Merge's Unified API Bet in the AI Era | E2033
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 25 October 2024
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode: Alex talks with Shensi Ding from Merge, who shares her transition from finance to tech and highlights the critical role of integrations in modern businesses. They explore the challenges of building and maintaining these integrations, emphasizing the importance of standardized data models. Shensi discusses partnerships and the strategies to overcome resistance. The conversation delves into trust-building, enhancing integration observability, and expanding Merge's offerings to include AI applications. They also touch on financial efficiency, growth strategies, and Merge's evolution beyond APIs, concluding with insights into future plans and potential acquisition interest. * Timestamps: (0:00) Alex kicks off the show with guest Shensi Ding of Merge.
(5:18) Shensi's journey from finance to tech and the importance of integrations (10:20) The challenges of building and maintaining integrations
(11:19) Coda. Empower your startup with Coda’s Team plan for free—get 6 months at https://www.Coda.io/twist
(13:17) Identifying the market gap for Merge and the benefits of standardized data models (17:39) Partnership building, Salesforce integration, and overcoming resistance
(20:07) OpenPhone - Get 20% off your first six months at https://www.openphone.com/twist
(21:16) Further discussion on trust-building and integration challenges (26:04) Enhancing integration observability and customer support
(30:01) Micro1 - Visit https://www.micro1.ai/twist to get 10 free AI Interviews and 2 weeks free per hire
(31:21) Expanding Merge's integration list and its AI applications (35:27) Discussing financial efficiency, runway management, and team dynamics (43:16) Growth strategies, customer base expansion, and go-to-market experiments (47:10) Pricing strategies, customer value, and market trends (50:05) Future plans for Merge, acquisition interest, and long-term vision (52:26) Evolution of Merge beyond API focus.
*
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*
Check out Merge here: https://www.merge.dev/
*
Follow Shansi:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shensiding/
*
Follow Alex:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm
*
Thank you to our partners:
(11:19) Coda. Empower your startup with Coda’s Team plan for free—get 6 months at https://www.Coda.io/twist
(20:07) OpenPhone - Get 20% off your first six months at https://www.openphone.com/twist
(30:01) Micro1 - Visit https://www.micro1.ai/twist to get 10 free AI Interviews and 2 weeks free per hire
*
Great TWIST interviews: Will Guidara, Eoghan McCabe, Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Bob Moesta, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland
*
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*
Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@founderuniversity1916
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Have startups come to you and said, |
| 0:01.3 | hey, we really want you to integrate with us |
| 0:03.2 | because then we will get our name on your site, |
| 0:05.3 | our logo will be in your materials. |
| 0:06.8 | Are you a distribution point for companies themselves |
| 0:10.2 | instead of just something that people add on |
| 0:11.9 | to let them talk better amongst each other. |
| 0:13.4 | All the time, which I love. |
| 0:16.0 | Yeah, so all these companies will come to us and they'll be like, hey, like I'm, you know, |
| 0:21.0 | like a 50 person like CRM company and I saw you these customers and I really want them to integrate with us. |
| 0:27.0 | If you're like a new source of truth and you're trying to compete with like Housewives Salesforce, |
| 0:31.4 | it's really hard to get that roadmap time from every single |
| 0:34.3 | vendor that is integrating with HubSpot Salesforce. |
| 0:36.7 | They might not want to spend that time integrating with you. |
| 0:38.9 | But with Merge, it's free distribution, and again, we're helping create an ecosystem around their product. |
| 0:43.0 | Is it free? |
| 0:44.0 | It's free right now, yeah, right now. |
| 0:46.0 | Yeah, we'll just do it because it makes our product better. |
| 0:49.0 | This week in startups is brought to you by CODA. CODA empowers your startup by bringing words, tables, and |
| 0:56.1 | teams together. |
| 0:57.5 | Strategize, plan, and track goals effectively with all your valuable data in one place. |
| 1:02.8 | Go to Koda.io slash Twist to get started for free |
... |
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