Jeff Lawson
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Summary

By William Channer | 8 Dec 2011 | Length: 22 mins

Jeff explains how he built a community around developers and why the demo is the most powerful asset for a startup. He also reveals the mindset of the purchasing developer and how to create a good API.

Jeff Lawson

Developing a Community and API for Developers

Advice

Designing intuitive APIs is hard, but my recommendation is to make sure your API makes sense as a user of your system, not the designer of the system. Design the API first. Many API developers release an API that’s based on their internal models. But you may suffer from the curse of knowledge, so make sure you think about how your customers will perceive your domain objects.

Bio
Jeff is co-founder and CEO of Twilio, where he brings over 10 years of entrepreneurial product leadership experience. Before Twilio, Jeff served as Product Manager for Amazon Web Services, and has held founding executive roles for NineStar, Stubhub and Versity.

Facts

Born : 1977, Cincinnati OH
Education : University of Michigan, Film & Computer Science
Favorite Film : Usual Suspects
Favorite Gadget : iPhone
Favorite Meal : Bi Bim Bop
Favorite Music : Classic Rock
Favorite Place : The Couch
Favorite Software : Keynote
Favorite Website : Explodingdog
First Job : Event videographer
Role Model : Jeff Bezos

Web

LinkedIn :

jeffiel

Twitter :

jeffiel