Webflow and Friends with Janne Parri

In this episode, I sit down with Ilja van Eck, a designer and Webflow developer from the Netherlands, now living in Belgium. Ilja has quietly built one of the strongest track records in our space, with more than 20 Awwwards Site of the Day wins, two Independent of the Year nominations, and a seat on the Awwwards jury. He is also one half of Osmo, the component library he built with Dennis Snellenberg. We talk about how Osmo started, why the two of them decided to go all in on it, and how a launch they hoped would reach 300 members in three months hit that number in 48 hours. Ilja breaks down the tech stack behind the platform, from Outseta to Bunny CDN to the thousands of lines of custom JavaScript that sit on top. We also get into his creative process, working with designers on highly visual builds, and where the craft fits now that AI can fake the result. He shares an honest take on the slop and the grifters in the space, how he uses AI in his own work, and why he still does not reach for a framework. We close on where he thinks Webflow is heading.

Check Out Ilja:
https://www.youtube.com/@iljavaneck
https://www.instagram.com/by.ilja/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilja-van-eck/
https://www.awwwards.com/ilja-van-eck/
https://x.com/iljavaneck

Check Out Osmo:
https://www.osmo.supply/
https://www.instagram.com/osmo.supply/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/osmosupply
https://x.com/osmosupply

Also Mentioned:
Dennis Snellenberg - https://dennissnellenberg.com/
VRTL WRLD - Ilja's Favorite Project - https://vrtl-wrld-staging.webflow.io/
Awwwards - https://www.awwwards.com/
Holographik - https://holographik.co/
Outseta - https://www.outseta.com/
Bunny CDN - https://bunny.net/
Relume - https://www.relume.io/
Joseph Berry - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-berry-51993268/
Jordan Gilroy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordangilroy/
Eduard Bodak - https://www.eduardbodak.com/
Niccolo Miranda - https://www.linkedin.com/in/niccolomiranda/
Cassie Evans - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassie-codes/

Timestamps:
00:00 Teaser
00:40 Awwwards and Recognition
02:48 Intros and Osmo
04:32 Will Osmo always be Webflow first platform?
06:02 Osmo Origin Story
09:29 How Ilja and Dennis Share Responsibilities?
11:22 Tech Stack Behind Osmo
13:57 The Role of Outseta in Osmo
14:59 Osmo vs Relume
16:54 Ilja's Favorite Osmo Resource
18:08 Future of Osmo
21:31 Osmo Button Pack
22:39 Collaborating with Designers and Studios
27:26 Awwwards as a Goal
30:41 Awwwards Categories
35:32 Ilja's Take on AI
38:42 How Ilja Uses AI
40:58 Beaver Sneezes
41:22 Could Osmo Integrate with an LLM?
42:57 Webflow MCP
43:47 The Framework Question
46:43 Improvements to Webflow Components
51:08 Webflow Community in Belgium
53:19 The Weird Finnish Thing

In this episode I sit down with Florian Bodelot, co-founder of Digidop, a Webflow premium enterprise partner based in Paris. Florian shares how Digidop went from two founders in business school building their own website on Webflow, to becoming one of the leading Webflow agencies in France and beyond. We talk about how they positioned themselves early in the French market, how they eventually went global and what they learned about selling differently in the US versus France, and how content became their biggest sales asset from day one. We also get into their focus on the finance and tech verticals, what it actually takes to land and deliver enterprise-scale Webflow projects, how they launched Vydera as a separate SEO and AEO agency, and what Florian sees coming for Webflow and the broader web industry in the next couple of years.

Check out Florian:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/florian-bodelot-digidop/
https://x.com/florian_bodelot
https://www.instagram.com/flo_bodz/

Check out Digidop and Vydera:
https://www.youtube.com/@digidop
https://www.digidop.com/
https://vydera.com/en

Also mentioned:
Thomas Labonne: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-labonne-digidop/
Uroš Mikić: https://www.youtube.com/@UrosMikicFlowNinja
Jack Redley: https://www.youtube.com/@JackRedleyDesign-c6b
Julian and Ship Studio: https://www.youtube.com/@shipstudio_app
OptiBase: https://www.youtube.com/@Optibase
Webflow Localization: https://webflow.com/feature/localization
Localize [VERIFY: link points to lokalise.com (Lokalise), not localize.com]: https://lokalise.com/

Timestamps
00:00 Teaser
02:41 Introduction and Webflow Momentum Tour
04:30 Founding of Digidop
09:01 Expanding Internationally
11:15 Cultural Differences in Business
15:50 Enterprise Level Sales
19:12 Team and Remote Work
26:39 Financial Sector Focus
30:30 Managing a Remote Team
34:20 Sales Strategy and Inbound Leads
53:57 Content Strategy and YouTube
63:04 Future of Webflow and AI
66:31 Localization and Global Strategy
01:17:04 The Weird Finnish Thing

In this episode, I sit down with Rahul Miah, a designer and creative developer based in London. Rahul is a Webflow partner, part of the Webflow ACE program, and works at Fishfinger, an award-winning London creative studio. We start with Webflow e-commerce and why Shopify ends up being the default for almost every serious e-commerce project. From there, we get into the Webflow and Shopify integration world, headless solutions, and what the future might look like. We also talk about animation-heavy development, GSAP, Rive, building internal tools in Webflow, component props, and Rahul's own framework approach. Towards the end, Rahul shares that he is leaving agency life to go freelance — zero clients, zero plan, just going for it.

Check out Rahul:
LinkedIn
X
YouTube

Also mentioned:
Chris Skitch - POD 59 - Layoffs, Meetups and Community
Matt Evans - POD 53 - We're Harsh Because We Care
Bimo Tri - POD 44 - Webflow IX3 Is Great, But You Can...
Matthew Munger - POD 45 - This Might Be the Best Way to Lan...
Timothy Ricks - @timothyricks
Charlie Marie - @charlimarieTV
Charles Leclerc website - charlesleclerc.com
Liquiflow - liquiflow.app
Relume - relume.io
Rive - rive.app
Unicorn Studio - unicorn.studio

Timestamps:
00:00 Teaser
00:34 Webflow E-commerce: Limitations and Use Cases
02:56 The Journey into Web Design and Development
08:07 Webflow Shopify Integrations, Themes and Headless
13:01 How Far Can You Take Shopify Visually?
14:48 Future of Webflow E-commerce
18:59 The Balance of Regular and E-commerce Sites
19:55 Exploring Partner Programs: Webflow vs Shopify
23:14 Shopify Rides the AI Wave Well
23:56 Webflow MCP and AI Tools
28:37 Webflow Components and the UI
35:09 Community Sentiment and Future Predictions
37:43 Building Beautiful Things on the Internet
46:28 The Framework Question
51:23 Building a Design Library: Templates and Components
55:36 Advice for Aspiring Creatives: Start Making
57:00 The Importance of Patience in Design
01:01:24 Freelancing Journey: Embracing the Unknown
01:03:28 The Pressure of Portfolio Creation
01:06:25 The Weird Finnish Thing

Chris Skitch is a Webflow Global Leader and the host of the London Webflow Meetup, the largest in-person Webflow meetup in the world. In this episode, we talk about the Webflow layoffs and what they might mean for the community, how Chris started the London meetup after feeling the absence of in-person connection post-COVID, what makes a meetup worth showing up to every month, and why community might matter more right now than it has in a while. Chris also flips the script and asks me a few questions, which doesn't happen often.

Check out Chris and London Webflow Meetup:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cskitch/
@ChrisSkitch
@WebflowLDN
https://www.meetup.com/london-webflow-monthly-meetup/

Also mentioned:
Linda Tong (Webflow CEO)
Jimmy Elphick
Matt Evans Episode
Jack Redley Episode
Nelson (Pixelgeek) Episode
Timothy Ricks

Timestamps:
00:00 Teaser
00:24 When Layoff News Broke
05:35 Layoffs Speculations
10:23 Quick History Lesson
14:18 More Speculation about Layoffs
19:38 Intros and Chris Becoming a Community Person
29:43 Creating a Welcoming Atmosphere
35:58 The Impact of COVID on Community Engagement
41:22 How to Start Your Own Meetup
48:55 The Future of Webflow and Community
53:29 Will Webflow Do More Than Just Websites?
56:39 The Complexity of Community Engagement
59:07 Nostalgia and the Evolution of Webflow
01:03:09 Chris Interviewing Janne
01:11:18 The Weird Aussie Thing
01:13:29 The Weird Finnish Thing

In this episode I sit down with Himanshu Sahu, founder and CEO of Flowtrix, a Webflow Enterprise partner agency based in Bengaluru, India. We talk about why Indian Webflow agencies stay invisible globally even though so much of the work runs through India, how Himanshu landed his first enterprise clients including Amazon and Wayground, and the sales process he's built for high-ticket deals. We also get into inbound vs outbound, how he cracked SEO and AEO for his own site, the recent Webflow pricing and bandwidth changes, when to pick Webflow vs Framer, and why he's building his own headless CMS because he sees Webflow becoming a bottleneck for fast Figma-to-site workflows. Flowtrix is a Webflow and Framer Enterprise-certified website design and development agency based in Bengaluru, India. They specialize in building and revamping high-converting marketing websites for B2B SaaS, AI, and enterprise technology companies.

Check out Himanshu:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/himanshusahuin
www.flowtrix.co
www.bettercms.ai

Check out Flowtrix:
www.flowtrix.co
https://www.instagram.com/flowtrix.co
https://in.linkedin.com/company/flowtrix

Also mentioned:
CMS Himanshu is building - www.bettercms.ai
Amazon Signage Case Study - https://www.flowtrix.co/case-studies/amazon-signage
Wayground Case Study - https://www.flowtrix.co/case-studies/wayground
Payload CMS - https://payloadcms.com
Sanity - https://www.sanity.io
Strapi - https://strapi.io
FlowDrive - https://tryflowdrive.com/
BunnyCDN - https://bunny.net
Weglot - https://www.weglot.com/

Timestamps
00:00 teaser
00:27 The Marketing Challenge for Indian Webflow Agencies
03:09 Who is Himanshu Sahu?
05:09 How Did Himanshu Get Clients?
08:12 What is Himanshu's Current Role at Flowtrix?
11:50 Himanshu's Approach to Sales
15:45 Marketing Strategies
18:48 AEO Tactics on Flowtrix Site
21:13 More AEO Talk
24:08 Localization and Tools for That
30:26 Pricing Changes in Webflow
34:53 Choosing Between Webflow and Framer
39:25 The Impact of AI on Agency Work
42:56 Building a Better CMS for Marketers
54:27 Vibe Coding as a Webflow Alternative
01:04:55 Webflow Culture in India
01:12:33 The Importance of Upskilling in Development
01:14:43 The Weird Finnish Thing

In this episode I sit down with Nelson Abalos Jr, also known as Pixel Geek, who many of us remember from the old Webflow tutorial days. We talk about what the Webflow community used to feel like, why that tight knit feeling probably isn't coming back, and what small pockets of community can still do. Nelson opens up about leaving Webflow, starting That One Couple with his wife, and the rough stretch where he almost walked away from tech entirely. We get into vibe coding with Replit, what AI is actually good at, and where it still falls short, including his honest take on the Webflow MCP. Nelson also shares the story behind NovaUp, the micro journaling app he built to climb out of a personal low point, and why he wants it to be the app you only open once a week.

Check out Nelson:
@pixelgeek on YouTube
https://x.com/thepixelgeek
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonabalosjr/
https://www.thatonecouple.com/
https://novaup.app/

Also mentioned:
That One Couple - https://www.thatonecouple.com/
NovaUp app - https://novaup.app/
Sabrina Jeffries site - https://www.sabrinajeffries.com/
Replit - @replit on YouTube - https://replit.com/
Raymmar Tirado - @Raymmar on YouTube
MagicPath - https://www.magicpath.ai/
Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) - @mkbhd on YouTube

Timestamps
00:00 teaser
00:24 Nostalgia for the Webflow Community
06:32 Nelson's Transition from Webflow to New Ventures
12:08 Building a Business with a Spouse
16:40 Crafting Unique Client Stories
19:30 Focusing on Women and Minority-Owned Businesses
22:57 Introducing NovaUp: A Micro-Journaling App
29:17 Learning from Vibe Coding and AI Tools
33:27 Webflow MCP
39:56 Simple and Editable Webflow Builds
46:10 Design Control in Replit
48:52 Coping with Industry Changes
54:34 Future of Nova Up App
59:45 Vibecoding Mobile Apps and Storing Data
01:05:32 Should Everyone Try Vibecoding?
01:09:02 Final Thoughts on AI and Development
01:11:00 The Weird Finnish Thing

In this episode I sit down with Yar Al Roshidi to make sense of AEO, or answer engine optimization. Yar is a Webflow partner based in Barcelona who has been focusing on AEO and is moving back to freelancing full-time to work on it. We get into what AEO actually is, how it relates to traditional SEO, and why your website is only about 20% of the game while the other 80% happens off-site. We talk about content structure, schema markups, why Webflow has approx. 2% CMS market share but shows up in 64% of CMS-related AI searches, and how to measure something that is still mostly a black box. We also cover the difference between Webflow and tools like Lovable when it comes to AEO, the role of YouTube and Reddit in building authority, the latest Webflow MCP updates, and what Yar is planning with his own freelance services. Honest conversation about a topic where nobody is really an expert yet.

Check out Yar:
https://yar.website/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaroshidi/

Also mentioned:
Webflow AEO Playbook - https://webflow.com/resources/ebooks/aeo-playbook
Webflow AEO Maturity Model - https://webflow.com/solutions/aeo
Schema Markup Validator - https://validator.schema.org/
Noco (Agency) - https://noco.agency/
Lovable - https://lovable.dev
Lovable HTML - https://lovablehtml.com/
Firecrawl - https://www.firecrawl.dev/
Webflow MCP - https://developers.webflow.com/mcp/reference/overview
Claude - https://claude.com

Timestamps
00:00 teaser
00:44 Webflow's AEO Strategy and Market Positioning
05:23 Why AEO matters?
09:30 How do you know if AEO is working?
15:52 Why Schema Markup is important?
22:14 How to Build Authority?
24:02 Measuring AEO success
28:18 How to Make Lovable AEO Friendly?
32:21 Future Trends in AEO and Local Search Optimization
38:08 Enhancing Local Digital Presence
40:20 How Does Language Affect AEO?
45:25 How Does Yar Use the Webflow MCP?
49:22 Yar's Announcement and Future Endeavours
51:29 YouTube Videos for AEO?
53:54 Reddit for AEO
56:22 Yar's Future Plans and Service Offerings
01:01:12 The Role of Content in AEO
01:06:12 Final Thoughts on AEO and Digital Presence
01:07:47 The Weird Finnish Thing

In this episode, I sit down with Ben Hammond, founder of Shrink Studio, a Webflow premium partner based in London. Ben works with venture-backed B2B teams at seed, Series A, and Series B. We talk about why so much of the agency world has become bloated, what a lean studio actually looks like in practice, and how Ben structures Shrink around discovery, development, and optimization. We get into senior-only teams, sprint-based development, why frameworks are starting points and not religion, his take on MAST and component-first builds, and how he thinks about handover. We also cover his outbound process for finding venture-backed clients, how AI is changing the agency model, and where AEO fits into the work going forward.

Check out Ben:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bybenhammond/
https://www.shrink.studio/

Also mentioned:
Corey Moen - https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreymoen/
Alessia Sannazzaro - @ale_sannazzaro
Dan Foster - https://www.linkedin.com/in/danfoster29/
Uroš Mikić - @UrosMikicFlowNinja
Episode with Nathan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4SjwOYYps8
Episode with Mason - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0XxH4ZsXH0
MAST Framework - https://www.nocodesupply.co/mast/docs
Finsweet Attributes - https://finsweet.com/attributes
PostHog - https://posthog.com/

I sat down with Mason Poe, founder of Edgar Allan, the Webflow agency that has won Enterprise Partner of the Year twice and has delivered over 800 projects. We got into AEO and what's actually changing now that the aperture of the web is opening, why brochureware is dead, and how owned media is becoming a real channel instead of a set-it-and-forget-it brand exercise. Mason shared why he thinks anything repeatable will be replaceable, how Edgar Allan has built a story-first approach to agency work, and what it really means to move upmarket with Webflow. We also talked about the Webflow partner directory, the dirty secret of digital agencies, and the gap between exponential technology change and incremental human change being the real opportunity for builders right now.

Check out Mason
https://www.linkedin.com/in/masonpoe/
https://x.com/masonpoe
https://www.edgarallan.com/

Also MentionedEpisode with Nathan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4SjwOYYps8Profound: https://www.tryprofound.com/Ethan Smith (CEO @ Graphite.io): https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanls/Josh Grant: https://substack.com/@joshgrantstackedgtm

Timestamps00:00 teaser00:28 The Future of Websites and Media09:41 Building Edgar Allan15:18 First Enterprise Client Experience18:37 Story Driven Approach23:58 Integrating Brand and Stories32:04 Webflow's Brand Evolution and Community Engagement38:32 Understanding AEO: Answer Engine Optimization45:05 Understanding Metrics in the New Landscape48:12 Tools For AEO52:49 The Future of AEO and Web Development56:37 Ephemeral Software01:01:04 Webflow Community01:05:27 Improving the Webflow Partner Directory01:09:06 Security & Enterprise Projects01:11:48 The Future of Work01:15:10 The Weird Finnish Thing

Matt Evans is an award-winning Webflow developer from Dublin. He runs Fido and Patch, a studio that builds everything from marketing sites to AI-enabled products. He won the Webflow Technical Builder Award in 2022 and has been pushing beyond Webflow with AI tools over the past couple of years.

In this episode we talk about what Matt sees as Webflow's biggest problem right now, and it is not technical. We get into the communication gap between Webflow and its community, what the golden days felt like and why they are hard to repeat, and whether Webflow is at risk of losing the freelancers and small agencies that helped build it. We also talk about the client editing experience, the developer tools like Webflow Cloud and AppGen, and how Matt thinks about the split between Webflow core and a dedicated client interface. And we spend time on where Matt is taking his own business, using AI to build products beyond traditional Webflow work, and what that shift actually looks like day to day.

Check out Matt:
https://www.fidoandpatch.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattyevs/

Also mentioned:
Episode with Nathan Huening - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4SjwOYYps8
Shop Talk Show Episode - https://shoptalkshow.com/710/
Matthew P Munger - https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewpmunger/
Hal Zeitlin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/halzeitlin/
Alessia Sannazzaro - https://www.youtube.com/@ale_sannazzaro
Julian Galluzzo - https://www.youtube.com/@Memberstack
Ship Studio - https://www.youtube.com/@shipstudio_app
Michael Wells - https://www.sygnal.com/
Ailin Tobin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ail%C3%ADn-j-tobin-web-design/

Timestamps
00:00 Teaser
00:16 Biggest Beef
08:57 Matt's Journey
17:26 AI and Problems to Solve
25:04 Where to Store the Context?
33:12 Webflow CMS Idea
34:59 Tool vs. Service
40:13 Client Experience vs. Developer Needs
44:54 Webflow's Position in the Market
48:22 The Risk of Losing New Users
53:25 State of the Webflow Community
57:13 Webflow's Developer Features
01:02:16 Communicating About Those Developer Features
01:09:42 Preparing for the Future in Web Design
01:15:19 About Uncertainty and Pressure That AI Brings
01:23:42 The Weird Finnish Thing