Courtesy of techshownetwork
WordPress.com is a open source blog publishing software package. Chances are if you have a blog of your own, then you’re more than likely using WordPress or have at least heard of it! When it comes to blogging software today, there really is no comparison in terms of features and community support. Even more interesting though is that the entrepreneur behind it is only 25! This week in the spotlight we take a look at entrepreneur Matt Mullenweg who created WordPress.com. We’ll look at just how he did it and highlight what lessons can be learned for any upcoming entrepreneur.
Summary:
Name: Matt Mullenweg
Age: 25
Location: San Francisco, CA
Claim to fame: WordPress.com(Open source blog publishing software package.)
Initial cost: < $1000 (estimate)
How He Did It:
Matt Mullenweg was born and raised in Texas where he attended the University of Houston. Mullenweg’s began as an entrepreneur during his first year of college when he started a project to revise and update the discontinued b2 blogging software package. WordPress was launched in May 2003 as limited release and later released to the general public in 2005. Mullenweg worked briefly at CNET before qutting his job to focus on WordPress and other open source projects full time. Matt has since raised millions in funding for further development of WordPress and other open source projects he is working on with other entrepreneurs. Today, WordPress is used by over 202 million users worldwide, and Mullenweg gets 90 million monthly views average on wordpress.com with an Alexa ranking of #16!
Lessons Learned:
- Try new things and don’t be afraid of failure (Matt released a product with some existing competition, but in time he surpassed all expectations he or anyone else might of had.)
- You will learn by doing (Matt had no entrepreneur experience prior to the start of his WordPress development, but he has since learned the skills and applied them to other projects as an entrepreneur thanks to his initial dive into the unknown.)
- Anything worth doing takes time (Matt released the software in 2003 and now almost in 2010 he has been able to situate himself as a successful entrepreneur.)
- Don’t be afraid to reach out to others (Matt lead the development on WordPress, but worked with a group of others to launch the WordPress we all use and love now.)
Did you miss last weeks spotlight? Check it out here: The Entrepreneur Spotlight: Bob Parsons of GoDaddy.com
Be on the lookout for our next entrepreneur spotlight article in this ongoing series. In the meantime, be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think about the success of this week’s entrepreneur. Also, please let me know if you have an entrepreneur you would like to see featured here in the weeks to come.
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