Continuing with yesterday’s post The Next Generation Competitor to Every Public SaaS Company, there’s a key component of modern SaaS apps that changes the market dynamic compared to 10 years ago: APIs. Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are how cloud applications “talk” with other cloud applications. Think about exchanging data, triggering features in remote applications, and generally interacting in an automated fashion — all made possible by APIs.
Now that most apps have usable APIs, connecting apps is far more common, and more importantly, the major apps don’t have to include the full breadth of modules natively. Instead, apps are more specialized and focused. Lock-in becomes less of an issue and there’s more competition throughout.
The API economy is at the core of another round of disruption. Look for this to play out in the next several years.
What else? What are some more thoughts on the API economy?
David Cummings on Startups 
Great post stressing the importance of the API Economy. Now, how do you get started in participating in the API Economy? Check out this video on Generating an API Business Model for your Business.
http://api-university.com/blog/what-is-the-business-model-of-your-api/
David, I’ve actually been surprised at the number of sales acceleration tools that offer a weak set of APIs if any at all. Are you seeing the same and conversely, is there anyone leading the pack?
Interesting companies like Mulesoft, stitching together a platform for an organization’s APIs.