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

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.

Augusto MariettiguestMartin Casadohost

Oct 20, 202537mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Kong’s origin story: relentless hustle, pivots, and AI-ready infrastructure

Marietti describes arriving in the U.S. with almost no money and a 90-day deadline, using extreme hustle (including mass cold-emailing investors) to secure an early angel lifeline.
He details years of near-poverty and visa obstacles while iterating from an app-builder concept to an API marketplace, culminating in a notable seed round backed by top-tier firms and prominent angels.
The API marketplace model ultimately failed to deliver durable economics, leading the team to reframe their internal API engine as the product and open-source it as Kong, betting on enterprise API infrastructure.
Kong’s open-source launch created sudden pull and credibility, enabling a narrow escape from running out of cash, a Series B led by a16z, and rapid growth to major ARR milestones.
Looking forward, Marietti argues AI will dramatically increase machine-to-machine “internet consumption,” making unified API + AI traffic management (auth, governance, routing, rate limits) a strategic connectivity layer for enterprises.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Desperation can force focus, but only if paired with relentless execution.

Marietti’s 90-day U.S. deadline and near-zero cash pushed unusually aggressive outreach (hundreds of emails overnight) and rapid iteration, turning a tiny initial check into momentum.

Ultra-low burn buys you learning time when product-market fit is uncertain.

Living on roughly $1,000/month for three people extended runway long enough to iterate through multiple architectures and a major pivot—time that ultimately enabled the Kong outcome.

API marketplaces are structurally hard without true exclusivity and a balanced long tail.

Mashape struggled because supply wasn’t exclusive (developers could bypass the marketplace), power concentrated in a few top APIs, and quality/trust was difficult to guarantee—breaking marketplace liquidity and economics.

Your “failed” product may contain the winning product as an internal subsystem.

The team’s marketplace required a robust gateway (auth, rate limiting, routing, logging, billing), and recognizing that this engine was broadly valuable led to open-sourcing Kong.

Open source can be the fastest credibility and distribution engine in infrastructure.

Kong’s GitHub traction and organic user advocacy created a “zeitgeist” effect that helped overcome skepticism about a seven-year-old startup and unlocked major financing and adoption.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

We had no money. We, we, we, we just take 600 bucks last left to go to a United flight, and we had 90 days to just, uh, make it or break it. We knew that if we couldn't raise, so we would go back, uh, to Italy broke, and that was it.

— Augusto Marietti

We steal- ... the things with all the email and the registration, and we walk home with that. And that night till 5:00 AM, I write s- all the 400 emails- ... about, "Hey, you need to know about Mashape. We didn't have time to catch up at the mixer, but I'm happy to give you a pitch tomorrow."

— Augusto Marietti

So we live it in, uh, on Airbnb somewhere else at, like, 100 bucks, and all in the same mattress.

— Augusto Marietti

We build it three times, and the third time was the great one. And we say, "Wait a second, every company will become an API company. Why we don't take this, this engine and we give it to the whole world?" And that was the beginning of open source Mongo, and so boom, we, we open source, uh, Kong API gateway.

— Augusto Marietti

Never. Never. The, the reason is I could never visualize myself going back to the airport in Italy and my dad picking me up and say, "How's it going?" And it's just like would fail with my tails and my legs, like I could never-- I would have died here without food. Like I cannot do that.

— Augusto Marietti

90-day fundraising sprint and early angel checksCold outreach tactics and network serendipityLiving ultra-lean in San Francisco while buildingPivots: app builder → API marketplace → API gatewayMarketplace failure modes: liquidity, exclusivity, quality, economicsOpen source launch of Kong and bridge financingAI agents, MCP, and unified API/AI connectivity infrastructure

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