Why WordPress Matters

Adii Pienaar -

Everyone knows WordPress and that it's kind of a big deal.

We know that it is a blogging platform turned fully fledged CMS. And we know that it powers almost 20% of the entire (indexed) web.

Beyond this - and even though WordPress-related businesses have never been sexy (in the mainstream sense of the word) - WordPress has created and monetized an incredible ecosystem around the platform. I'd estimate that WordPress-related products (including SaaS solutions) alone has created a $500m annual market at the very least. Add to that all of the consulting being done on WordPress and you're probably looking at a $2bn or $3bn market.

That's significant.

But as a startup entrepreneur, there's a completely different reason why WordPress matters to me today: it has become one of the best ways to launch any kind of startup.

Dharmesh Shah (Hubspot) published an article earlier this week about launching a startup with writing code. He says:

"To most of us, the WordPress brand connotes a free blog, or a simple way to create a content website for non-technical folks."

"But the true magic of WordPress is the ability to extend its functionality to create many kinds of web platforms - while keeping your hands (mostly) free of code."

WordPress and this mindset (of doing as little development as possible to validate a new idea) was a big part of how I (kick)started PublicBeta.

It's not sexy and it's not perfect, but using WordPress as the foundation of a MVP has loads of advantages. The availability of fantastic out-of-box solutions (many of which are free), expert skills and the fact that you can get a lot done with no to little code gives you a fantastic starting point for any new startup.

And in my mind, that's one of the main reasons why WordPress matters today.

I'll be presenting a talk at WordCamp Cape Town next month titled "Using WordPress to build a MVP of anything".

If you have any experience in using WordPress as the foundation to build the MVP of your new startup, I'd love to hear from you! Drop me a mail.