If I understand correctly, you're suggesting a startup in this position would buy access via a broker who might offer a single API which can be used to access a

If I understand correctly, you're suggesting a startup in this position would buy access via a broker who might offer a single API which can be used to access all upstream business-critical APIs..? True... although it feels a little like "kicking the can down the road". Now you have two dependencies: the broker themselves and the upstream API providers. As an investor I'd still ask "What would you do if the broker revokes your API?" -- and now I'd also want to do due-diligence on the broker by asking them all the above questions too. Additionally the broker may be prohibitively expensive. See this recent discussion about teller.io which in part prompted this question: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14605342 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14605342