3050: Kong - Harnessing the Power of APIs in a Data-Centric World

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[00:02:02] Application programming interfaces or APIs is something we talk about a lot on this show, but how do APIs serve as the backbone of our digital world?

[00:02:11] And what role do you think they'll play in the future of AI, artificial intelligence?

[00:02:17] Sorry to bombard you with two acronyms right in the middle of my intro here, but today I'm excited to be joined by Marco Palladino.

[00:02:25] He's the CTO and co-founder of Kong.

[00:02:28] And they're a company that's driving API technology for some of the largest organizations in the world.

[00:02:34] And with over $100 million in annual reoccurring revenue, not to mention empowering Fortune 500 companies and millions of developers globally,

[00:02:45] I want to learn more about the origin story of this company, his vision for an API-driven world,

[00:02:52] and what secured early backing from some pretty big industry giants.

[00:02:57] And yeah, I'm talking about Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt, to name but a few.

[00:03:02] So in today's episode, Marco's going to share Kong's origin story, their groundbreaking AI gateway,

[00:03:08] and how and why APIs are essential to the seamless integration of AI and businesses too.

[00:03:15] So, how did Kong go from bold idea to one of the most widely adopted API platforms in the world?

[00:03:21] And what does the future hold for API technologies as we transition into an AI-driven era?

[00:03:28] Let's dive in now.

[00:03:30] So, a massive warm welcome to the show.

[00:03:34] Can you tell everyone listening a little about who you are and what you do?

[00:03:38] My name is Marco Palladino, and I am the CTO and co-founder of Kong.

[00:03:42] I've been involved in the API space for a very long time, since when people were asking me,

[00:03:47] what is an API?

[00:03:49] And today, we are providing modern infrastructure for APIs and AI.

[00:03:55] And one of the things I always like to do with my guests on the podcast is find out more about the origin story.

[00:04:02] And of course, the origin story of Kong is nothing short of fascinating,

[00:04:06] with early backing from tech giants from Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt to so many more,

[00:04:14] so many more behind that story.

[00:04:15] So, can you share how you and I think it was Augusto Marietti convinced these people to invest in your business at such a young age,

[00:04:24] and how that early support maybe helped shape Kong's career?

[00:04:28] I've got a feeling there's a big story here.

[00:04:31] It is.

[00:04:31] It is a big story.

[00:04:33] Augusto and I are Italians, so we're immigrants here in the United States.

[00:04:38] And when we first had to build our business, not only we had to figure out one of the hardest things in the world,

[00:04:45] which is finding product market fit, we also had to figure out how to legally stay in the country.

[00:04:50] The idea was that if we had to work 15 hours a day, might as well do it where your chances of success could be slightly higher.

[00:05:00] And as we all know, Silicon Valley is the center of venture capital and venture funding.

[00:05:07] There is an ecosystem that's irreplaceable that cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world.

[00:05:12] Although there have been some attempts, Silicon Valley is still the place to be.

[00:05:17] And so we decided to fly in and we only had money for a week, believe it or not.

[00:05:24] And our return flight was three months later on a tourist visa.

[00:05:27] We built a prototype in Italy and then we showed up in San Francisco.

[00:05:33] And only money for a week, we start emailing people around if somebody could help us.

[00:05:36] Turns out that one of these people replied to us.

[00:05:39] It was Travis Kalanick, what wouldn't be in the future the CEO of Uber.

[00:05:45] At the time, he sold his first company.

[00:05:47] Uber was not even in the picture yet, but he was doing philanthropy.

[00:05:50] So he was helping us a lot.

[00:05:53] And thanks to him, I actually hosted at our place in San Francisco.

[00:05:57] He was actually hosting international entrepreneurs coming to us to build businesses.

[00:06:02] And we stayed with him and he helped us a lot introducing us to the Silicon Valley network,

[00:06:09] which is really the key thing we learned.

[00:06:12] Silicon Valley seems like an open place, but really is a very close place.

[00:06:16] You need to meet people and know people to be able to get interactions to other people because your network essentially filters out yourself.

[00:06:26] And it validates the interaction.

[00:06:29] And so really, we decided to stay at Travis Place.

[00:06:33] They kicked us out.

[00:06:34] We went to sleep with some other guys that were like renting air mattresses on the ground.

[00:06:40] Those were the founders of Airbnb when Airbnb was like 10 people.

[00:06:43] Brian Chesky, Joe Gabia.

[00:06:45] We really wanted to build our own business.

[00:06:48] And so we never joined any of these companies, right?

[00:06:50] We never ever participated.

[00:06:52] We were there to build our dream of building a long lasting organization.

[00:06:55] And the first business we built was an API marketplace.

[00:06:59] APIs at the time were very early.

[00:07:01] It was very new.

[00:07:02] People did not know that APIs were going to be bid.

[00:07:05] But Awusa and I had the vision that the world was going to be ruled by APIs.

[00:07:10] And we would build software like an assembly line.

[00:07:14] We could take existing APIs, compose them together into an application and build new software just like that.

[00:07:21] So if we fast forwarded 10 years and that world became a reality, what do we need in a world like that?

[00:07:28] Well, we need a marketplace for APIs.

[00:07:30] And so 10 years before we thought that would become a reality, we built a marketplace for APIs, Mache.

[00:07:35] It was too early.

[00:07:36] So there was adoption, but it wasn't a business model.

[00:07:40] And then we pivoted down the road to Kong, which is our current business.

[00:07:45] How did we meet people?

[00:07:47] That was one of your questions.

[00:07:48] Well, we met them simply by working long hours in a foreign country and never giving up.

[00:07:53] I think that looking back, starting at 21 years old, we were 21 when we first came to the U.S.

[00:08:00] 21 years old really gave us the irrational strength to be able to go through every obstacle without giving up.

[00:08:09] Because giving up for us really meant taking that economy flight, middle seat row, going back to Italy and really feeling like a failure.

[00:08:19] And we couldn't do that.

[00:08:20] And so we just stayed until we could figure it out.

[00:08:24] Wow, what a great story.

[00:08:25] And man, flying in the middle seat back to Europe from the U.S., I've been there a few times, is not the greatest.

[00:08:32] And as you said, I mean, fast forward to present day, we looked down our news feed, you could be forgiven for thinking it's the age of AI.

[00:08:39] But I've always said it's the age of APIs, which are often described as the backbone for the entire digital world that we all reside in.

[00:08:48] So for anybody unfamiliar, though, I don't want to get people left behind as we're talking acronyms here.

[00:08:53] Can you just explain exactly what an API is and why it's so crucial to the functioning of modern technologies like AI, like digital payments?

[00:09:01] And even crypto.

[00:09:04] API is a technology that is at the backbone of the Internet.

[00:09:09] Every time we order pizza online, every time we order flight tickets online, every time we order an Uber, every time we get paid, every time something happens in the digital world,

[00:09:20] the underlying technology that allows that to happen is an API.

[00:09:24] And the API runs on the Internet.

[00:09:27] As a matter of fact, we could even say that APIs are the new Internet.

[00:09:31] The Internet as we know it, made of blog posts and websites and emails, you know, back in the days, that Internet got replaced by APIs.

[00:09:39] Everything is API driven today.

[00:09:40] APIs are a technology that allow any application to be able to communicate with a server or to be able to communicate with a database to extract data from a server somewhere.

[00:09:52] So, for example, Google Maps.

[00:09:53] Everybody is familiar with Google Maps.

[00:09:55] Everybody has Google Maps on their phone.

[00:09:58] We all know that Google Maps doesn't actually store the world maps on our phone.

[00:10:04] It needs to connect to the Google servers to fetch that map and show it to us.

[00:10:08] The way it does that, it is over the Internet.

[00:10:10] But the technology that allows that to happen, it's called an API.

[00:10:13] So, really, API, it is at the core of our digital world.

[00:10:17] And today, the whole world, without even knowing it, is running billions, trillions of API calls in their day-to-day to pretty much do anything they do over the Internet.

[00:10:29] You've done a beautiful job of explaining that.

[00:10:32] And as you said, APIs, they do drive this seamless interaction between all the different digital services that we use, whether it be in the workplace, whether in our personal lives.

[00:10:42] I've got to ask as well.

[00:10:43] What role do you see them playing in supporting emerging technologies, too?

[00:10:49] Well, I mean, you mean for APIs, how APIs support emerging technologies?

[00:10:53] Well, essentially, everything that's over the Internet, like we said earlier, it is an API.

[00:10:58] So, for example, AI, the emergence of Gen AI and the LLM providers like ChatGPT, like OpenAI, Azure AI, and so on and so forth, they're all powered by APIs.

[00:11:10] Because APIs, it is how we use AI in our systems.

[00:11:14] It is what enables that communication to happen to begin with.

[00:11:19] So, APIs are supporting not only existing digital traffic, but they're also supporting emerging technologies that need to be used by our applications.

[00:11:28] And APIs, it is that line of communication that makes it possible.

[00:11:32] So, as we can see, the vision of an API-driven world eventually became a reality.

[00:11:41] When we first started, it was not clear that that was going to be the case.

[00:11:46] Because back in those days, our applications were built in a monolithic way.

[00:11:50] They were not really communicating with anything else.

[00:11:52] And then with mobile smartphones coming out, everybody needs to build a mobile application.

[00:11:57] Everybody needs to have an API to enable that communication.

[00:12:00] That's really how APIs, as we know them today, started.

[00:12:03] And now they are encompassing everything, including emergent technologies like AI.

[00:12:06] And if we bring these acronyms together, APIs, Application Programming Interfaces, and AI, Artificial Intelligence, of course,

[00:12:15] as AI becomes increasingly integrated into business operations, how do you envision APIs further evolving to support this AI-driven future,

[00:12:25] particularly through Kong's AI gateway?

[00:12:28] Anything you can share around that?

[00:12:30] Yeah, the more AI, the more API.

[00:12:33] That's what we see here at Kong.

[00:12:35] Look, Kong provides modern platforms for managing, securing, connecting APIs in the world.

[00:12:43] So we work with developers, and we work with the enterprise organizations that have an API strategy to be able to drive their digital products.

[00:12:52] Every product, every company today is a digital company.

[00:12:56] They all have websites, mobile apps.

[00:12:58] They're all integrating with AI.

[00:13:00] They all have quite sophisticated systems.

[00:13:03] And APIs, it is what allowed all of this to work.

[00:13:06] So for an organization, it is very important to have an API strategy.

[00:13:10] Because APIs, it is not only the technology that allows them to build new applications.

[00:13:15] It is also the technology that allows them to get the business outcomes that they want to reach, being able to enter new markets,

[00:13:21] being able to establish new partnerships with other organizations, being able to capture new platforms, new trends, like AI, for example.

[00:13:30] You know, we went from the web era to the mobile era, to the cloud native era, and now we're entering the AI era.

[00:13:37] And for each one of these eras, APIs were the underlying theme, the underlying standbreak that made all of these new applications possible.

[00:13:47] So we provide platforms for developers and organizations to really unleash the power of APIs in their organizations,

[00:13:55] to be able to build these applications in a much better way, to be able to integrate with emerging technologies in a much better way,

[00:14:02] to be able to capture as much value as possible in the digital world.

[00:14:07] And APIs, obviously, are quite fundamental to all that we do.

[00:14:12] The performance of APIs matter.

[00:14:14] The security of APIs matter.

[00:14:15] And so we provide all of that out of the box.

[00:14:18] This is really what Khan does in the world of APIs.

[00:14:22] Now, with AI, we said that AI is also powered by APIs because you consume AI using an API.

[00:14:30] So everything I just said also applies to AI.

[00:14:33] But with AI, there is one twist.

[00:14:35] In order to be able to provide even more value on top of our AI consumption,

[00:14:40] we need to semantically understand what is that we are asking AI to do.

[00:14:47] Semantically understand means really understanding the meaning of the operations we're asking AI to do.

[00:14:53] For example, if we ask AI, you know, how long it takes to cook a steak,

[00:15:00] and we ask AI how long it takes to cook a ribeye, you know, semantically we're asking the same thing using different words.

[00:15:07] Now, with Khan, we built a semantic intelligence capability that allows us to understand AI traffic at a semantic level.

[00:15:15] So we know exactly the meaning and the intent of what is that we're asking AI to do.

[00:15:21] And based on that meaning, we can provide intelligent routing, intelligent caching, intelligent security.

[00:15:26] We can provide some capabilities that go above and beyond the traditional API infrastructure that organizations are running today.

[00:15:36] And so combining this API platform that we have with the AI semantic intelligence we developed on top of this platform,

[00:15:44] we can fully cover all bases when it comes to API and AI consumption.

[00:15:49] And something else I wanted to highlight today was I was reading before you came on the podcast that Kong has also recently surpassed $100 million in annual reoccurring revenue,

[00:16:00] as well as serving Fortune 500 companies and literally millions of developers around the world.

[00:16:06] So I've got to ask, what do you attribute this success to?

[00:16:09] And how do you plan to continue scaling in the rapidly changing tech landscape for the rise of AI and even quantum on the horizon?

[00:16:18] There's so much going on right now.

[00:16:20] But where do you go from here?

[00:16:21] How do you continue scaling?

[00:16:24] I attribute our success to two different factors.

[00:16:28] First, it is technology.

[00:16:30] We are very proud of the technology that we've built.

[00:16:33] And Kong exists today because our technology, it is best in class versus what everybody else can provide.

[00:16:39] We provided the lowest latency, the highest performance, the best extensibility of the platform compared to everybody else that we're competing with.

[00:16:48] And all of our competitors, they were actually born in the older SOA world, if you remember in the mid-2000s.

[00:16:56] So they evolved from the SOA world into this new cloud-native world, but they're not doing it very well because cloud-native is fundamentally a different world than the old monolithic world.

[00:17:07] And so they are monolithic themselves.

[00:17:09] So our technology has been built to be lightweight, to be fast-performance, extensible, secure.

[00:17:14] And that's how we win the hearts and minds of the developers.

[00:17:17] And then we obsess over our enterprise customers that we work with to enable them to adopt our technology, but then being able to unlock value in how they're running their business.

[00:17:28] And so we are investing a significant amount of resources globally to make sure that we can support our footprint, our customer footprint, with the best customer success resources, the best technical support resources, to make sure that our technology is being used the right way within the organizations that we work with.

[00:17:48] But again, it all starts from the technology.

[00:17:50] The technology, it is phenomenal.

[00:17:53] And today, if you look at the landscape of API technologies in the world, you'll find out that Kong is the most adopted one in the developer community.

[00:18:02] It is, you know, we're working with 800 enterprise organizations across the world to power all of their APIs and AI strategies.

[00:18:09] So it is really coming from a place of pride for the products and technology that we build.

[00:18:17] And I also want to introduce everyone listening to Kong Connect, which is your flagship platform.

[00:18:23] So can you tell me a little bit more about that, especially with the introduction of the AI gateway and API gateway?

[00:18:30] It seems that from the outside looking in it, it seems you're breaking new ground here.

[00:18:34] So can you walk me through some of those innovations and their significance to companies that are looking to leverage both AI and APIs,

[00:18:42] which I suspect is an increasing number of businesses out there?

[00:18:46] When we started Kong, we started with building an API platform, API gateway platform, first and foremost.

[00:18:54] But then we have learned that there are different API connectivity use cases where API gateway is not always the best technology.

[00:19:01] And so over time, we shipped a service mesh.

[00:19:03] We shipped, you know, the AI gateway, the inverse controllers for Kubernetes.

[00:19:08] We shipped different technologies to take care of different aspects of our API connectivity.

[00:19:16] We have learned over time as our customers were adopting the gateways, the service meshes, the inverse controllers.

[00:19:22] We have learned that what they really wanted was a Uber control plane where they could manage all of their APIs,

[00:19:29] all of their services deployed across all of these different technologies.

[00:19:33] They could manage them from one unified single pane of glass, right?

[00:19:36] So one pane of glass to manage the API portfolio and connectivity and configuration of all of the APIs running across ingresses, meshes, gateways, and so on and so forth.

[00:19:48] So we built Connect as that platform.

[00:19:51] So Connect is our unified end-to-end control plane that allows an organization to have a unified point of view, a unified catalog, a unified configuration management control plane for all of the APIs running across any line of business, across every application.

[00:20:10] This gives them visibility and control to be able to iterate over their API strategy and being able to modernize it, being able to make it better, being able to find inefficiencies, for example, like duplicate APIs or APIs that are not being maintained anymore,

[00:20:28] being able to essentially have a full picture of all the APIs that are happening.

[00:20:32] You see, without Connect, the organization is blind.

[00:20:35] You know, different lines of businesses, different teams, they own their own API kingdom, but nobody really owns the full picture.

[00:20:42] And really, this is what Connect is.

[00:20:44] It is an opportunity for us.

[00:20:46] It's a platform that gives the full picture over all the API connectivity we have.

[00:20:51] And I think I'm right in saying that the concept of an AI gateway is relatively new.

[00:20:56] So how does Kong AI's gateway differ from, let's say, those traditional API gateways?

[00:21:02] And what would you say are the unique advantages that it offers businesses seeking to integrate AI into their operations?

[00:21:09] Because we hear a lot about the new emerging technologies, what everyone's talking about.

[00:21:13] But ultimately, what advantages does it offer?

[00:21:16] What business value does it generate as well?

[00:21:20] And what ROI does it offer?

[00:21:22] So what advantages does it deliver to the businesses, would you say?

[00:21:26] You see, AI gateway is one of those products that actually came out thanks to our obsession with customers and their success.

[00:21:33] While we were working with our customers and Gen AI became a new trend in technology, as we all know,

[00:21:40] you know, our customers, some of them, they started to tell us how they were building these infrastructure to manage traffic

[00:21:47] that was going across one or more LLM, one or more Gen AI provider.

[00:21:53] And they were telling us how they were dealing with these observability challenges, security challenges.

[00:21:57] You know, everybody is very concerned about potentially leaking sensitive customer data in a public model, you know, things like that.

[00:22:06] And thanks to our conversations with them, we actually identified this as being a use case that we could be covering for all of them.

[00:22:15] And so Kong was actually a leader in AI infrastructure in the world.

[00:22:19] We are at the forefront, at the cutting edge of what AI infrastructure is for the enterprise,

[00:22:24] because we were one of the first company, not the first company,

[00:22:27] that provided an AI platform that could hook into our broader Connect platform and give full access and control of every AI traffic across every LLM.

[00:22:39] So today, our AI product allows to deploy infrastructure to enable the teams that are using AI to more easily implement with multiple models,

[00:22:50] to be able to route and load balance across multiple models,

[00:22:53] to really treat the AI model as a product in and per se,

[00:22:57] in a way that it can be versioned, be continuously fine-tuned, it can be improved,

[00:23:01] and then it can be connected with the applications that we're building.

[00:23:05] And then on top of this traffic, we provide semantic guardrails to secure the traffic,

[00:23:10] make sure that the usage of AI is always proper,

[00:23:12] we're not doing something that we should not be doing.

[00:23:15] We are semantically caching AI to accelerate AI up to 20x,

[00:23:21] in order to be able to build better end-user experiences that are powered by AI.

[00:23:26] AI can be very intelligent, but it can also be very slow.

[00:23:29] Improving the performance of AI by 20x unlocks a whole new class of applications we could be building for our customers on top of AI,

[00:23:38] because it makes it faster, it makes it quicker.

[00:23:40] Nobody wants to wait for AI to process the request,

[00:23:43] especially someone who's trying to book a flight or book a restaurant somewhere for dinner.

[00:23:49] And so everything is powered by APIs.

[00:23:51] APIs are being enhanced by AI.

[00:23:53] AI has to be as fast as APIs if we want to build compelling user experiences.

[00:23:59] And so we accelerate the AI, we secure the AI, we monitor and observe the AI,

[00:24:03] we provide essentially everything the organization needs to know when it comes to that AI traffic,

[00:24:08] and when it comes to enabling that AI traffic.

[00:24:10] And this, combined with everything else that we do,

[00:24:13] really covers all bases when it comes to API and AI traffic.

[00:24:17] And we are in a period of the incredible pace of technological change.

[00:24:23] It seems to be showing no sign of slowing down.

[00:24:26] If anything, it might never move this slow again.

[00:24:28] And we are literally months ahead from 2025 now.

[00:24:32] So if we were to look ahead,

[00:24:34] what are some of the biggest challenges and equally opportunities that you see for the broader API industry,

[00:24:40] as companies increasingly rely on APIs to connect and power their digital ecosystems and also embracing AI?

[00:24:48] What are you seeing in the months ahead there?

[00:24:51] Well, the world of APIs is obviously, like we spoke earlier,

[00:24:56] it's at the backbone of everything we do.

[00:24:58] And organizations that have a very good API strategy

[00:25:02] are the ones that are going to be able to unlock lots of value in the marketplace.

[00:25:07] Look at Amazon.

[00:25:08] Amazon wasn't the first e-commerce company in the world,

[00:25:11] but it was the first one that had an API strategy in such a way that AWS could become a reality.

[00:25:17] And now it's a $100 billion business for Amazon, right?

[00:25:19] So having an API strategy, it is even more important.

[00:25:23] Now with the emergence of AI, emergence of new digital use cases,

[00:25:27] we need to have a plan and a playbook for the rollout of API and AI infrastructure in the organization

[00:25:34] to accelerate entering this new AI era, which is going to be as big as the mobile era.

[00:25:41] It's going to be as big as the cloud native era.

[00:25:44] And being able to capture this new AI era,

[00:25:47] being able to develop applications that take fully advantage of it,

[00:25:51] it is dependent on the strategic thinking and the strategic ability to put in place a platform

[00:25:57] that allows the organization to be successful.

[00:26:00] So organizations truly have to think about how they're going to make these scale,

[00:26:03] because the ones that figure out how to scale it are the ones that are going to succeed,

[00:26:07] and the other ones are going to be disrupted.

[00:26:09] And every technology shift in the world, like the good old John Chambers,

[00:26:14] the ex-CEO of Cisco used to say,

[00:26:16] all technologies in the world,

[00:26:18] all the disruptions that happen in the world,

[00:26:21] those are the ones that make or break organizations.

[00:26:23] It is the technology transitions that we witness

[00:26:25] and the ability to capture them versus the ability to not capture them.

[00:26:30] And organizations that become successful

[00:26:31] are the ones that can disrupt themselves and capture these new transitions.

[00:26:35] Well, in front of our eyes, we have the AI transition,

[00:26:37] which is probably the biggest transition we've ever seen

[00:26:41] since the invention of mobile applications.

[00:26:44] And so here we are at the crossroads of AI.

[00:26:49] Wow.

[00:26:50] That's a powerful moment to end on.

[00:26:52] But before I do let you go,

[00:26:53] we started the conversation talking about the origin story of Kong,

[00:26:58] that early backing from tech giants like Jeff Bezos, for example.

[00:27:04] But now as we find ourselves coming full circle,

[00:27:06] I want you to look back at your career now.

[00:27:09] And what was the funniest or most interesting story

[00:27:13] that has happened in your career?

[00:27:14] Because I would imagine throughout your career,

[00:27:16] there's been a few of those.

[00:27:17] Some you'll be able to share, some you won't.

[00:27:19] But what would you like to share with us today?

[00:27:23] There have been many,

[00:27:25] but perhaps one that was pivotal for us

[00:27:27] was when we raised our first angel investment

[00:27:30] from three angel investors,

[00:27:33] early YouTube employees at the time.

[00:27:37] Remember how I told you we were only in the US for three months

[00:27:41] and we had to respond in those three months?

[00:27:43] Well, it turns out that we only had three weeks left

[00:27:46] and that return flight home

[00:27:48] was more and more real in front of our eyes.

[00:27:51] And the less time we had

[00:27:52] and the more desperate we operated.

[00:27:55] And so three weeks before having to go back with no funding,

[00:27:59] there was this event at Stanford.

[00:28:01] There was an entrepreneurship event at Stanford

[00:28:04] where there were like a thousand people,

[00:28:07] angel investors, journalists, bloggers,

[00:28:09] everybody in the industry.

[00:28:12] At one point at the reception desk,

[00:28:14] the person who was checking everybody,

[00:28:16] their name and their registration,

[00:28:18] left the table,

[00:28:19] probably went to the restroom or something.

[00:28:21] We stole the whole list of registrants,

[00:28:24] the whole list, thousands of people.

[00:28:26] Later that day, we went home

[00:28:28] and we started emailing everybody in that list.

[00:28:31] Hey, this is Marco Augusto.

[00:28:33] You know, we met at this event.

[00:28:35] This is what we're doing.

[00:28:36] Even people we have never met,

[00:28:38] we didn't know who these people were.

[00:28:39] But at that point,

[00:28:40] we didn't have any more options, right?

[00:28:43] It was it.

[00:28:43] You know, a few weeks later,

[00:28:45] the flight back home was a daunting,

[00:28:47] daunting, daunting event

[00:28:49] that was coming up upon us.

[00:28:51] And so we started emailing everybody.

[00:28:53] And eventually, this one guy replies,

[00:28:55] this one guy out of a thousand replies.

[00:28:57] And he says, look, guys,

[00:28:59] I don't know who you are.

[00:29:00] And I'm sure I have not met you.

[00:29:02] But I like the input.

[00:29:04] I like the input.

[00:29:05] I like how you guys operate.

[00:29:07] I like the, you know,

[00:29:08] the aggressiveness of this situation.

[00:29:10] So, you know, let's meet

[00:29:11] and show me what you guys have.

[00:29:13] And that's how we convinced

[00:29:15] our first angel investor

[00:29:16] to invest into Kong.

[00:29:18] That allowed us down the road

[00:29:20] to build a better business,

[00:29:22] being able to then get the business,

[00:29:23] the green cars,

[00:29:24] the citizenships,

[00:29:24] you know, and all of that.

[00:29:25] And being able to continue our dream.

[00:29:28] It all boiled down to a few weeks

[00:29:30] and it all boiled down

[00:29:31] to that person

[00:29:32] leaving the registration desk

[00:29:34] so that we could catch

[00:29:35] the opportunity to email everybody.

[00:29:37] Oh, man.

[00:29:38] Things like that blow my mind.

[00:29:40] It's almost like the universe

[00:29:41] gives you a little nudge

[00:29:42] in the right direction

[00:29:43] at that exact moment.

[00:29:44] And not only that,

[00:29:45] it's almost like the stars aligned,

[00:29:47] you know, you've got the list.

[00:29:48] But now you've emailed

[00:29:49] a thousand people

[00:29:50] and no one replies.

[00:29:51] But that one guy,

[00:29:52] I don't know,

[00:29:53] I hear so many similar stories

[00:29:56] like that on my podcast.

[00:29:57] It's so powerful

[00:29:58] just hearing about the tenacity,

[00:30:00] the resilience

[00:30:01] and making stuff happen.

[00:30:03] So that's a story

[00:30:04] that I will remember

[00:30:05] for many, many years to come.

[00:30:08] But for anyone listening

[00:30:09] wanting to find out

[00:30:10] more information

[00:30:11] about anything

[00:30:11] we talked about today

[00:30:13] and check out Kong, etc.,

[00:30:14] where would you like

[00:30:15] to point everyone listening?

[00:30:17] Of course.

[00:30:18] The best way to get started

[00:30:19] with Kong

[00:30:19] is our website,

[00:30:21] konghq.com.

[00:30:23] And you can find me

[00:30:24] on Twitter,

[00:30:25] my handle,

[00:30:26] or X,

[00:30:27] instead of Twitter,

[00:30:28] my handle is

[00:30:30] subnetmarco.

[00:30:31] You know,

[00:30:32] I'm very public.

[00:30:33] I'm out there.

[00:30:34] I'm very reachable.

[00:30:35] So if anybody wants

[00:30:36] to get in touch,

[00:30:37] I'll be happy

[00:30:37] to respond to them.

[00:30:39] Well, thank you so much

[00:30:41] for coming on the podcast today.

[00:30:42] Talking about your origin story,

[00:30:45] sharing some powerful stats there,

[00:30:48] from achieving

[00:30:49] $100 million

[00:30:51] annual reoccurring revenue,

[00:30:52] providing AI,

[00:30:53] API technologies

[00:30:55] to Fortune 500s

[00:30:57] and millions of programmers

[00:30:58] around the world.

[00:30:59] But it's not just

[00:31:00] the story you've been on,

[00:31:01] it's where you're going,

[00:31:02] breaking new ground in AI,

[00:31:03] providing that functionality

[00:31:05] through your AI gateway

[00:31:07] that allows companies

[00:31:08] to leverage

[00:31:09] a wide range

[00:31:10] of AI services

[00:31:11] that are increasingly

[00:31:12] becoming critical

[00:31:13] to everyday operations.

[00:31:15] But just a big thank you

[00:31:16] for sharing all that

[00:31:17] and leaving me

[00:31:17] with that great story

[00:31:18] at the end too.

[00:31:19] Thanks for joining me today,

[00:31:20] Marco.

[00:31:21] Yeah, thank you.

[00:31:22] Thank you all

[00:31:22] for the opportunity.

[00:31:23] You know,

[00:31:23] everything at the end

[00:31:24] of the day we connect.

[00:31:25] We came to the US

[00:31:26] with an idea of building

[00:31:27] an iconic,

[00:31:28] long-lasting organization.

[00:31:30] And 15 years later,

[00:31:31] this is our chance now.

[00:31:32] I think today's conversation

[00:31:34] with Marco highlights

[00:31:35] the fundamental role

[00:31:37] APIs play

[00:31:38] in shaping

[00:31:38] the digital landscape

[00:31:39] and also how Kong

[00:31:41] is pushing boundaries

[00:31:43] of innovation

[00:31:43] with its AI gateway.

[00:31:46] So as companies

[00:31:47] integrate AI

[00:31:48] into their operations,

[00:31:49] I think Kong's technology

[00:31:51] is ultimately making it

[00:31:52] faster and easier

[00:31:53] to manage APIs,

[00:31:55] ensuring seamless performance

[00:31:57] and,

[00:31:57] most importantly,

[00:31:58] security,

[00:31:59] of course.

[00:31:59] And I love Marco's journey

[00:32:02] though,

[00:32:02] from coming to the US

[00:32:03] with a vision for API

[00:32:05] sat in that middle seat

[00:32:06] on the aircraft

[00:32:07] to building a platform

[00:32:08] that now serves millions

[00:32:10] really does remind me

[00:32:11] of the power

[00:32:12] of persistence

[00:32:14] and innovation.

[00:32:16] So as AI continues

[00:32:17] to transform industries,

[00:32:19] how will you

[00:32:20] and your business

[00:32:21] evolve your API strategy

[00:32:23] to stay ahead?

[00:32:25] Obviously,

[00:32:26] you can connect with Marco

[00:32:27] and his team at Kong,

[00:32:29] but I'd also love to hear

[00:32:30] your stories firsthand.

[00:32:31] If you've got any questions,

[00:32:33] any comments,

[00:32:34] you want to add to a discussion,

[00:32:35] you want to join me

[00:32:36] on the show,

[00:32:36] whatever it is,

[00:32:37] LinkedIn,

[00:32:38] Twitter,

[00:32:39] Instagram,

[00:32:39] just at Neil C. Hughes

[00:32:41] or email me directly

[00:32:44] techblogwriteroutlook.com.

[00:32:45] Now,

[00:32:45] I do have an overzealous

[00:32:47] junk folder

[00:32:48] of my outlook,

[00:32:49] so if you do email me

[00:32:51] and I don't get back to you,

[00:32:52] please send me a DM

[00:32:53] on one of the social platforms

[00:32:54] and I'll get straight back to you.

[00:32:57] But that's it for today.

[00:32:58] I'll be back again tomorrow.

[00:32:59] You're not going to have to wait

[00:33:00] too long for another episode.

[00:33:02] Hopefully,

[00:33:02] you'll join me again there.

[00:33:04] But that's it for today.

[00:33:05] Bye for now.