Mashery Developer Blog

A few weeks ago, Mashery hosted the New York version of "The Business of APIs Conference." We looked at this event as an opportunity for the people who are leading the industry in Web Services as a key component of their business development strategy to share their stories. One of the big hits for the day was Chris Phenner, SVP of Business Development at Thumbplay. He shared his story of having spent 2 years establishing 40 partners, and then in two weeks of opening the Thumbplay API, they were able to close another 40 partners. His story went on to talk about the "Five Golden Rules" of successfully using APIs to build your channel.

At a very high level, the rules are as follows:
1. Instant Gratification – Requiring only one email to start…
2. Flexible Ingredients – Offering tools for all partner types…
3. Constant Feedback – Constantly changing content/services…
4. Human Availability – Partners cannot live by URL alone…
5. Benign Competition – Sharing Best Practices & Success Stories…

If you want to learn more about what Chris has to say, you can check out the slides from the conference. We hope to post the video's soon!

If you ever get the chance to talk to Chris, he is a really smart guy. I say you pick his brain for whatever you can get!