Agents Want Real MCP, Not Your Converted API

Hosted by Emmanuel Paraskakis and Sri Kandikonda

Wed, Jul 29, 2026

4:00 PM UTC (45 minutes)

Virtual (Zoom)

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Build AI-Ready API Products With MCP
Emmanuel Paraskakis
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What you'll learn

How not to build MCP

See why converting existing APIs into MCP tools disappoints agents and the teams that ship them.

Work backwards from the agentic experience

Start from the intended agentic experience and design MCP tools that map to what agents want to get done.

What hyper scale teaches about building for agents

Lessons from API products running at a billion transactions a day: what breaks, what holds, what to copy.

Learning from the business side of MCP built for agents

Leave knowing when to invest in MCP, what to build first, and how to make the business case.

Why this topic matters

Everyone is giving agents access by converting existing APIs into MCP servers. I've argued that's a fine start. Sri Kandikonda, who builds hyperscale API products at FedEx (a billion tracking transactions a day), disagrees: real MCP means working backward from the intended agentic experience. We'll trade lessons on what works in reality, not theory. Leave knowing how, and how not, to build MCP.

You'll learn from

Emmanuel Paraskakis

3x VP Product (Apiary, Swagger, Oracle) | 1.3M APIs | Founder, Level 250

I’m Emmanuel, 3x VP Product, now a founder at Level 250.

If you built or used APIs in the past 15 years, chances are you’ve used one of my products:

I’ve led some of the most influential API tools: Apiary (550,000+ APIs), Swagger (750,000+ APIs) and Oracle’s first Cloud-Native API Gateway. Before that, I built large B2B API programs at Verisk, Moody’s, and Precisely.

Today, I advise Fortune 500 CEOs and AI-forward startup founders on API Strategy, Developer Experience, MCP products, and AI agent readiness.

I'm also a member of OpenAPI and a featured speaker at apidays and other global technology conferences.

My passion is helping others build products, which is why I also teach on Maven: to share my lessons learned and help Product Managers and Engineers fast-track their careers.

Sri Kandikonda

Manager, Group Product @FedEx | Platform Products & APIs

I am a product leader focused on building and scaling digital platforms that drive revenue, unlock new business models, and power global commerce.


Over the past 15+ years across e-commerce, logistics, and fintech, I’ve worked at the intersection of product, technology, and business—leading platforms that operate at global scale. At FedEx, I lead the Visibility portfolio, powering shipment tracking and intelligence capabilities used by global supply chains and e-commerce platforms, processing over 1 billion transactions every day.


I’ve led the evolution of FedEx’s API ecosystem end-to-end—from product strategy to global go-to-market. This includes rolling out the developer platform across 200+ countries and building GTM approaches tailored to different customer segments supporting over $20B in business value across FedEx services, with 40% CAGR.


One of my key contributions has been building FedEx’s Visibility API, Real Time visibility, commercialization approach from the ground up—shifting APIs into revenue-generating products. The tracking portfolio evolved from a cost center into a profitable, data-driven business, now generating 8-figure ARR with over 100 million billable transactions per month.

Previously at

Verisk
Moodys
Oracle
SmartBear
Precisely
See all products from Emmanuel

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