3. Feature-by-Feature Scrutiny (The Idea as Described)
The idea came as a catalog row, not a feature list: "a niche data-feed API (IP location, exchange rates, holidays, company data), priced $10–160 a month self-serve plus enterprise contracts, sold through developer search, free tiers and docs". So this doc scores the candidate datasets and the features the description implies.
Categories:
- Table stakes (TS): customers expect it. It earns nothing, but its absence costs you.
- Differentiator (D): a real reason to choose you over the alternatives.
- Distraction (X): built but unlikely to move revenue or retention.
- Liability (L): creates support, legal or trust risk.
Some items sit in two buckets. The primary bucket comes first.
3.1 The candidate datasets
| # | Dataset | Category | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IP geolocation | X | IPinfo, MaxMind and others have probe networks and a decade of corrections. Free databases exist. You'd be selling worse data at a lower price. |
| 2 | Exchange rates | X | Central banks publish free. Paid APIs sit at $10–97 a month. No way to be better, only cheaper. |
| 3 | Global public holidays | TS | python-holidays (free, 250 countries) and Nager.Date (free, 210) cover it. Useful as a free extra, never as the product. |
| 4 | Indian company (MCA) data | X / L | Funded KYC vendors and cheap scrapers own it. Portal scraping risks terms-of-service breaches and captcha arms races. |
| 5 | Indian GSTIN verification | X / L | Dozens of APIs at rupees a call. Scale needs a GST Suvidha Provider licence. |
| 6 | Global financial market calendars | X for you | Copp Clark and TradingHours.com have 1,200+ markets. You can't match breadth, and breadth is what global buyers pay for. |
| 7 | India bank, payment-rail and exchange business days | D | RBI centre-level holidays aren't machine-readable anywhere free. Dates change at short notice. Bounded enough for one person to keep right. This is the wedge. |
3.2 The features the description implies
| # | Feature | Category | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | REST API with JSON | TS | Expected. Add CSV and iCal for ops teams at no extra cost. |
| 2 | Free tier | TS / L | Needed for developers to test. A generous one becomes free production use for years (the Nager.Date pattern). Limit it to the current year, national dates and 3 centres. |
| 3 | Self-serve pricing at $10–160 a month | TS | Right shape, but the low end ($10–12) is where Calendarific and Open Exchange Rates sit. Start at ₹1,999 (~$23) and push Business at ₹4,999. |
| 4 | Enterprise contracts | D | Banks and large NBFCs want an SFTP file drop, audit exports, an SLA and a signed contract. One Enterprise customer is worth 7 Developer ones. |
| 5 | Docs and SDKs | TS | Copy-paste examples in Python, Node and Java (Indian banking stacks run Java). |
| 6 | Developer search as the channel | TS | Search volume for "bank holiday API India" is likely tiny (not measured). Consumer searches for "bank holiday today" go to BankBazaar and news sites. Don't count on search alone. |
| 7 | Multiple datasets under one brand (the apilayer model) | X | apilayer did it with a company, a portfolio and years. For one person, each dataset is a new upkeep routine and a new set of competitors. |
| 8 | Change webhooks and alerts (not in the description; added) | D | The one thing a copied list can't do. It's the reason to pay monthly. |
| 9 | Source link and status on every date (added) | D | "Tentative / confirmed / changed / cancelled", with the RBI or exchange notice linked. That's what makes the data trustworthy enough to automate on. |
| 10 | "As known on" history (added) | D | Answers the auditor's question. Nobody else offers it for Indian bank days (not verified for every competitor). |
| 11 | Real-time usage dashboard | X | Nice, but it's months of UI for a product people call twice a day. Usage emails are enough. |
| 12 | "Guaranteed accurate" / "compliant" claims | L | One missed date and the claim becomes a dispute. Say "sourced from notice X, checked at time Y". |
3.3 Scoreboard
| Category | Count | Items |
|---|---|---|
| Table stakes | 6 | Global holidays, REST/JSON, free tier, self-serve pricing, docs and SDKs, developer search |
| Differentiator | 5 | India business days, enterprise contracts, change webhooks, source and status per date, "as known on" history |
| Distraction | 5 | IP location, FX, global financial calendars, multi-dataset portfolio, usage dashboard (plus company and GST data as X/L) |
| Liability | 3 | Company data scraping, GST at scale without a licence, accuracy guarantees |
Of the idea as described, none of the named datasets is a reason to buy, except a narrow slice of "holidays". Every differentiator above comes from narrowing to India business days and selling freshness.
3.4 Feature bloat and "building to avoid selling": explicit call-outs
- Many datasets at once. It looks like more revenue lines. It's actually more sources to watch, more support, and more competitors, for the same number of hours.
- A slick portal before a paying customer. The design partners need a JSON file and an alert. That's a weekend of work.
- Global coverage. "Holidays for 100 countries" is a python-holidays wrapper that anyone can clone. It's the fastest way to look busy and earn nothing.
- AI features ("ask our holiday assistant"). An MCP server listing is cheap, useful distribution, and fine. A chatbot is a distraction.
3.5 What a disciplined v1 looks like
Keep: RBI NI Act holidays for 34 centres mapped to states, 2nd/4th Saturday rules, RTGS and account-closing days, NSE/BSE/MCX trading and settlement holidays, business-day arithmetic, change webhooks and email alerts, source and status per date, "as known on" history, JSON/CSV/iCal, a free current-year package. Defer: state public holidays for payroll (v1.5), bank cut-off times and settlement windows (after $3k MRR), SFTP file drop (first Enterprise customer), USD plan (month 6+). Cut: IP location, FX, company data, GST, global holidays as a product, district and election holidays, dashboards.