This episode of The WP Minute+ podcast features host Matt Medeiros in conversation with guest Marc Benzakein.

Marc is currently involved with two WordPress-related businesses – MainWP, a self-hosted WordPress site management plugin, and Site District, a managed WordPress hosting company.

Matt opens the show recapping his previous interview with Marc on The Matt Report podcast, where they discussed Marc’s former business ServerPress which has now shut down. Marc shares what he has been up to since closing ServerPress, including taking a 6 month sabbatical away from WordPress, before getting involved again working with smaller bootstrapped companies in the WordPress space.

Topics Discussed:

• The high sponsorship costs for events like WordCamp make things difficult for small companies in the WordPress ecosystem. Marc and Matt debate whether the platform can sustain if sponsors pull out.
• They discuss the necessary move towards block editors and full site editing for WordPress to stay competitive, even though some developers dislike it. The focus needs to be ease of use over speed.
• Marc highlights the existential threat of keeping websites relevant when social platforms like Facebook offer quicker user engagement. All of WordPress needs to address this issue.
• The dominance of big tech platforms and algorithms threatens the open web, as most content is now filtered through them rather than accessed directly. Podcasting faces similar challenges.

Key Takeaways:

• Opportunities for WordPress pros with strong personal brands to work with multiple niche companies rather than one big corporate roleNeed to make 
• WordPress site building competitive with social platforms for ease of use
• All of WordPress needs to band together to demonstrate the benefits of owning your data with a website