Wicket Labs Launches, Offers Cloud API Testing and Monitoring
There's a hole in today's cloud delivery ecosystem, says Marty Roberts, CEO of Wicket Labs. Media companies rely on 14 third-party APIs, on average. When there's a problem with an API, the first indication usually comes from a consumer, and it can be time-consuming for the publisher to track down the cause, decipher the error message, and make a fix.
Roberts, who was previously co-CEO of Comcast subsidiary thePlatform, saw a lingering problem and decided to create a company to solve it. Founded in March and publicly launching today, Wicket Labs offers API monitoring to reduce operational downtime of cloud-dependent systems, sites, and apps. The company automates the process of checking cloud-based APIs, and provides simple reports for business owners that do away with complex engineering talk. Wicket Labs can also provide validation for cloud-based APIs, selling its services to the API creators, as well.
API errors can cause serious issues like outages and timeout errors, as well as frustrations like slow page loads. The company creates a map called a wicket for each API. Clients can view a color-coded live report of their own custom scorecard (shown below), which is available on desktop and mobile devices.
Since August, 12 media companies—including broadcast, cable, and multichannel distributors—have trialed the service and provided feedback. So far, Roberts finds APIs average one problem per week, with some being more stable than others. Publishers average 10 notable events per week.
Wicket Labs is based in Seattle, Washington, where it's operating out of a co-working space. The company is self-funded so far and has a staff of six. Roberts sees a Series A fundraising round and new staff positions coming sometime in 2017.
While there are other API-monitoring services available, Roberts says, they focus on the API engineer. His company speaks to the publisher and provides simple information, something he hopes sets it apart.
"It's been really fun to get this thing up and running," Roberts says.
A sample Wicket Labs scorecard
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