WP Product Talk

Jaksot

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  SPECIAL EPISODE: Why Products Grow (PART 1) 02.09.2026 1t 6min

  Growth looks different for WordPress product businesses than it did a few years ago. Google organic search is becoming less dependable, AI is changing how people discover and build software, and simply adding more features isn’t necessarily translating into more sales. So what is working? In this special episode of WP Product Talk, Matt Cromwell, Katie Keith, Zack Katz, and Ian Misner dig into the real-world growth strategies behind three WordPress products that are growing right now: Nimesh Patel of Multidots, Mike McAlister of OllieWP, and Robin Pietersen of FooEvents. The conversation goes beyond marketing tactics to explore what product owners can actually control in a changing market. The guests share how retention and upsells are driving growth, why product-led growth and education can create powerful momentum, how meaningful new features and pricing changes can move the needle, and why customer support can become a source of product insight and revenue. They also tackle a bigger question facing WordPress businesses today: as AI makes it easier to build alternatives to traditional plugins, how can product companies become more valuable, differentiated, and resilient?
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  Oops! How to (Accidentally) Become a Plugin Developer 20.08.2026 48min

  What happens when you accidentally become a WordPress plugin developer—and then keep going? Jonathan Hall of BerryPress joins WP Product Talk on September 9 with co-hosts Ian Misner and Matt Cromwell to share the winding path from an unplanned venture into plugin development 11 years ago to building multiple plugin businesses and eventually co-founding an international WordPress product company. Jonathan has developed dozens of plugins and learned plenty along the way about finding product ideas, marketing paid plugins, working with partners, and building a sustainable WordPress products business. We’ll also explore how AI and modern tools are changing plugin development and QA, along with the lessons Jonathan wishes he knew when he was just getting started. Whether you’re thinking about launching your first WordPress product or trying to figure out what comes next, this conversation offers a candid look at what it really takes to become a plugin developer and build products people want.
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  Building Better Product Sites for WordPress Plugins & Themes 20.08.2026 47min

  Your WordPress product website has a big job: it needs to build trust, explain your product, demonstrate its value, and ultimately convince visitors to buy. But what actually makes a product website work for a WordPress plugin or theme? On September 2 at noon Eastern, Imran Siddiq of Web Squadron joins WP Product Talk with co-hosts Matt Cromwell and Zack Katz to share his perspective on product website strategy, drawing from his experience building websites, teaching Elementor, creating WordPress content, and working with agencies and product businesses. We’ll dig into how to showcase features without bloated design, when live sandbox demos make sense, how to structure Free vs. Pro offerings, and why transparency can matter more than flashy marketing. If you sell a WordPress plugin or theme, this is a practical look at how your website can turn more visitors into confident customers.
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  Strategy Before Software: What Organizations Should Clarify Before Building 03.07.2026 59min

  Before a single line of code is written, the most important product decisions have already been made. Join us on August 12th as Zack Katz and Ian Misner welcome Brad Griffith of Buckeye Innovation for a conversation about why so many digital projects fail long before development begins. From unclear goals and undefined workflows to misunderstood user needs, Brad shares practical lessons from building websites, applications, and digital tools for purpose-driven organizations. Using a digital product strategy approach, Brad will explore how product teams can align strategy, design, and development to create solutions that solve real problems and deliver measurable outcomes. Whether you're launching a new WordPress product, planning a major feature, or evaluating your product roadmap, this episode will provide actionable insights to help you build the right thing before you start building anything at all.
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  Building Beyond Expertise 03.07.2026 59min

  Artificial intelligence is changing the role of software developers in ways that go far beyond code generation. On August 5, Katie Keith and Zack Katz welcome Ross Morsali to explore how AI research workflows are helping developers tackle problems that once seemed far outside their expertise, unlocking new opportunities for WordPress products and beyond. Ross shares how AI-guided research helped him completely rethink the indexing architecture behind Search & Filter by borrowing ideas from enterprise search systems and adapting them for WordPress. From there, the conversation expands into an exciting look at what's possible when developers use AI to venture into unfamiliar territory, including speech-to-text systems, custom language models, and other ambitious projects that would have once required years of specialized experience. Instead of asking AI to help us build faster, we should ask how AI can help us build things we never thought we could.
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  What Agency Owners Need to Know Before Buying a Plugin 25.06.2026 53min

  Most WordPress product founders start by building a plugin from scratch. Blake Whittle took a different path. As the owner of a WordPress agency managing hundreds of client sites, he acquired Infinite Uploads and Big File Uploads, inheriting an established product, an existing customer base, and a rapidly approaching Black Friday season. On July 29, Matt Cromwell and Ian Misner sit down with Blake to discuss what it really takes to buy and grow a WordPress plugin business. Blake shares lessons from evaluating the acquisition, navigating the critical first year of ownership, and balancing the demands of running both an agency and a product company. The conversation explores how an agency background can provide unique advantages when growing a software product, the challenges of taking over someone else's codebase and customers, and why acquisition may be a faster path to product ownership than building from the ground up. Whether you're an agency owner considering diversification or a product entrepreneur interested in acquisitions, this episode offers practical insights into buying, managing, and scaling an established WordPress plugin business.
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  Monetizing a Free WordPress Plugin without Paywalling the Core 25.06.2026 53min

  What happens when you challenge one of the most established business models in WordPress? On July 22, Matt Cromwell and Zack Katz sit down with Rémi Corson, founder of SEOPress and creator of Milo, to discuss a different approach to plugin monetization: keeping the core product completely free while generating revenue through payments infrastructure and optional add-ons. After more than a decade at WooCommerce, Rémi set out to build a subscriptions plugin that avoids traditional feature paywalls and annual licensing. In this conversation, he shares the thinking behind Milo's monetization strategy, the tradeoffs of monetizing transactions instead of features, and what WordPress product owners can learn from building sustainable businesses around free software. Whether you're evaluating your own pricing model, considering a freemium approach, or wondering where the paywall should live, this episode offers practical insights into alternative WordPress plugin monetization strategies.
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  Data-Driven Product Decisions 25.06.2026 52min

  Every WordPress product owner has opinions about what drives growth, but what if your analytics told a different story? On July 15, Zack Katz and Katie Keith welcome Derek Ashauer, founder of Conversion Bridge and Sunshine Photo Cart, to discuss how conversion tracking data shapes the decisions behind his products and marketing strategy. Derek shares how he uses his own analytics tools to measure what actually moves the needle, from improving product features to identifying new growth opportunities. Along the way, he explains how real user data inspired his programmatic SEO strategy, why evidence consistently beats assumptions, and how WordPress product owners can make smarter business decisions by relying on the insights already available in their own websites. Whether you're refining your product roadmap, evaluating marketing efforts, or looking for sustainable ways to grow, this episode offers practical lessons in building with data instead of guesswork.
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  The Point of No Return for WordPress Agencies 17.06.2026 55min

  Are WordPress agencies approaching a point of no return? On July 8, Matt Cromwell and Ian Misner welcome Vito Peleg, founder of Atarim, to discuss the growing divide between agencies that are embracing AI and those struggling to keep pace. As automation reshapes how websites are built, managed, and maintained, agency owners face critical decisions that could determine whether they grow, adapt, or fall behind. In this conversation about AI for WordPress Agencies, Vito shares what he's seeing across the industry, from agencies using AI to scale faster than ever before to those losing ground as client expectations evolve. We'll explore whether retainers can survive the AI era, what work remains uniquely human, and how agency leaders can prepare for a future where intelligent agents become part of the team. Viewer Response Special thanks to M Asif Rahman, founder of WPDeveloper for this special key takeaways he shared on LinkedIn:
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  Why Reliability Is the Ultimate Product Moat 17.06.2026 47min

  WordPress is often dismissed as a tool for small websites, but behind thousands of successful agencies lies a growing ecosystem of mission-critical infrastructure. On this episode of WP Product Talk, Katie Keith and Ian Misner sit down with Aurelio Volle, co-founder of WP Umbrella, to explore how a fully bootstrapped company built an essential platform that agencies rely on every day for site management, backups, monitoring, and security. Aurelio shares the journey from startup to seven-figure ARR without outside funding, revealing how customer feedback shaped the product roadmap, why reliability became WP Umbrella's greatest competitive advantage, and what it takes to earn the trust of agencies responsible for managing hundreds of client websites. Whether you're building a WordPress product, running an agency, or growing a SaaS business without investors, this conversation offers practical lessons on shipping quickly, building in public, and creating infrastructure that customers can't live without.
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  When Your Best Customers Don’t Know They Need You Yet 16.06.2026 54min

  Most product marketing assumes customers are actively searching for a solution, but what happens when your ideal customers don't even realize a solution exists? On June 24th, Matt Cromwell and Zack Katz sit down with Alex Standiford to explore one of the toughest challenges in product marketing: helping potential customers recognize a problem before they begin looking for an answer. In this discussion on Product Positioning for WordPress Plugins, Alex shares strategies for creating customer "aha" moments, communicating value for innovative products, and guiding prospects from awareness to action. Learn why educational content, compelling use cases, customer stories, and effective demos often outperform feature-focused marketing when introducing WordPress products that solve problems customers haven't yet identified.
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  The Retention Gap: What WordPress Products Are Missing 15.06.2026 50min

  Join us live on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, at noon Eastern for WP Product Talk as we welcome Gina Gindorf of Loya for an important conversation about why so many online stores struggle to turn first-time buyers into loyal customers. In "The Retention Gap: What WordPress Stores Are Missing," we'll explore practical lessons from real merchants and uncover what actually drives repeat purchases. If you're focused on sustainable growth, this episode will help you rethink how you approach Customer Retention for WooCommerce and why acquisition alone isn't enough. Gina joins co-hosts Matt Cromwell and Katie Keith to share insights on loyalty, post-purchase experiences, and low-friction strategies that can help WordPress store owners increase customer lifetime value.
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  Site Troubleshooting with AI for WordPress 17.04.2026 58min

  AI is rapidly changing how support and troubleshooting work—but how do you introduce it without losing trust? In this episode, Drew Wilde, Director of Product Management at GoDaddy, joins us to share how his team built an AI Troubleshooter inside managed hosting for WordPress. Together, we explore how AI can proactively detect, diagnose, and resolve issues like downtime, performance degradation, and common WordPress errors—while still keeping humans in the loop. Drew also shares the product decisions behind balancing automation, control, reliability, and transparency. This episode offers practical lessons for WordPress product teams, hosting providers, plugin authors, and SaaS platforms looking to introduce AI-powered support responsibly—plus what surprised the team and what they’d do differently next time.
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  The State of E-Commerce and AI 17.04.2026 58min

  AI is rapidly reshaping the e-commerce landscape, but what does that actually mean for store owners and product builders? In this episode, Bryce Adams, founder of Metorik, joins us to discuss the current state of e-commerce and how AI is changing everything from analytics and automation to customer experience and growth strategies. Bryce shares what he’s seeing across thousands of stores, where AI is already making an impact, and where the hype still outweighs reality. Whether you're building eCommerce products, running an online store, or supporting clients, this conversation offers practical insights into how AI is shaping the future of eCommerce and what to pay attention to next.
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  The State of Vibe-Coding a WordPress Website 17.04.2026 57min

  What does vibe-coding look like for a WordPress website? In this episode, Andy Peatling joins us to explore a new approach to building with AI using Miles, an AI Design Partner for WordPress. Miles acts as your AI design partner, helping you create a fully custom block-based design in minutes, then refine it collaboratively. No templates, no page builders, and no shortcuts—just fast, flexible design powered by conversation. We dive into what vibe-coding really means for WordPress builders, how AI is changing the design workflow, and what this could mean for agencies, freelancers, and product teams. If you’re curious about the future of AI-assisted WordPress development, this conversation offers a practical look at what’s possible right now.
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  How to Run a Successful Launch Week 17.04.2026 58min

  Curious how AI product teams are shipping faster and staying ahead? Join us for Lessons from Docsbot Week and Rapid AI Releases, where we unpack the power of Docsbot Week and what it teaches about modern AI product development. We’re joined by Josh Dailey, Chief Growth Officer at DocsBot.ai, to explore how rapid release cycles and build-in-public strategies are reshaping how products come to life. Live on Wednesday, May 6 at 12pm Eastern, Josh teams up with co-hosts Katie Keith and Zack Katz to share real-world insights on how AI startups ship products faster, validate ideas quickly, and build stronger customer relationships. If you're building WordPress AI products or exploring AI startup strategies, this conversation will give you practical ideas you can apply right away.
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  Your Side Gig Can Make You or Break You 17.04.2026 51min

  Running a product on the side sounds exciting, but it comes with real challenges. Our guest Yuri Gerasymov shares his 8-year journey of building and maintaining a product while working a full-time developer job and raising three kids. He will break down how to find ideas, how to get started, and what it takes to keep momentum without burning out. Whether you're a web developer or agency owner considering building your own product, this episode explores when to outsource, what to keep in-house, and how a side gig can either make you — or break you.
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  EmDash: New Plugin Opportunity or Threat? 08.04.2026 58min

  Matt "TK" Taylor, and Matt Kane from Cloudflare join WP Product Talk to discuss EmDash. Is it an opportunity for WordPress products to expand their reach, or a threat to our ecosystem? In this special episode of WP Product Talk recorded live at PressConf in Tempe, Arizona, hosts Matt Cromwell and Zack Katz sit down with Matt "TK" Taylor and Matt Kane from Cloudflare to unpack the buzz around EmDash — a new CMS positioned as a “spiritual successor” to WordPress. The conversation dives into how EmDash came to life, its modern architecture built on Astro, and whether this new platform represents a genuine opportunity for WordPress product creators or a potential threat to the ecosystem. From plugin sandboxing and security improvements to portability, hosting flexibility, and AI-native workflows, the guests share their vision for what a CMS built in 2026 should look like. The discussion also explores the business and community implications: plugin marketplaces, monetization opportunities, governance, and whether EmDash could spark a new “gold rush” for developers. With early community momentum, open-source ambitions, and strong interest from product builders, the panel weighs how EmDash might reshape the future of WordPress — or push it to evolve faster. If you're a WordPress product creator, agency, or developer wondering whether to pay attention to EmDash now or wait and see, this episode breaks down the risks, opportunities, and what to watch next.
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  Market Fit Matters More Than the Product When Moving From Services to SaaS 02.04.2026 58min

  Moving from client services to SaaS sounds like a technical challenge—but what if the real hurdle is market fit? In this episode, Matt Schwartz, Founder of Checkview, shares how his biggest lessons weren’t about code, but about deeply understanding customers, shaping a roadmap, and questioning assumptions about where agencies truly find value. As he transitioned from services into product, Matt discovered that deciding what to ship—and just as importantly, what not to—was far more complex than building the product itself. Join co-hosts Zack Katz and Katie Keith on April 1 at Noon Eastern / 6pm CET as they unpack the realities of customer discovery, SaaS vs. plugin positioning, education-driven marketing, and creating meaningful early feedback loops. This conversation is especially relevant for WordPress product founders and agency owners considering the leap into SaaS, offering honest insights into the messy, high-stakes work of finding real market fit before it’s too late.
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  Streamlining Agencies from Fragmented and Disconnected Tools 25.03.2026 49min

  Behind every “simple” website is a complex WordPress agency tech stack—often made up of 10 to 30 disconnected tools for hosting, security, backups, reporting, and more. In this episode, Emmanuel Khoury, Co-founder of WPStaq, pulls back the curtain on what’s really happening inside agencies and why fragmented systems lead to higher costs, slower delivery, stressed teams, and unhappy clients. We’ll explore what happens when agencies consolidate their workflows, reduce tool sprawl, and rethink how their WordPress agency tech stack is structured. If you build products for agencies—or run one yourself—this conversation will help you understand where operational friction lives and how unifying tools can reduce support noise, overhead, and churn while improving client outcomes.