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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?

#11

Post by franky47 »

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…

> moved the customer data for gas customers to his own system

That sounds highly illegal.

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

#12

Post by la_fayette »

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?

For customer projects I am happily using paid "text to speech" APIs from several vendors.

Privately, I would like to use an API, which gets my Lego bricks inventory and returns all sets which I could build. Further it should show me sets, which I almost can build and show me missing pieces. Also e.g. it should show me sets with slight color differences, e.g. I have bricks in yellow but originally it requires orange. Things like that...

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

#14

Post by fragmede »

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?

Sure, but the API itself is the easy part, especially with LLM help. The problem is the data source is a total trash fire, so in order for it to be worth it the API cost would either be exorbitant or not worth it.

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

#15

Post by thatguyagain »

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

MRR?

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

#16

Post by cootsnuck »

thasso wrote: post #10
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…

Is this legal? How frequently do people with unique knowledge in a company pull things like this off?

All the time. The company is usually begrudgingly okay with it too because they'd rather a former employee sell their expertise back to them instead of a competitor.

I guess check your employment contracts and whatnot, but it's very common for people to leave a company and start consulting and/or freelancing in the expertise they gained at that company. And it's not too uncommon for former employers to be one of their first clients or get your first clients from relationships associated with your former employer.

All of this assumes you don't burn bridges and have the interpersonal skills, in-demand expertise, luck, timing, and interest in building out a small service-based business.

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

#17

Post by alfons_foobar »

la_fayette wrote: post #12
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?

For customer projects I am happily using paid "text to speech" APIs from several vendors. Privately, I would like to use an API, which gets my Lego bricks inventory and returns all sets which I could build. Further it should show me sets, which I almost can build and show me missing pieces. Also e.g. it should show me sets with slight color differences, e.g. I have bricks in yellow but originally it requires orange.…

That's a funny idea :)

I think the first one should be very much doable, but I am not sure how I would build the "almost complete" and the "similar colors" features.

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

#18

Post by tudorconstantin »

The blockchain hosting companies like infura live by offering API access to ethereum, solana, binance smart chain, etc. I’d say they are now rather hosting companies because these blockchains are huge and a PITA to host reliably, but back in 2017 it was possible to host them on a personal computer

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

#19

Post by cootsnuck »

franky47 wrote: post #11
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…

> moved the customer data for gas customers to his own system That sounds highly illegal.

IT services companies / MSPs aren't illegal. I'm sure this was all detailed in a contract looked over by lawyers.
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