All Segments
How Kong Was Born: APIs, Hustle, and the Future of AI Infrastructure
16 segments available
Augusto Marietti, CEO and cofounder of Kong, has one of the most remarkable founder stories in Silicon Valley history. In this conversation with Martin Casado, Aghi shares how he went from a garage in Milan to building one of the world’s leading API infrastructure companies, surviving years of rejection, living in the U.S. on $1,000 a month, and raising his first $50K while sleeping on Travis Kalanick’s couch. They talk about the near-death moments that defined Kong’s journey, the seven-year grind before breakout success, and how APIs became the “assembly line of software.” Aghi also explains how Kong evolved into the backbone of modern API and AI connectivity, and why the coming wave of AI agents will make APIs more essential than ever. Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:27 The 90-Day Fundraising Mission 02:57 Cold Emailing 400 Investors Overnight 04:49 Negotiating at Travis Kalanick’s House 06:46 Living on $1,000 a Month in San Francisco 09:18 Pivoting to the API Marketplace 11:00 The Seed Round with NEA, Index, and Bezos 14:19 Getting U.S. Visas and Help from Sam Altman 17:14 Series A, CRV, and Proving the Model 19:22 The Pivot That Created Kong 20:59 Launching Open Source and Surviving on a Bridge Round 21:55 Raising the Series B with a16z 23:40 Hitting Growth Milestones and the Car Bet 25:57 Kong’s Breakout and API Leadership 28:52 AI, APIs, and the Future of Connectivity 34:27 Lessons for Founders Stay Updated: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends! Resources: Follow Aghi on X: x.com/sonicaghi Follow Martin on X: x.com/martin_casado Find a16z on X: https://x.com/a16z Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z Listen to the a16z Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYX Listen to the a16z Podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a16z-podcast/id842818711 Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
Segments Timeline
Intro
"He opens a closet and there's like all the bananas felling off because there was one guy's only eating huge bananas. He open another closet is another mattress with other guys sleeping a second closet..."
The 90-Day Fundraising Mission
">> Tourist visa. Yeah. >> And the idea was to raise >> 90 days. >> Was the idea to raise funding? >> Yeah. We had no money. We we we we just take 600 bucks last left to go to a United flight through C..."
Cold Emailing 400 Investors Overnight
">> Uh 30 reply and 10 were kind of interested. At the end five or six went to meet us >> and then this one person >> told like Kevin Donahu who was the the VP one of VP funding team of YouTube came to..."
Negotiating at Travis Kalanick’s House
">> so you guys stay here and figure it out the the cont offer and I go to the bathroom we close his s and we come back in 10 minutes so brought me to the bathroom lock the door of the house so these g..."
Living on $1,000 a Month in San Francisco
"impossible. $1,000 a month for three people. I tell you how we did it. So, we live it in uh on Airbnb somewhere else at like 100 bucks >> and all in the same mattress. >> Um Wow. >> And uh we were goi..."
Pivoting to the API Marketplace
">> with HTML 5. >> Wow. And then you're like okay no we need to build a marketplace. >> Exactly. Cuz okay the economy this API economy will come. It's not just apps. It will be APIs and we build a mar..."
The Seed Round with NEA, Index, and Bezos
">> yeah so what happened is actually the first checks were George Zakari from CRV back then he didn't like lead the round but he wrote he was the first 100k commit so with that he say we have CRV 100k..."
Getting U.S. Visas and Help from Sam Altman
"have this big thing of how great I am. That's great. I got a recommendation. You got to get this guy in the country no matter what. >> So we got this five letters and and I get this 01 visa and finall..."
Series A, CRV, and Proving the Model
"nothing to talk about from business. >> The issue was is you couldn't monetize or there was a graduation problem like these marketplaces are very tough. So the the idea of the market when I was stayin..."
The Pivot That Created Kong
"the time that you open sourced Kong? >> Uh so we open source in April 15. We had to take a bridge of uh 2 million to go another year because >> was it an insider bridge? >> Yeah, we we had to take an ..."
Launching Open Source and Surviving on a Bridge Round
"user they were saying just you saying Kong Kong usage Kong usage just nonstop like it was blowing up the inbox. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So how close how close were we to running out of money for it to be..."
Raising the Series B with a16z
"able to replicate all the sequence that happens all all the things that happens and I remember we went uh yeah and then uh then we had that that great sushi with with Mark Andre and you and I and we s..."
Hitting Growth Milestones and the Car Bet
"product, how you think about markets and then kind of move towards AI. So you actually have seen a number of shifts now, right? You've saw the cloud come, you've saw the shift to APIs. So maybe just t..."
Kong’s Breakout and API Leadership
"or maybe don't appreciate how fast Kong grew when it actually happened. So, there was seven years of starvation, right? I mean, it was just basically wasn't working. >> No, actually, I know and you do..."
AI, APIs, and the Future of Connectivity
"use cases there are around AI right we can talk about agents and I think it's worth talking about and I agree with you but it also feels like there's like a lot of just basic stuff like like key manag..."
Lessons for Founders
">> Great. Well, listen, as we wrap this up, I think it'd be great to kind of end with like any sort of recommendations for people that are listening to learn a bit more about how kind of AI shifting t..."