CHABOT

API-first companies

4 minute read 963 words

API-first companies adopted many modern DevRel practices early. Because developers access their products through code, documentation, SDKs, and onboarding affect both product evaluation and adoption.

Twilio

Twilio (founded 2008 by Jeff Lawson, Evan Cooke, John Wolthuis) is a frequently cited reference for API-first DevRel. In the 2010s it popularised or refined several standard practices: heavy investment in advocate hiring, a large developer conference, an evangelist-led brand, and executive commitment to DevRel.

  • DevRel team. One of the largest in the API segment. Historically led at the executive level by Carter Rabasa, then Rob Spectre, Greg Baugues, Brent Schooley, and others through different eras.
  • SIGNAL. Annual flagship conference, first held in San Francisco in the 2010s. By 2026 SIGNAL operates as a global builder/customer conference (May 6 to 7 2026 was in San Francisco, with London editions in odd years).
  • Twilio Quest. Gamified learning platform for developers.
  • TwilioCon (now SIGNAL) and field events. Substantial sponsorship presence at OSCON, JavaOne, Velocity, and developer-focused regional events historically.

SendGrid

Acquired by Twilio in 2019. Pre-acquisition, SendGrid had its own well-regarded developer relations function: Tim Falls and Brandon West (formerly at SendGrid, later at AWS) shaped a generation of API-first DevRel thinking. SendGrid’s DevRel was absorbed into Twilio’s broader org.

Stripe

Stripe (founded 2010 by Patrick and John Collison) operates a DevRel model distinct from Twilio’s: less evangelist-driven, more documentation-and-experience-driven.

  • Documentation. Frequently cited as an example of effective API documentation (stripe.com/docs). Combines reference, conceptual content, and interactive code samples.
  • Stripe Sessions. Annual customer/developer event (typically late April / early May in San Francisco). Includes builder keynote, hands-on workrooms, certification exams.
  • Stripe Sigma. Customer-facing data product used by power developers.
  • Stripe Apps platform. Developer-extensibility surface announced at Stripe Sessions in May 2022.
  • Patrick Collison’s developer engagement. Stripe’s CEO maintains an unusually visible developer-facing presence (blog, public discussion of internal systems, technical engagement).

Postman

Postman (founded 2014 by Abhinav Asthana) is a widely used API platform tool, with a reported user base of more than 40 million.

  • POST/CON. Annual flagship conference (POST/CON 25 in 2025, with thousands of API developer attendees). Strong AI-and-APIs emphasis in recent editions.
  • Postman Student Program. Education-focused initiative for university students.
  • Postman Galaxy / Postman Academy. Training program with certification and badges.
  • Postman Open Technologies. Spec and standards work (OpenAPI, AsyncAPI, etc.).
  • Public API Network. Discovery directory of public APIs hosted in Postman, which functions as a major developer-marketing surface.

Auth0 / Okta

Auth0 (founded 2013, acquired by Okta 2021) maintains a high-profile developer-content-led DevRel function.

  • Auth0 Ambassadors. Voluntary ambassador program providing speaker travel sponsorship, meetup support, and exclusive events.
  • Auth0 Blog. Long-form, technically deep content on identity, security, and OAuth/OIDC. One of the standard references on the open web for OAuth implementation guidance.
  • Team members. Sam Julien held DevRel leadership roles, alongside advocates focused on identity, security, and community work after the Okta acquisition.

Algolia

  • Algolia Developer Experience. Strong focus on documentation and quickstart quality.
  • Algolia Heroes (recognition program).
  • Algolia Search Conference (algolia-related). Smaller-scale.
  • DevRel team has historically included high-profile members like Sarah Dayan and others active in front-end and search-focused communities.

RapidAPI

  • Mission. Largest API marketplace, also a developer hub for discovering and integrating APIs.
  • DevRel team output. Reportedly reached 20+ million developers in a single year (2021), per RapidAPI internal reporting. Led by a VP of DevRel during peak years.

ngrok

  • DevRel team. Small but technically deep. Scott McAllister (Principal Developer Advocate) hosts the Dev Roundtable video series and ngrok’s developer engagement.
  • Product. Secure introspectable tunnels for local development, commonly used by API developers testing webhooks.

Plaid

  • Developer-facing API platform for financial integrations.
  • Plaid Effects. Plaid’s flagship customer and developer event.
  • Significant docs-driven DevRel model similar to Stripe’s.

Box / Dropbox

  • Box Platform. Long-running enterprise content API; modest DevRel function.
  • Dropbox Developers. Maintains an SDK ecosystem; smaller scale than peak Dropbox API era (2014 to 2018).

Other notable API-first DevRel programs

  • MuleSoft. Integration platform; MuleSoft Ambassadors program for community experts. Annual MuleSoft Connect.
  • Boomi, Workato, Tray.io. iPaaS platforms; smaller-scale DevRel.
  • Apollo (GraphQL). Apollo Federation, Apollo Studio. GraphQL Summit annual conference.
  • Hasura. GraphQL backend platform with active DevRel and HasuraCon annual conference.
  • Kong. API gateway company; Kong Summit annual conference, plus large open-source community around Kong Gateway.
  • WSO2. API management and identity vendor; WSO2Con annual conference.
  • Tyk, KrakenD. Smaller API gateway communities.
  • Mailgun, Mailtrap, Resend. Email APIs; Resend’s developer-led aesthetic is a recent particularly strong example.
  • Vonage (formerly Nexmo). Communications APIs; competes with Twilio. Small but established DevRel.
  • Bandwidth. Communications APIs with developer documentation.
  • Telnyx. Modern API-first communications.
  • Pusher (acquired by MessageBird/Bird). Real-time messaging APIs.
  • Ably, PubNub. Real-time messaging API platforms; active developer-content output.
  • Stream. Chat and feeds APIs; substantial documentation-and-tutorial DevRel.

Cross-company observations

  • Documentation supports evaluation and activation. The companies on this list invest heavily in documentation for discovery, onboarding, and reference.
  • Sample apps drive activation. Stripe’s, Twilio’s, and Algolia’s sample applications are central to their developer onboarding.
  • Quickstart optimisation. Teams track time to first hello world. Stripe aimed for “first charge in 5 minutes,” and Twilio’s “first SMS” template was replicated by other API products.
  • Free tier as evaluation. Free tiers let developers test the product before purchase; DevRel teams can measure activation among those signups.
  • PLG-aligned funnels. All of these companies operate in product-led growth motions where DevRel directly contributes to revenue.

See also