In WP Legends Episode 133, Freek Van der Herten, Co-founder of Oh Dear and core member of Spatie, shares his journey from open source development to building a trusted monitoring platform used by developers and agencies worldwide.

We explore Laravel in the AI era, why its clean architecture works well with AI, and where to start with hosting using tools like Laravel Cloud and Laravel Forge. The conversation also dives into monitoring, infrastructure reliability, and how AI is changing the way we build and manage applications.

Visit Us: https://seahawkmedia.com

Learn more about Oh Dear: https://ohdear.app

Learn more about Spatie: https://spatie.be

#FreekVanDerHerten #Laravel #OhDear #Spatie #WebDevelopment #AI #WPLegends

In WP Legends Episode 132, Jason Agnew, Co-founder & CTO of Big Bite, shares how Big Bite evolved from a small agency into a trusted WordPress partner for major publishing organizations. Now part of WP Engine, that experience is shaping the future of publishing platforms.

We dive into legacy media stacks, newsroom workflows, AI in publishing, headless WordPress, and what smaller publishers should focus on when building from scratch. A clear look at how publishing infrastructure is evolving in an AI-driven world.

Visit Us: https://seahawkmedia.com

Learn more about WP Engine: https://wpengine.com

Learn more about Big Bite: https://bigbite.net

Follow Jason on LinkedIn: / jason-agnew-166a5435

Don’t forget to check out the link here:

https://wpengine.com/newsroom-platfor...

#JasonAgnew #BigBite #WPEngine #WordPress #Publishing #MediaTech #AI #Bluehost #WPLegends

In WP Legends Episode 131, Matt Cromwell, Founder and CGO of Roots & Fruit, shares lessons from building and scaling WordPress products. From GiveWP to advising product teams today, he brings a clear perspective on product growth, customer experience, and long-term strategy.

We dive into product-market fit, customer feedback loops, north star metrics, and product-led growth, along with what WordPress companies need to focus on in an AI-driven market. The conversation also explores scaling challenges, support as a growth lever, and what types of products will succeed in the coming years.

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Learn more about GiveWP: https://givewp.com/

Learn more about Roots & Fruit: https://rootsandfruit.com/

Follow Matt on LinkedIn: / mattcromwell

#MattCromwell #GiveWP #WordPress #ProductGrowth #CustomerExperience #Bluehost #AI #WPLegends

In WP Legends Episode 130, Seb de Lemos, CEO of ‪@wearehostingcom‬ shares how he went from accidentally getting into hosting to building and scaling global infrastructure that powers millions of websites. With experience across product, platforms, operations, and acquisitions, he brings a clear perspective on what it really takes to build a hosting company people trust at scale.

We dive into the real mechanics of scaling a global hosting brand, why stability matters more than chasing every new trend, and how Hosting.com is approaching AI hosting and Open Cloud. The conversation also covers the future of shared hosting, the continued growth of WordPress, expansion into markets like Bangladesh, and what Seb looks for when acquiring hosting companies.

Visit Us: https://seahawkmedia.com

Learn more about Hosting.com: https://hosting.com/hosting/platforms...

Follow Seb on Linkedin: / sebdelemos

#SebDeLemos #Hosting #WordPress #WebHosting #Cloud #Bluehost #AI

In WP Legends Episode 129, Todd Han, Founder, President, and CEO of Dynadot, shares how a simple request to build a website for his mother led to the creation of one of the most trusted domain registrars in the world. Starting as a solo founder in 2002, Todd built Dynadot from scratch with a focus on user experience, customer control, and long-term sustainability in an industry shaped by consolidation and complexity.

We dive into the early days of domain registration, how Dynadot scaled from a one-person operation to a global company managing millions of domains, and why Todd chose to stay independent instead of taking outside capital. The conversation also explores pricing in the registrar business, domain investor behavior, ICANN policy, the 2026 TLD round, decentralized domain names, and what people should actually look for before buying a domain beyond just price.

Visit Us: https://seahawkmedia.com

Learn more about Dynadot: https://www.dynadot.com

Get started with Cloudways: https://platform.cloudways.com/signup...

LinkedIn: / toddhan

#ToddHan #Dynadot #Domains #DomainNames #InternetInfrastructure #ICANN #WebHosting #OpenInternet

In WP Legends Episode 128, Thomas Raef, Owner of WeWatchYourWebsite, shares his journey from programming in the early 1970s to building one of the most deeply informed website security platforms in the WordPress ecosystem. From the IBM PC era and the Melissa virus to modern malware detection, Thomas explains how his obsession with root cause analysis, automation, and proactive defense shaped decades of work protecting websites at scale.

We dive into how WeWatchYourWebsite evolved from early security appliances into a real-time website monitoring platform, why hackers increasingly target authentication rather than core vulnerabilities, and how Thomas trained a purpose-built AI malware engine on hundreds of thousands of malware samples. The conversation also explores why WordPress is safer today despite facing more attacks than ever, why server-level protection matters more than plugin-level scanning, and what hosting companies should be doing when infected sites are used to attack others.

Visit Us: https://seahawkmedia.com

Learn more about WeWatchYourWebsite: https://wewatchyourwebsite.com/

Follow Thomas Raef on LinkedIn: / thomas-raef-74b93a14

#ThomasRaef #WordPress #WebsiteSecurity #CyberSecurity #Malware #WebHosting #AI #Bluehost #WPLegends

In WP Legends Episode 127, Darcy Kurtz, Chief Marketing Officer at WP Engine, shares her journey from Dell to leading global marketing at companies like Mailchimp, OutSystems, BentoBox, and now WP Engine. With deep experience across SaaS, platform businesses, developer ecosystems, and enterprise growth, she offers a powerful perspective on scaling marketing in a rapidly evolving landscape.

We explore what modern go-to-market strategy really looks like, from global team structures and localization to value-based positioning and the balance between brand and demand. The conversation also dives into AI-driven shifts in search and discovery, marketing efficiency, and key leadership lessons from scaling high-growth organizations.

Visit Us: https://seahawkmedia.com

Learn more about WP Engine: https://wpengine.com

Follow Darcy Kurtz on LinkedIn: / darcy-kurtz

#DarcyKurtz #WPEngine #WordPress #Marketing #SaaS #WebDevelopment #GTM #WPLegends

In WP Legends Episode 126, Yuri Gerasymov, Founder of Diffy, shares why visual regression testing is becoming essential for modern WordPress workflows.

From layout shifts and styling issues to broken UI elements, Yuri explains how many critical bugs go unnoticed with manual QA and how teams can move from guesswork to confident releases. We discuss who this is for, how agencies managing multiple websites can benefit, and the real cost of missing visual issues in production.

The episode also covers false positives, dynamic content challenges, Figma comparisons, migration use cases, and why visual testing directly improves user experience and conversions.

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Learn more about Diffy: https://diffy.website

Follow Yuri on Linkedin: / yuri-gerasymov

#YuriGerasymov #Diffy #VisualRegressionTesting #WordPress #Drupal #WebDevelopment #WPLegends

In WP Legends Episode 125, Dragos Boroianu, Chief Business Officer at ChemiCloud, shares his journey from the front lines of support to helping lead a hosting company built on reliability, human-first service, and strong infrastructure. From handling late-night tickets to managing customer experience at scale, his perspective is shaped by solving real problems where they actually happen.

In this episode, we explore what reliable hosting truly means, why support still matters in an AI-driven world, and how ChemiCloud has grown organically by focusing on product quality and customer experience. We also dive into the future of WordPress hosting, the role of AI, plugin quality, security, and why empathy continues to be a key differentiator in great support.

Visit Us: https://seahawkmedia.com

Learn more about ChemiCloud: https://chemicloud.com/pricing#a_aid=...

Follow Dragos on LinkedIn: / dragosboroianu

#DragosBoroianu #ChemiCloud #WordPressHosting #WebHosting #ManagedWordPress #HostingReliability #WPLegends

In WP Legends Episode 124, Paul Carter, Co-Founder and CEO of BuiltFast, shares insights into the future of WordPress hosting, serverless infrastructure, and how modern hosting platforms are evolving.

With over two decades of experience in the hosting industry and time spent scaling infrastructure at A2 Hosting, Paul explains how BuiltFast and its serverless platform, Vector, are designed to improve performance, scalability, and security for WordPress websites.

We also discuss WooCommerce scalability, how agencies are launching their own hosting services, the role of AI in modern development workflows, and what the future of WordPress hosting could look like over the next few years.

Visit Us: https://seahawkmedia.com

Learn more about BuiltFast: https://builtfast.com

Follow Paul on LinkedIn: / pauldavidcarter

#PaulCarter #BuiltFast #VectorHosting #WordPressHosting #ServerlessHosting #WooCommerceHosting #WPLegends