Coast builds a visual demonstration platform for API-first software companies, allowing customer-facing teams to showcase live integration capabilities in a browser without custom front-end development. Instead of walking buyers through static API documentation, sales and solution engineering teams use Coast to auto-generate bespoke interactive interfaces directly from underlying technical specifications and sandbox endpoints.
Visualizing API Products for Sales Teams
Co-founders Spencer Levitt and Austin Pager met as classmates at Northwestern University, building software powered by third-party APIs before participating in Y Combinator's S21 batch. Initially focused on API integration tooling, the founders adjusted their product focus after seeing how sales teams utilized their platform.
As Levitt and Pager told TechCrunch, an early user began leveraging the tool to aid their sales process, noting that "he realized it was a great way to explain the value of his software to potential buyers." Coast subsequently focused on auto-generating pre-configured visual dashboards that execute live API requests in the browser, tailored to a buyer's brand and specific use cases.
Backing and Client Adoption
Coast raised $2.1 million in funding with support from Y Combinator, GTMfund, Brickyard, and Liquid2 Ventures, alongside individual investors such as Dropbox co-founder Arash Ferdowsi and Segment co-founder Calvin French-Owen.
In an email statement to TechCrunch, Ferdowsi highlighted the operational hurdles faced by technical products, stating that "effectively bringing an API to market is expensive and challenging." Coast works with technical enterprise clients and financial infrastructure providers, including Twilio, Plaid, FIS, Zurich Insurance, Unit, Finch, Oso, Sardine, Column Tax, and Enode.
Hiring Focus in New York
With a workforce of 25 employees, Coast is scaling its technical and commercial capabilities in New York, NY, US. All listed positions operate onsite from the company's New York office.
On the core platform and engineering side, Coast is seeking a Senior Software Engineer with compensation ranging from $150,000 to $215,000 per year, as well as an AI Engineer offering $170,000 to $225,000. The team is also filling a Design Engineer, Product role to lead UI architecture for interactive API previews.
To bridge product capability with client growth, Coast is hiring across account management, developer advocacy, and enterprise sales roles.
Open Roles at Coast
| Role | Location | Work Mode | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategic Accounts | New York, NY, US | Onsite | $150,000 – $225,000 |
| Senior Software Engineer | New York, NY, US | Onsite | $150,000 – $215,000 |
| Design Engineer, Product | New York, NY, US | Onsite | $150,000 – $215,000 |
| Technical Account Manager | New York, NY, US | Onsite | $100,000 – $200,000 |
| Technical Solutions Engineer | New York, NY, US | Onsite | $120,000 – $175,000 |
| AI Engineer | New York, NY, US | Onsite | $170,000 – $225,000 |
| Developer Relations | New York, NY, US | Onsite | $120,000 – $175,000 |
| Enterprise Account Executive | New York, NY, US | Onsite | $140,000 – $200,000 |