Just a few weeks ago, 18-year-old best friends Christopher Fitzgerald and Nicholas Van Landschoot celebrated their high school graduation. While most teens are enjoying their last summer before college or starting their first jobs, Fitzgerald and Van Landschoot are working diligently in a venture capital office in Denver, Colorado.
This summer, they are focusing on their startup, APIGen, following a successful $500,000 pre-seed investment from Varana Capital. Fitzgerald plans to attend Duke University in the fall, while Van Landschoot will remain close to the campus, pausing his college education to fully commit to their startup journey.
Remarkably, they secured this funding while still in high school, thanks to the enthusiastic response from the Boulder community of AI enthusiasts to their prototype. APIGen aims to develop a platform that generates custom APIs based on natural language prompts. For example, an e-commerce business could simply request an API to connect its web front end to its database, and APIGen would deliver it seamlessly.
The founders envision APIGen as more than a standard “application programming interface.” They aim to create complex custom APIs that can perform multiple tasks in a single request. “We’re generating the code for these APIs so they can include business logic and unique functionalities,” Van Landschoot explained.
Fitzgerald notes that in addition to web applications and databases, Internet of Things (IoT) devices are a key focus for their startup. He illustrated this with an example: a customer could ask for an API that directs a drone to survey a designated area, capture images, and allow other applications to process the results. Another possibility is an API that utilizes facial recognition for security, querying a smart lock's camera against a verified employee database before unlocking the door.
“APIs can range from very simple tasks to extremely complex capabilities,” Fitzgerald remarked. “Our goal is to target entire web applications and IoT solutions.”
The duo met on their school's debate team, where their passion for coding blossomed. Their first collaborative project was a chatbot providing conversational access to data, but they quickly realized it lacked originality. However, during its development, they discovered the challenges of creating APIs, with Fitzgerald recalling, “Making APIs was quite cumbersome. They were hard to design.”
Motivated by this realization, they focused on solving that problem. After they developed an alpha version of their concept, they started seeking feedback from local programmers within their network. With Van Landschoot’s father working in cybersecurity and Fitzgerald securing a summer internship at SoftBank, they had valuable connections.
They began reaching out to venture capitalists on LinkedIn, asking for candid critiques of their pitch deck. “We encouraged them to tear it apart,” Fitzgerald said.
One recipient of their outreach was Philip Broenniman, founder of Varana Capital, who had also heard of the duo through the tight-knit Denver/Boulder startup scene. Varana Capital began as a family office and has since grown into a firm managing $400 million in assets under management.
Broenniman and Varana COO Ankur Ahuja met with the teens, initially intending to offer mentorship. However, after an impressive two-hour presentation, Broenniman reflected, “We walked out thinking this was the best presentation we’d seen in years. We were amazed by the insights coming from these two 18-year-olds.”
Dressing to impress, Fitzgerald wore his best sweater while Van Landschoot donned a collared shirt typical of a debate team presentation. They leveraged their debate skills to effectively articulate their vision and the potential for market growth.
Instead of mere feedback, “At the end of the meeting, they expressed interest in investing,” Fitzgerald shared. Broenniman inquired how much funding they sought.
Varana conducted due diligence on the API market, recognizing the potential for significant returns, as evidenced by examples like MuleSoft (acquired by Salesforce) and Apigee (acquired by Google). They also considered the founders' impressive backgrounds: Fitzgerald had graduated as valedictorian from a highly regarded Boulder high school, while Van Landschoot had excelled as a programmer, tutoring college students as early as age 14.
The partners subsequently scheduled a second meeting for the founders to demonstrate their technology, ensuring they could deliver results. Although the teens felt apprehensive, the demo was successful, leading to a term sheet offering $250,000 in pre-seed funding, with an additional $250,000 available through a SAFE note. Varana also provided office space to help launch their venture.
While pitching to VCs, Fitzgerald learned about Boulder’s active AI Meetup, chaired by a parent of a tennis teammate. This vibrant community has 1,400 members and fosters close connections among local tech entrepreneurs. The teens joined the group and showcased their product, gaining the support of local AI enthusiasts.
APIGen is still in its early stages and faces competition from major players like Salesforce’s MuleSoft and startups like RapidAPI. However, the team is working diligently toward releasing their beta version this month. “We’ve received interest from businesses already, but we’re still pre-MVP and pushing to launch soon,” Fitzgerald stated.
Broenniman remains invested, not just in the product but in the partnership with the young founders. He noted, “While APIGen is the investment vehicle, we’re forming a collaborative relationship with Christopher and Nicholas. This is a market worth over $7 billion. They are positioning themselves uniquely, and the potential returns are substantial.”
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