YOUNG MONEY . 2008-9 Dec/Jan : Page 4
entrepreneur profile By Zach Kaufmann attMullenweg was only 19,a freshman at the University of Houston, when he developed the popular blogging softwareWordPress, which nowsupports more than 4million blogs and haswon numerous awards. WordPress was originally an updated version of a popular b2 blogging software.Mullenweg posted a blog suggesting some updates to the now defunct b2 software.“Well,”he wrote,“it would be nice to have the flexibility ofMovableType, the parsing ofTextPattern, the hackability of b2, and the ease of setup of Blogger.Someday, right?” As it turns out, someday came pretty quick.The next day b2 blogger and tech manMike Little left Mullenweg a comment suggesting a collaboration, and the two quickly got to work on theWordPress software.According toMullenweg, “I was frustrated with the state of blogging tools available at the time, so I started working with some other folks to make it better. I was lucky to findMike, and have been 2 YOUNG MONEY lucky to find other smart folks to work on projects atAutomattic.” Automattic is the company Mullenweg founded in 2005 to run Wordpress, as well as some other popular softwareMullenweg has helped develop, including the spam blockerAkismet. Mullenweg doesn’t have any formal IT or software development training. “From a relatively young age,”he said,“I was fascinated with and making the software compatible with XHTML programming.But it wasn’t untilMay of 2004—when WordPress competitorMovable Type announced a major price increase—thatWordPress really took off. Still,Mullenweg has never really been concerned about the competition.Nor, sinceWordPress is free,open source software,does he worry about some of the more I think if you work hard on something you love you’ll be happy and feel successful regardless of any monetary outcomes or external measures of success. technology.First it was just playing games, then it was fixing computers for a local volunteer organization, and later building computers and selling them and making websites for local Houston musicians and small businesses.” Start-up costs were minimal: “Maybe a few hundred dollars to incorporate on LegalZoom and a handful of servers we rented on a monthly basis. I paid for it with my debit card.“Mullenweg and Little worked to design a new options system for b2, simplifying the install, reconfiguring the default template, traditional business concerns, like profit margins or marketing strategies.“Google’s Blogger is still probably the biggest competition. We just try to have a great product, give people the best support possible, and if folks are talking about us we try to be part of the conversation.WithAutomattic, it’s different.We’ve tried to keep costs in line with revenues;we have been basically break-even for the past three years.” Predictions about the end of blogging have been around since beforeWordPress got started.But Mullenweg says that the future of blogging is software that makes it as easy as possible for users to incorporate “rich media like slideshows, audio, and video” into their posts.That means keeping WordPress up to date with the latest technology.For example, the WordPress iPhone application (developed a few months ago) has been downloaded and installed by about 200,000 bloggers. Other than his website, there are about a dozen blogs that Mullenweg himself runs.He’s an avid photographer and an accomplished musician.He studied jazz saxophone at Houston’s High School for the Performing and VisualArts and several of his compositions (including a jazz arrangement ofMario Bros.music) can be found online. So now, at 24,what’sMullenweg’s advice to young entrepreneurs? “You have to love what you do. Don’t worry about the money. I guess I’m old fashioned—I think if you work hard on something you love you’ll be happy and feel successful regardless of any monetary outcomes or external measures of success.” YM Blog forYoung Money. submissions@youngmoney.com December|January 2008/2009
Publication List
