1000 Flowers Bloom

Interview with Marnie Webb (VP of Knowledge Services)

I spoke with Marnie Webb at Compumentor back in February to talk about the work that Compumentor is doing bring non profits and technology companies together. Our conversation ranged from Web 2.0 and how non profits can take advantage of the Internet to the Net Squared conference that is being put on May 30-31.

The organization is really terrific. They've not only given away a lot of technology to non-profits but they also help them figure out how to use the technology effectively. That last point is key - helping non profits by giving them knowledge and a support system is just as valuable as helping them get the software.

I'm going to be helping them out in April by helping to host an online event about how non-profits can use social networking and communities effectively. I'll post more about that when we have all the details worked out.

You can listen to our conversation here.

Interview with Chad Dickerson (Director, Platform Evangelist Search & Marketplace for Yahoo)

Mashup Camp was great for meeting interesting people. One of the folks I met is Chad Dickerson. He’s a platform evangelist at Yahoo who helps promote APIs not only externally but also internally. It was fascinating to hear about the Hackathons that he is running inside of Yahoo.

His favorite mashup - Tagcloud.

 

Hopefully he’ll get the side project that he’s working on up soon and I’ll be able to blog and podcast about it!

You can listen to the podcast here.

 

Interview with David Berlind (Mashup Camp Organizer, Executive Editor ZDNet)

David Berlind and I had a great conversation about Mashups and the upcoming Mashup Camp yesterday. Fascinating guy who believes that we’re seeing a whole new ecosystem develop.

He's gone from  announcing the event  on Dec. 22 to having over 300 people wanting to attend in less than a month!

You can check it out here.

I’ll be posting a transcript and more thoughts about this in the next day or so.

Interview with Greg Isaacs (eBay - Director Developers Program)

I met with Greg Isaacs last week to talk about the eBay Developers Program and I have to say that it was the first time that I have ever had an embargo put on something that I could blog about.

The big announcement is that eBay has made their APIs free. Obviously they're hoping to get more developers to use their web services. Techdirt and others are covering the story.

What's maybe not so obvious is that they were one of the best examples of someone who was actually making money from their APIs. It's almost a shame that could make more money by becoming free. I always viewed eBay as one of the shining examples of companies that made real dollars from their web services. Greg dashed my world view when I talked to him though.

One other really interesting thing to note is that eBay has been in the "Web 2.0" game of releasing their APIs for the last 5 years. The amount of listings volume and revenue is pretty staggering when you see the stats.

Question to ponder - Do you need to have an existing business model before you open up your APIs? The eBay example seems to point to yes.

Read on for highlights. Listen to the conversation here.

Why remove the fees?

Greg - "Historically eBay charged for their APIs, eBay is announcing is that it will be removing all API fees for call volume and annual fees. We are planning on building on current momentum. By making the APIs free allow developers to continue to build really wonderful innovative applications."

Greg - "We never charged for the APIs for direct revenue, it was always about efficiency. When we got started making our APIs broadly available 5 years ago it was not a foregone conclusion about what value our developers would drive and what it meant for our infrastructure."

Greg - "We want to do two things by making the APIs free – number one to all of our developers who have been with us for a number of years say thank you and the second is around new developers, our motto is innovation without barriers. We want to remove as many barriers as possible. Let’s get rid of them and let developers do what they do best."

It's interesting that the API calls were originally all about efficiency to make sure that people were not abusing the system.  I really thought that they might have a whole separate business around providing the webservices. Obviously the API revenue was smaller than the overall revenue that they could get by getting more listings onto their site.

How much in terms of revenue is coming through 3rd party developers?

Greg - "Today about 22% of eBay.coms listings come from 3^rd party developers and that is up from 20% in Q2”

Wow. That's a huge number. Think of how many listings there are on eBay and what 22% of those listings represents. One question I'll be curious about is how much that number grows once the APIs are free.

What does eBay do for developers?

Greg - "To make developers successful we have done a bunch of things. We give them a lot of marketing support - for example, a solutions directory solutions.ebay.com an online directory where eBay buyers and sellers can find tools, we also give them lots of technical support, online as well as live help. We also have a sandbox which is a replicated version of the eBay production environment which is available for eBay developers to test it before going live to site."

You can tell that eBay has a pretty mature program. They do a lot of useful things for their developers that others are moving to catch up and do.

What are some interesting things that others are doing with eBay's API and data?

Greg - "Terapeak takes eBay’s unstructured data and puts it in a structured format. If you want to sell iPod Nano’s, you can go to Terapeak’s system and get a wealth of information of historical transactions around average selling prices, conversion rates on iPod Nanos, look at what time of day to sell, what features like Bold to use."

Greg - "Mpire built a selling tool for eBay sellers, it allows you as a seller to manage your eBay inventory and get a snapshot of how you’re doing financially and allow you to manage your contacts."

I think that there is probably a tremendous amount of value locked inside of the transaction data that eBay has. Very cool stuff that Terapeak is doing. Mpire sounds like CRM/ERP meets eBay. It's amazing to me that there is this whole eBay economy that can use this.

Will there ever be a time when people don't go to eBay the website at all?

Greg - "A lot of our sellers today don’t even have to come to eBay to manage their business and we designed that intentionally. On the buy side today we have a whole host of applications that allow you to sell more efficiently whether you’re on the browser, telephone etc."

Greg - "Something I’m very excited to see is when you can search for an item and you can list an item on eBay without ever having to go to the website. My belief is that will increase the size of the marketplace and that’s a win win for everyone."

This is pretty amazing and even if they don't call it Web 2.0 at eBay they clearly get it. eBay could end up being an underlying commerce infrastructure layer for the whole web. What an amazingly powerful position to be in!

What is eBay's take on Web 2.0?

Greg - "For us it’s been less about buzz or hype and more about economic opportunity. We’ve always focused around how can we make developers successful and how can they actually make money. That doesn’t always go hand in hand with the latest fad or the latest buzz."

eBay does a terrific job of marrying a business model to the Web 2.0 concepts. In fact I think it's fair to say that they're a real pioneer at doing that.

Can I show both eBay and Amazon content on the same page?

Greg - "In our license agreement that is allowed and the one caveat is that with the listings from Amazon and eBay must be visually separate. The last thing you want is someone to click on an item thinking they’re going to eBay and go to some other site. Go to Fatlens and you will see concert tickets there not only on eBay but also on various other marketplaces that Fatlens does business with."

Again I'm amazed at the willingness that people are showing in putting their content and functionality up next to a competitors. I think that many companies have really gotten themselves out of the walled garden mentality now.

What should the others like Google and Yahoo do with their developers programs?

Greg - "I’m not going to give you all the information you like about what they should be doing because after all we’re going after the same developer mindshare."

This further reinforces to me that there is a real war on now for folks to get a hold of developers and get them creating things on platforms and getting them hooked there.

What’s coming up next for the eBay Developer’s Program?

Greg - "eBay developer challenge with two main components:

• An individual developer prize: $5000 + ability to present their application at the O’Reilly ETECH conference + flight and hotel.

• An open source prize: Xboxes for the winners + ability to present their application at the O’Reilly ETECH conference + flight and hotel."
  

Timeline
0:22 How did you make the jump from Investment Banking to eBay and the Developers Program
1:19 It seems like the Developers Program is a far stretch from Investment Banking.
2:21 What does it mean to be the Director of the Developers Program?
3:49 How do you measure the success of your program
5:08 eBay announces no more fees for APIs
6:10 What’s driving the reason to drop the API fees
7:42 Tell me about how eBay allows people to use anonymized data
8:57 What are your favorite three applications
11:11 What do you wish people would build?
12:48 Do you ever forsee a world where users don’t have to go to eBay directly to buy or sell at all?
14:25 What’s about developers who might be worried about eBay saying hey that’s a good idea I’m going to go do that?
15:57 So you think it will be less of a Google/Yahoo model where you buy up companies?
16:45 Why doesn’t eBay get more buzz around Web 2.0 since it was a pioneer?
18:01 Are you comfortable with eBay data mixing with Amazon data or functionality?
19:12 Fatlens example.
19:56 What do you think about Google or Yahoo showing eBay items in search results?
20:59 What are Google and Yahoo doing right or wrong with their developer programs?
21:45 What else is coming down the pipe for eBay’s developers program?

 

Interview with Duncan Davidson (VantagePoint Venture Partners - Managing Director)

I had a fun conversation with Duncan Davidson a managing director at VantagePoint Venture Partners. He's also a prolific blogger with blogs on politics, technology and the stock market.

Our talk really centered on Web 2.0 and his perspective on it as a VC and as a former entrepreneur. One of the recurring things that I thought was fascinating was his grasp of the historical context that these technology changes are taking part in. As he told me – History doesn’t often repeat but it often rhymes 

I’ve got the highlights below and here’s a link to the conversation.

On Web 2.0 and what is driving it

Duncan - “What is Web 2.0? It’s pretty clear – it’s a hundred times cheaper to put together a web service and an operation than it was ten years ago. AJAX and the browser being spread around makes it easier to integrate Google Maps and other things. Clearly the technologies are there, the business model is advertising.” 

Duncan - “The biggest driver is there is a business model called advertising. You’ve got to really respect what Google is doing.”

Chris - “So this is not a technology innovation it’s a business innovation?” 

Duncan - “It’s both. Usually the technology doesn’t exist in a vacuum you need the business and the technology together.”

Ah – this was something I hadn’t thought much about before. That the new business model is what is really enabling all these new companies to form. It’s great that the new technologies are in place but could we really pull it off without Google Ads? There is certainly a large part of me that wonders if advertising based models are enough. Will that model really make for profitable great companies?

How do you know when to start a company?

Duncan - “There are four rules of venture capital: Too early, too early, early and too late. I started Skypilot too early… I think you can know only retrospect. You connect the dots after… Most entrepreneurs believe deeply in what they’re doing and they always start too early because they believe.”

Duncan - “There’s usually a confluence of things that need to come together before it’s time to start. It’s capital markets, it’s business models it’s something going on in the outside world and it’s technology. There are examples where technology has improved ten times but it fizzled: pen based computing in late 80s didn’t go anywhere. The forces are now coming together” 

Duncan - “History doesn’t often repeat but it often rhymes. So Web 2.0 you have the 100x cheaper in some aspects, you can go get a cheap audience, you have a business model from google which is ad oriented… people get all that. That’s not enough. You might want to do a quick flip and take it Google… that might persist for a while until Google and Yahoo fill up with all the flips.”

I find in my own experience that I’ve often chosen companies in the too early camp, one of the companies I used to work for, Kontiki, was probably early by 2-3 years. Which may not sound like a lot but it certainly is the difference as someone who is trying to figure out if they should stick around or not. You never know if you’re early by 2-3 years or if you’ve got a dud on your hand. Luckily it seems like business is really picking up for them now.

Why now is a great time to start a company

Duncan - “I must say something. The world is awash in liquidity. You can see it in every aspect of our society. Money is trying to find high yields. There’s almost desperation to find high yields. Where do you get? Stock market is flat. Gold? Give me a break. Go into Bonds? Bonds have been flat again. That’s causing people to be more speculative and the place they’re going is in private equity, hedge funds or into venture. The venture industry has refueled itself with a tremendous amount of capital. This is one of the best times ever to be an entrepreneur. There is just tons of money chasing deals right now.”

Duncan - “One of the times you know when you should start a company is when you can raise the venture money. This is one of the best times. The capital markets are very open for venture money, the technology has improved so much, the business model is clear. The biggest problem you have is all the other 299 people starting the same stupid company that will get funded by the same Venture capital industry.”

It’s great as an entrepreneur to hear this. It’s an interesting perspective on why there is so much more money coming in now that is at once obvious once you hear it but certainly isn’t something that I think about on a regular basis.

Will there be a great company coming out this Web 2.0 wave?

Duncan - "Absolutely there will be great companies formed. I wish I knew what they were. Let’s go back through history. In the PC craze there was a PC bubble from ‘77 to ‘83. Most people probably don’t remember this bubble. ’83 was a stupid blowoff year, companies like Kentucky Friend Computers got funded. Same stupidity as Pets.com... Lots of companies got funded very few came out.”

Duncan -“If you put your money on the table in ’86 – ’87 in the top 40 PC companies, software and PC. You would have made 40 times your money in the next ten years. A tremendous return. Out of the PC bubble came around 40 companies and that became 20 great franchises and now we have a dozen great businesses that everyone knows.”

Duncan - “Coming out of the dot com bubble there were about 200 potential great companies. 5x more than before. So far at least 100 seem to be on track. It’s not just Yahoo and a few others but there are many many more out there that are doing quite well. We would expect that through this double bubble, Web 2.0 bubble, there will be a lot more companies funded than people imagine.” 

Duncan - “Back in the PC Craze the venture industry was big enough to stupidly fund 47 disk drive companies or 50 odd workstation companies and then a few survived. Now they have enough capital to fund 300 social networking companies and now they’ll probably fund 300 Flickrs for video. Coming out of that a bunch will come out that survive and thrive.”

I think this is a fascinating look at the historical trend. It is tempting to think in some ways that the game is done, that Google was the anomaly and that all the great companies that will be built on Web have already been started. Don't stop dreaming just yet!

Why did you switch from being entrepreneur to become a VC?

Duncan - “I think venture is something that people should do after they have gotten real experience operating companies and doing some startups… understand what the entrepreneurs are going through.”

Duncan - “Let me give you a story, you’re a venture guy and a company comes in. You make a stupid remark and they all nod as if you’re being very smart. You crack a dumb joke and they all laugh. Why? They’re trying to raise money and they’ll do whatever they can to make you like them and like the company. After a couple dozen of these you think hey they’re treating me like God, maybe I am God. Once you get like that you’re a dead duck… You’ll think you’re so smart that you know what you’re doing.”

Duncan - “I was in the venture business in the 80s during the PC Bubble”

Chris - “So you thought you were God?”

Duncan - “Of course. So later the crap was beaten out of me by a lot of smarter people and I eventually figured out that I really need to understand what I’m doing and work from the bottom up…. Maybe I’m an Archangel now.”

Too funny! I’ve been slowly getting myself more familiar with the VC world and I do find that most of the folks that I have met have a lot of good insights and interesting information to share. Having said that I will be the first to admit that if/when I go looking for money that I’ll probably laugh at my share of bad jokes too.

On Google disintermediating the VC industry and flipping companies

Duncan - “Flilckr is a great story but it’s not really a venture story it’s a story about something else. Flickr is the model... Flickr is a million dollars in and got bought by Yahoo for 25 million. It’s become a phenomenon. You ask yourself as an entrepreneur would I rather do a Flickr, do it cheap, get customers and flip or go the venture route and have all these people who think they’re God interfere with my life?” 

Duncan - “Google has such reach that it can take a new webservice and show it to people through Google Labs. It’s extremely hard to duplicate that with lots of venture money. As a consequence Google and to a lesser extent Yahoo can disintermediate a lot of venture investing. It’s better for the entrepreneur to start something with friends and family and flip it because the reach you get from Google is phenomenal rather than trying to go through the route of raising money.

Duncan - “There is a class of deal where a quick flip to Google makes sense because they can get an audience a lot quicker than a lot money put into the company can get an audience.”

Duncan writes more about this in his blog but I think that he’s got a really great point here. As an entrepreneur, what’s the best way to get your vision realized? Forget the money for a second. What’s the best way to bring your idea to life? Is it having VCs put a bunch of money in to help you get it to the point where it’s real or is it to have Google or Yahoo buy you so that you can get immediate distribution?

Forces you to question your motivations and that's a good thing.

Timeline

0:21 Background
1:34 His time at Intertrust during the Bubble
2:26 On starting Skypilot during the Bust
4:22 How do you know if you’re too early or too late?
5:10 How and why did you switch to become a VC?
6:18 Did you always want to be a VC?
6:42 Why Vantage Point?
7:45 What is Web 2.0?
9:04 What are the technologies driving this 10x improvement?
11:47 What is an example of a company that exhibits this? Is it Flickr?
13:00 On Google disintermediating VCs
13:56 What are examples of venture funded Web 2.0 companies?
17:42 Should you start a company when you don’t know what a business is about?
18:45 Are there are exits that you see beyond some company selling itself?
19:58 Will there be a new Ebay/Amazon/Yahoo or is Google is the last of the bunch?
22:10 What do you wish someone would come pitch you?

Interview with Robert Scoble (Microsoft - Chief Blogging Officer)

I had a wonderful conversation with Robert Scoble today who is a technical evangelist at Microsoft but who has also been called the Chief Blogging Officer. He says this isn't his official title but Wikipedia disagrees with him.

Our talk covered blogging of course, but we also talked a lot about Microsoft and how it’s changing in relation to this new Web 2.0 world we’re entering. One thing that really struck me is that Robert was a smart, nice guy who really just told it like it is (to the extent of not being boneheaded since he does work for Microsoft). He’s willing to say things that aren’t exactly the party line, like Microsoft came late to the web services party and that he is worried about the Open Source threat.

I’ve got highlights below and here’s the link to the audio. The timeline is at the end of the post.

HIGHLIGHTS:

How do you make the move to Microsoft? How did you convince them to embrace blogging?

Robert - “Ballmer said - I couldn’t stop it [blogging] anyways. They already had 80-100 bloggers when I got there. I just added fuel to the fire by bringing in an irreverent style of blogging… I told Bill Gates to split up the company.”

Even though I know that this is the case that Microsoft has a liberal blogging policy I’m still amazed by this. They really do get that there’s no point in trying to stop your folks from talking to the world. They’re doing it anyways. You can drive it underground or you can embrace and encourage it.

How do you know you’re being successful? Is it unique visitors?

Robert - “I hate that measure… I put up the video of the MSN Search team and Danny Sullivan and John Batelle linked to it. That to me means I’m more successful because those are the two guys in the industry who are the Search experts and the Community experts who are watching the Search world. Getting those two guys to say this is a good video means a lot to me… It brings very very focused traffic.”

Chris - “Good readers is more important to you than a lot of readers?”

Robert - “Yes, absolutely”

Chris - "How do you know if you’re getting good readers?"

Robert – “They tell me. …When you start getting email from Steve Jobs, from venture capitalists, from Dan Gilmour… if you’re getting interesting feedback… from people who are doing stuff that you look up to… that counts for a lot.”

Ultimately it’s being credible and well thought of in the community that drives traffic to you. Robert is well respected because he understands that and feeds off of that. Oh he also mentioned he did a little search engine optimization and that didn’t hurt.

Is there a marketing guy who tells you what to blog about?

Robert – “No. Part of the thing about Microsoft is hire smart people and let them do their job. We don’t have a blogging policy. We have a policy that says be smart”

Again, it looks like Microsoft totally understands the whole Cluetrain phenomena and knows to trust it’s people.

What’s the most uncomfortable moment you’ve had at Microsoft in regards to your blog or Channel 9?

Robert – “When I do stuff like tell people they should be fired for not having RSS Feeds, that caused a backlash… It’s not nice to tell someone they should be fired especially when they’re on your team… If you’re going to write in a way that you’re taking on the machine or a political system, you better do it with an end goal and a reason in mind, you better be willing to pay the consequences.”

One well known fact in the Valley – if you’re a startup don’t use the Microsoft stuff use the Open Source stuff. Is Microsoft worried?

Robert – “Yeah – I’m worried… They do [get that]… On Nov. 7 we are releasing Visual Studio and SQL Server Express Editions. Very low cost editions for hobbyists and entrepreneurs to get into the system without paying a price. This is direct reaction to feedback from entrepreneurs who say I’m a college kids and I want to start a business. I can’t afford to start it when you charge me a $1000.”

While this is great, I don’t think this is enough. The reality is that with open source software that the stuff is cheap and stays cheap over time. The fact that the open source solutions scale now should scare the heck out of Microsoft. I haven't seen an example of a startup using Microsoft stuff in a serious way. 

Now that Google and Yahoo are pushing APIs and web services, is that a worry for you guys?

Robert – “Absolutely, I worry about that all the time. Virtual Earth has APIs, MSN Messenger now has APIs. They never had APIs before.”

This is another proof point for why I'm such a big believer in free markets. The competition has forced Microsoft's hand and is making life better for everyone.

How does Microsoft feel about their data being used alongside Google functionality? Are you ok with that?

Robert – “Yes. If you’re going to be a platform player you have to be comfortable with other people being rich on top of your platform.”

It struck me that Robert's answer and Toni Schneider at Yahoo's answer were very similar. I think everyone realizes that you have to let your APIs be used in ways that you might not expect and which may be uncomfortable.

Why aren’t we seeing more mashups of Microsoft APIs?

Robert – “It’s not as sexy to say we built something on Microsoft, also we came in a little bit late… you’re struggling to get back the mojo”

What do you think about the fact that Google is being viewed as evil?

Robert – “Welcome to the club… There’s a cultural thing going on where when you’re the Yankees you’re hated… Google hasn’t figure out how to put a human face to their company yet… They’re trying to do big things and when you try to do big things you piss people off”

What does the future hold for you?

Robert – “I’m having a ball, I don’t want to mess that up… I get to see the inside of a big company in a way that very few people get to do… How many people really get to go across Microsoft and go see 500 people. Bill does, Steve Ballmer does…I don’t know where it goes from here. It’s already exceeded the dreams I ever had.”

Timeline

0:20 How did you make the move to Microsoft?
1:12 You didn’t ask for permission blog?
2:22 What is your job description?
3:44 How do you know you’re being successful?
5:45 How do you know if you’re getting good readers?
6:24 Is there a marketing guy who tells you what to blog about?
7:11 What’s the most uncomfortable moment you’ve had at Microsoft in regards to your blog or Channel 9?
9:41 Is there a secret agenda behind your blog?
10:32 Why does it take so long for Microsoft to get software out there?
14:30 Do you think Google wind up in the same position over time?
16:11 One well known fact in the Valley – if you’re a startup don’t use the Microsoft stuff use the Open Source stuff. Is Microsoft worried?
18:28 Now that Google and Yahoo are pushing APIs and web services, is that a worry for you guys?
19:20 How does Microsoft feel about their data being used alongside Google functionality?
20:15 Why aren’t we seeing more mashups of Microsoft APIs?
20:54 What do you think about the fact that Google is being viewed as evil?
23:09 What does the future hold for you?
25:54 If you were me what question would you be asking?

Interview with Toni Schneider (Yahoo - VP Developer Relations)

This is a repost from WSFinder Blog...I thought it fit more appropriately here.

I had a great conversation with Toni Schneider who is the VP of Developer Relations at Yahoo about Yahoo's strategy around APIs and what they are trying to do.

Toni is a really smart guy that really understands Web 2.0 and the power of opening up Yahoo as a platform for developers. 

I was originally going to do a full transcript of the interview but that turned out to be a TON of work. So I thought I’d summarize for folks and provide some key points that I thought Toni made during the interview

Here's the link to the audio.

On what his group at Yahoo does:

Toni - “Once an API is ready we launch it, we support it, we evangelize it, we make sure that developers build things and we help them build great things.…Clearly the end goal is to have great applications emerge.”

I think that this is terrific. The fact that he has a team of 12 people working on this shows that Yahoo is making a real commitment in this area.

On the business behind getting developers to create things on a Yahoo platform:

“It’s about driving more user signups, more activity on that platform, making that platform more useful to our users and eventually helping third parties monetize what they’re building on top of our platform and sharing in that revenue.”

This part is great but rather than making money say per API call Toni thinks that Yahoo they should get a cut of the revenue that a developer using their APIs gets.

Chris – "Isn’t that a good thing then if they pay you per API call because then you participate in the value that you’ve created?

Toni – "Yes except it would be better if it was free for them as well to use the API. ...But then we share in the revenue so that if someone makes tons of money then we get a cut of that.”

As an entrepreneur this makes me intensely uncomfortable.

I would like to have an easy pricing model so that I know what it costs me to get access to the data and functionality. I don’t want to give up a percentage of revenue if I get successful because that ends up potentially being very expensive to me. It’s harder for me to evaluate a build vs. buy decision at that point.

I think that what this will really lead to is people using the Yahoo APIs initially and then dumping them once they get traction because it will no longer be cost effective to use them on a rev share basis.

Yahoo and Google functionality and data mixing

Chris – “Let me ask you the hard question. If I want to do something commercial that had both Google functionality and Yahoo functionality and data would you say yes or no?”

Toni – “We say yes as long as it meets our criteria… I’m not sure what would happen if Yahoo says yes you can do it but you need to serve our ads and Google says the same thing”

This was a telling question. I was a little surprised to be honest that Yahoo was so open about letting their APIs and data be mixed in with Google APIs and data. I think that the rubber has yet to really hit the road though. There hasn’t been an example of this conflict crop up yet but it’s coming.

What does he wish people would build?

Toni - “If I can point to one area it’s mobile… Most of the apps we’re seeing are web apps which is great but I wish people would build more mobile apps.”

I think that the mobile space is getting hotter and Toni’s comments here reflect that. There’s a lot of open territory to use APIs and webservices to make mobile experiences great. So if you want to build something to flip maybe this is an area to look at! ;)

How much do you look at other developer networks? What works and doesn’t work?

Toni - “It’s been useful to see what guys like Ebay and Amazon have done… First thing that I did was hire Jeffery McManus who ran EBay’s developer program.”

Nice! I bet that anyone who is or has been in developer relations is in high demand now. 

Toni - “Our goal is to make it as simple and easy for people to get into the system without just making it complete free for all and causing a bunch of risks… We can look at some of the things they’ve done that have been too restrictive… built these artificial hurdles out of fear of what are these people going to do.” 

This totally makes sense as a philosophy. Let developer play as much as possible without restricting them. Who knows what cool stuff people will come up with?

Toni - “Amazon released stats that said 85% of usage is on REST, 85% of support load is on SOAP. We decided to go on REST. Flickr had similar statistics.”

Very interesting stuff here for folks who are thinking of releasing APIs. REST seems to be the way to go.

How will Yahoo handle competing with developers that use their APIs?

Toni - “We certainly hopefully will never steal someone’s idea… If we see something we like we’ll approach developers and say hey do you want to come work for us?...We haven’t seen something where somebody has built a product that we’re in the process of building and there’s a natural conflict there.”

This is always a tough line to walk. I think that the reality is that no company, Yahoo, Google or Microsoft will be able to do everything. There will always be room for entrepreneurs to create valuable things. There’s just always the risk that they see it and do it anyways. You run this risk whether you use their APIs or not.

What is the roadmap for Yahoo Developer Network?

Toni - “Fairly soon, next 3 weeks we’ll talk more about where this is going. Focus right now is on opening up internal APIs.”

Looks like people should be expecting some news from Yahoo soon!

Toni - “The next set of services on the roadmap are going move more towards content that we aggregate and personal content. We do this today with Flickr… this is where I personally think a lot of interesting applications start to happen.”

This ties very nicely into the talk that Terry Semel gave at Web 2.0. I think that this is a huge advantage that Yahoo will have over anyone else. They have a ton of content that no one else has.

Toni - “Our goal is over time to open up everything that makes sense. Always within reason protecting security, privacy and third party content rights. This is a major initiative for the company.”

Looks like the race is definitely on to get the APIs out there. It will be interesting to check back in and see the progress that will be made.

Web 2.0 real or hype? What is Web 2.0?

Toni - “The idea that web based products are no longer web pages that are developed in a vacuum... that was the web 1.0 model… Web 2.0 changes that model, you are no longer putting out web pages that live in your own little silo, you are putting out web services that go out all over the web in different forms and shades… We’ll see tens and hundreds of thousands, millions of web applications that show up on the web or mobile that tap into those services.”

Totally agree with Toni on this. This is real and it’s happening now.

Interview Timeline

0:21 - Toni Schneider Background/Oddpost Acquisition
1:12 - Why not run Yahoo mail? Why be VP of Developer Relations?
2:05 - What does it mean to be VP of Developer Relations?
2:55 - What is success for Yahoo Developer Network?
3:46 - How does this help Yahoo’s bottom line?
6:00 - Will there be a pricing model for the Yahoo APIs?
7:27 - Do you think it will always be an ad driven model?
8:29 - Isn’t pay per API a better way to do it?
9:09 - What’s the coolest example of Yahoo APIs in action?
11:36 - Is there something you wish people would go do?
12:42 - What about putting Yahoo data and Google data together?
13:29 - How much do you look at other developer networks? What works and doesn’t work?
14:27 - Are Ebay and Amazon the model to follow?
15:47 - How will Yahoo handle competing with developers that use their APIs?
17:48 - What is the roadmap for the Yahoo Developer Network?
20:24 - Web 2.0 real or hype? What is Web 2.0?
22:54 - Is there a question I didn’t ask you that I should have?