Interview with Matt Mullenweg on Gutenberg, WordPress, and the future
I am joined by Matt Mullenweg to discuss decision making, Gutenberg, core WordPress processes, Automattic’s business, and more.
Category: Business
Why the makers of Ninja Forms are getting into eCommerce
In this episode, I talk with James and Kevin — cofounders of the Ninja Forms product — to discuss why their next leg of their business is in the competitive landscape of eCommerce.
Liquid Web has acquired iThemes
Liquid Web has announced the acquisition of iThemes in an all cash deal that includes the entire iThemes team moving over to Liquid Web as an independent unit, and iThemes products will be included in various Liquid Web offerings.
The WordPress product market is completely different now
Building a WordPress-based product business is a much different process than it used to be. People have to do something different and better than what has come before.
The future of the WordPress economy, and why I’m not worried
Joshua Strebel — the CEO of Pagely — shares his view of the current state of the WordPress economy, and why he is confident in both its strength and future.
GoDaddy has acquired ManageWP
GoDaddy has acquired the WordPress website management service, ManageWP. ManageWP will remain a standalone app, and GoDaddy will integrate several features into their GoDaddy Pro and WordPress hosting plans.
Using Kickstarter to fund open source
Successfully crowdfunding open source development is difficult, but not impossible. Here are some of the lessons I took away from my Kickstarter project, “A more RESTful WP-CLI.”
Growing a lifestyle business without losing the lifestyle
Balancing a lifestyle business — and trying to grow it — can be tricky, when you’re not willing to give up your lifestyle for that growth. There are ways to grow your business without giving up the lifestyle you began it all for, right?
Automattic has purchased a majority stake in Pressable
Automattic has taken over a majority stake in Pressable, the managed WordPress hosting company, with a purchase of Pressable CEO Vid Luther’s shares of the company. They were already a significant investor.
The Jorbin Test
The Joel Test has largely stood the test of time, yet there isn’t a WordPress specific version to help WordPress developers judge job opportunities. The Jorbin Test is the Joel Test, updated for the WordPress engineers of today.
Don’t make enemies, invest in friendships
Enemies are trouble and tear you down. Friends support you and build you up. Building a friendship is not easy, especially when the potential friend could just as easily be your enemy. But it’s a worthwhile endeavor and a lasting investment.
Automattic has acquired WooThemes, makers of WooCommerce
Matt Mullenweg announced today that Automattic has acquired WooThemes, whose flagship product is the popular eCommerce plugin, WooCommerce. All 55 team members at WooThemes will join Automattic, swelling ranks at Automattic by around 18%.
OptinMonster goes SaaS in effort to cater for more hosting environments and non-WordPress platforms
OptinMonster has changed the very core of their product today, and it is now a standalone SaaS (software as a service) product, versus a plugin that runs on users’ servers.
Happytables 3 is taking on Squarespace and Wix for restaurant websites with a brand new platform
The new Happytables is a slick setup, and they’ve invested more time and energy into a hosted WordPress solution than perhaps anyone but Automattic on WordPress.com. The difference here is they are going after a niche, and it’s a huge one with a big need: restaurants.
Running a successful membership site in real life, with Jonathan Williamson
This interview is with Jonathan Williamson, co-founder of CGCookie. He’s going to talk to us about running a real world membership website on WordPress. Jonathan is Pippin Williamson’s twin brother, and he has years of experience running membership websites. There is much that we can learn from him.
Adii Pienaar is making a WordPress comeback with stake in Obox
Adii Pienaar is making a WordPress comeback after over a year away from the community. The WooThemes co-founder has made a strategic investment into Obox, the team behind the newly launched Layers product. In return, he’s received a 30% stake in the company to complement Receiptful, his new eCommerce product.
WooCommerce is going after photography
WooThemes announced a new product today, aimed at selling photography with WooCommerce. This is a good first step, and I’m excited to see an eCommerce product target the photography super-niche. That said, there is a ton of room in this market, and WordPress isn’t really solving photographers’ problems yet.