Screenshot api and web scraping api https://capturekit.dev

> Turn Websites Into Screenshots with a simple API

If anyone wants to build “turn websites into APIs” and do it really well like OP, feel free to hmu.

Highly experienced full-stack and rust developer with experience at startups, G and Google X.

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