Product in Practice: Evaluating If a New API is Needed

Teresa Torres profiles Chi Phan, a senior PM who was asked to evaluate whether her company should build an API to automate a manual order-fulfillment process between consumers, vendors and her company. Chi used internal interviews, shadowing, story mapping, and vendor conversations to find the main bottlenecks, particularly order creation and KYC document collection. She validated the idea with leadership, co-created the API spec with developers and vendors, and released it in phases. The launch exposed a gap: large customers were not prioritizing adoption, so Chi shifted to smaller customers and direct outreach. The story shows that discovery applies to API products and that customer business strategy strongly shapes adoption.

01Key takeaways

• Discovery applies to API products just as it does to other new 0-to-1 products.
• Map the manual workflow internally first, then validate pain points with the external customers who use it.
• Narrow scope by identifying which segments drive most complexity, such as the 10 countries needing extra documents.
• Co-create API specs with developers and customers before coding to catch concerns early.
• Adoption depends on the customer's own strategy and timing, so check their priorities before launch.
• Getting core functionality right lets you pivot to smaller customers when big ones delay adoption.

02Key sections

Internal discovery of the manual process

Chi mapped the existing manual workflow by talking to colleagues, shadowing teams, and studying KYC requirements. She found that only 10 of 60 countries needed extra documentation, narrowing the scope.

Vendor discovery and wireframing

Chi joined vendor business reviews and interviewed vendor product and tech teams to find their biggest pains. She wireframed generic inputs and outputs to support varied vendor workflows.

Stakeholder alignment and co-creation

Chi presented revenue and efficiency arguments to VPs, then co-created REST API specs with developers and tested them with vendors through frequent calls.

Phased release

The API launched as a minimum sellable product covering 50 countries, then added extra KYC handling for complex countries and bulk draft orders.

Post-launch adoption lessons

Large customers were focused on other strategies, so Chi targeted smaller customers and developers already testing the API, driving adoption despite the setback.

03From the post

“It’s one thing to iterate on an existing product. It’s a whole other challenge to identify brand-new products to offer. The same is true for API products. The difficulties you face from going to 0 to 1—understanding your customer, identifying what will differentiate your product, building”

04Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.