[MUSIC PLAYING]
MARTIN OMANDER: Hi, my name is Martin Omander,
and I welcome you to "Google Root Access,"
the show featuring actionable startup advice.
My guest today, like last episode,
is Nelson Pereira, co-founder of the startup TOP Docs.
Welcome to the show, and would you
tell us a bit about what TOP docs does?
NELSON PEREIRA: Hi, Martin.
Thank you for having me.
TOP Docs is a cross-format and cross-platform document editor,
allowing people from different clouds
to collaborate on Microsoft Office documents, Open
Office, and Google Docs.
MARTIN OMANDER: Great.
So in the last episode, we talked
about business challenges and strategy.
Today, let's talk a bit about the technology.
You are using the APIs of several cloud providers,
like the Google Drive API, I understand?
NELSON PEREIRA: Exactly.
Because when we started to build this product,
one of the main challenges was, OK, we
need to have a tool to synchronize all the documents
across the devices and store in the cloud, backup, and so on.
So instead of creating our own back-end,
all these features-- it would take
ages to build-- we looked at Google Drive
and started to build on top of it.
Because it addresses a lot of features,
like syncing, backing up, provisioning,
backup in the cloud.
All the goodies are there already,
so we don't need to build anything.
MARTIN OMANDER: Oh, so you can just use that cloud storage,
all those features you mentioned?
You don't have to build them yourself.
NELSON PEREIRA: Exactly.
Exactly.
MARTIN OMANDER: Right.
So then there is an API for Google Drive.
How do you build your things on top of that API?
I
NELSON PEREIRA: Well, we started checking the SDK.
It was a great the way to go to market first,
to use it's on one of our first interactions.
But then we started collecting feedback
from users wanting a more personalized experience
on Drive.
So we read more documentation.
We learned more about what is underneath the SDK,
and we found the REST API.
And we started to build our own customized
features for our users on top of that.
MARTIN OMANDER: So you actually dug down
into the technical details to see what goes over the wire,
and then you could use the REST API, which
gave you-- it was a little more work,
but gave you greater flexibility?
NELSON PEREIRA: Exactly.
It's more work.
But by the end of the day, you have
more power or more flexibility to customize everything
that you want on top of the great Drive platform already.
MARTIN OMANDER: So the SDK should
be used-- when should you use the SDK versus the REST API.
NELSON PEREIRA: You should use use the SDK
when you need to deliver very fast,
and if the features that Google Drive has built in
is enough for you, for what you need.
If you want to customize for a specific segment,
then go for the REST API, and you'll have more flexibility.
It will take longer, but by the end of the day,
you'll have a very good experience with it.
MARTIN OMANDER: Right.
So you're saying you customized the experience for your users.
What kind of features are you adding
that's not there already?
NELSON PEREIRA: Well, we listen to our users
because Google Drive is a very broad product.
It tries to be everything for everybody.
It has a large audience.
Our approach has a specific audience segment.
So based on feedback, we customized the experience
on Drive for that specific segment.
One of the features that they most requested
was a very fast search, because business
have a lot of documents on cloud.
So we built a search engine, and local index,
on device which allows very fast search,
even when you are offline.
The other feature was having an entire folder
offline full of content.
Because Google Drive, right now the client
only offers having offline files one per one.
And if you have a folder working on a project with 20
or 40 or 100 files, it's a pain and takes a long time
to make them available offline.
So--
MARTIN OMANDER: I see.
NELSON PEREIRA: That's two examples
of how we customized the API.
MARTIN OMANDER: You and Google are basically
innovating together here.
Google's providing the substrate,
the basic functionality, that would work for anybody.
But then you know your segment of customers better
and can build on top of that, and customize
to your customers.
NELSON PEREIRA: Exactly.
Google did all the hard work, providing the back-end,
the servers, the syncing, the versioning--
all the good stuff about having a cloud.
And then we just customizing the experience on Google Drive
for this specific segment.
So together we team up and created a better experience
on Drive for these specific users.
MARTIN OMANDER: Ah, right, because you know your users
better than anybody else.
NELSON PEREIRA: Exactly.
And it's also a good API for use for other startups
which may be building different features from ours on top
of the REST API from Google Drive.
MARTIN OMANDER: Great.
So finally, Nelson, there are a lot
of startups out there using APIs.
Maybe even most are using APIs, some providers, from others.
And now that you've done a lot of API integrations, what would
your advice be to these other startups?
NELSON PEREIRA: Well, if you need very fast integration
and standard features, use the SDK.
It's really easy and fast to build.
You can do it in a day or less.
But if you need to customize because you
have a specific audience, you have specific needs
from users-- not a very general, like Google Drive is
for general public-- to the REST API, learn about it,
and build their own features, customized for your audience.
MARTIN OMANDER: Great.
And you, I understand, are going mobile first.
What are you thinking behind that?
NELSON PEREIRA: Yes, we are building everything mobile
first, because mobile is the biggest challenge.
If you are able to implement a feature on a mobile platform,
going back to the desktop will be easier,
because you have much more power and flexibility
on a desktop computer, on the browser.
MARTIN OMANDER: I see.
Great.
Well, thank you very much for sharing your experiences
with us today, Nelson.
NELSON PEREIRA: Thank you, Martin.
MARTIN OMANDER: We hope that you found something useful there
that you can use for your startup.
If you have comments on the show,
file them under the YouTube comments section.
We love comments, and we read everything you write.
Finally, if you're a high-tech entrepreneur,
go to developers.google.com/startups
to learn how Google can help you.
That's it for now.
See you next time.
[MUSIC PLAYING]