How Kong Was Born: APIs, Hustle, and the Future of AI Infrastructure

This podcast features an interview with Augie, the founder and CEO of Kong, formerly MashApe, detailing his journey from a Milan garage to leading a company with IPO ambitions. Augie recounts the early struggles, including living illegally in the U.S. on minimal funds, sleeping on couches, and the pivotal moments that led to securing angel and seed funding from YouTube founders, Jeff Bezos, and Eric Schmidt. He shares the story of pivoting from an initial app builder concept to an API marketplace, the challenges faced, and the eventual open-sourcing of Kong API Gateway, which led to significant growth and recognition in the API infrastructure space. The conversation also explores Kong's evolution in response to market shifts like cloud adoption and the rise of AI, focusing on managing AI connectivity through APIs and the future of AI infrastructure.