SaaS idea-- wrap Hubspot's API with a clean API and sell it marked up.
Ask HN: Can someone at HubSpot explain some of their API design choices?
21–27 of 27 posts
Re: Ask HN: Can someone at HubSpot explain some of their API design choices?
#22A lot of companies historically wouldn't have an API at all, but MBAs started learning about it as a way to differentiate yourself, probably around the time the Jeff Bezos "API mandate" started to make the rounds on news sites. So now we get "APIs" outsourced to bottom-dollar firms.
Re: Ask HN: Can someone at HubSpot explain some of their API design choices?
#23Yes, we built an integration to ingest data from Hubspot at $DAYJOB and it was one of the worst we’ve had to deal with. They’re horribly inconsistent with what is documented and what isn’t. Even Meta’s has been better.
Re: Ask HN: Can someone at HubSpot explain some of their API design choices?
#24You have to understand that most APIs, most codebases, most designs, most documents, most ... everything was done by people who did not receive the appropriated training in design patterns and has to glue something that worked in order to be proved by someone else outside of a few orgs who chase excellency in every regard this is the reality for most companies, organizations and people. it makes sense given the circu…
Fair enough and I get it, I've been there. But for a 17 year old company worth ~30 billion to have this many issues compared to both newer startups(Salesloft/Outreach) and large incumbents(Salesforce) is just unacceptable. I'm not here saying every company is perfect, I have quite a few gripes with other services but they either: A. Actually respond to issues and work with developers and actively help maintain their…
I appreciate your sharing of yoir experience with the Hubspot API. I wasn't aware of how bad it is, and I'll keep it in mind.
Responding to the way that Hubspot handled your concerns: competitors Pardot and Marketo are not any better. I don't remember them ever correcting bugs that I reported. And simply getting through the gauntlet of "this isn't a bug, its a feature" Level 1 support is exhausting. Eloqua was much better - but only because I was working at a "partner consultant" org at the time and concerns/bug reports were fast-tracked to senior support techs.
Generally, Salesforce is what I consider "perfect software" (Joel's "good software takes 10 years" concept). It beats all the startups on so many fronts...
Re: Ask HN: Can someone at HubSpot explain some of their API design choices?
#25Based on the way you have described their API, I can make 2 assumptions
1. The might have had well supported API until the point at which they realized they wanted to have more people to use the webapp, rather than having the data sent through an API. More time spent on the Hubspot webapp means, more chances the customer notices the other services Hubspot provides and pays for them.
2. The versioning APIs that you see are most likely due to an enterprise deal Hubspot made with a large company who asked for variations in the API, and Hubspot introduced a v2/v3/v4 instead of modifying v1 (to not cause disruptions for their customers using v1).
Re: Ask HN: Can someone at HubSpot explain some of their API design choices?
#26I marvel that anyone would use a CRM system or any important HTTP API that doesn’t support conditional operations. I mean, this is mission critical data, right?
Support for If-Match seems like a low bar and yet few clear it.
When asked about data quality issues (“data in a weird state” or “shouldn’t be possible”) and the API has zero protection for lost updates… I sigh. Nothing to do.
Re: Ask HN: Can someone at HubSpot explain some of their API design choices?
#27You have to understand that most APIs, most codebases, most designs, most documents, most ... everything was done by people who did not receive the appropriated training in design patterns and has to glue something that worked in order to be proved by someone else outside of a few orgs who chase excellency in every regard this is the reality for most companies, organizations and people. it makes sense given the circu…
Fair enough and I get it, I've been there. But for a 17 year old company worth ~30 billion to have this many issues compared to both newer startups(Salesloft/Outreach) and large incumbents(Salesforce) is just unacceptable. I'm not here saying every company is perfect, I have quite a few gripes with other services but they either: A. Actually respond to issues and work with developers and actively help maintain their…
hey @thexumaker, I'm a new PM at HubSpot working on our APIs and some of the issues you've brought up are just what I'm looking to improve. Sorry to hear you haven't had a great experience with the APIs or getting contact with HubSpot PMs. I have my email on my profile, would love to get some more detail on your feedback --please feel free to reach out!