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10 questions with Matt Mullenweg
I was fortunate enough to steal a few minutes from Matt Mullenweg, the founding developer behind Wordpress, the blogging software that runs YGG and thousands of other sites around the world, and its founding company Automattic.
Joey: First of all Matt, I would like to thank you for taking the time to do this interview for YoungGoGetter.com. We know you’re a “Young Go Getter”, but so our readers know, how old are you?
Matt: I’m 24 years young.
Joey: Most people who are reading this know who you are because of
WordPress, but I am sure there is more to you than that. What are some
other things you have done?
Matt: I have arranged and scored the Mario Brothers music for a saxophone quartet and written Akismet, the anti-spam web service.
Joey: Can you tell us the quick history on WordPress and how it came from
an idea to product?
Matt: WordPress was based on a previous open source project called b2, so out of that existing codebase we began to transform it into WordPress by tearing out the configuration system, adding the initial links manager, and more. There wasn’t really any website or users at the time, so it was just a function of work and code.
Joey: What has been your biggest asset while building WordPress and your
business Automattic?
Matt: I’ve been fortunate in the people around me whom I’ve hired, partnered, and worked with.
Joey: Adversely, what has been your biggest vice?
Matt: Reading too many blogs. Email.
Joey: I know that your company Automattic is working one some real cool
projects other than new versions of Wordpress, such as Akismet, and
bbPress. What can we expect next from the talented team at Automattic
in the near future?
Matt: We want to make publishing on the web as effortless and tasteful as possible. A good example would be the Monotone photoblog theme we just released. It takes the image you upload in the post and extracts out its size and colors, then creates a complementary layout and color scheme for the photo.
http://monotonedemo.wordpress.com/
Joey: Everyone starts to feel burn out on a project every now and then.
What do you do to keep yourself motivated and focused?
Matt: I vary what I work on day to day quite a bit. But honestly I don’t mind working on the same thing for a long time, been on WordPress for 5 years now. There’s something very satisfying about being able to go really deep on a problem, and see it evolve and grow over many years.
Joey: Can you give us three tools that you use every single day to make
your life as an entrepreneur more efficient, productive, or fun?
Matt: Thunderbird, 30 Boxes, Google Reader, Prologue.
Joey: What is your favorite quote?
Matt: I actually collect jazz quotes on my site:
And in general I love quotes, so I don’t know if I could pick a single one. How about one from what’s playing on iTunes:;
“I’m not a businessman; I’m a business, man.” - Shawn Carter
Joey: And last but not least, if you could give one piece of advice to
fellow Young Go Getters, what would it be?
Matt: Do what you love and don’t focus on money — life’s too short.
Thanks again, Matt, for taking a time out with YGG this afternoon. We appreciate your input, and hopefully YGG members can take something away from this interview that will help them in the near future.
If anyone would like to learn more about Matt you can surf on over to his Wikipedia Page, or his company website automattic
13 Comments
Justin Nowak said on May 13, 2008
Solid interview Joey!
I look forward to more in the future.
Steven Clough said on May 13, 2008
Always great to see young, modest, successful entrepreneurs!
Respects to Matt on all is success.
Eric said on May 14, 2008
Badass that you got him on the line for a few. Defitely get some more interviews coming. I’d like to hear more from from entrepreneur’s and their startup companies…trials, tribulations, failures, successes, to do’s, do not’s, etc.
Aaron said on May 14, 2008
Great post. I really enjoyed the interview. With some more posts like that and you’ll be back on top.
Evan Meagher said on May 14, 2008
Interesting interview. Love the jazz quotes, too.
How did he get past the 3-character domain name minimum with ma.tt?
Dion said on May 14, 2008
Great job. Interesting read and some well posed questions. It’s always cool to know what’s behind the desk, so to speak.
Joey Pomerenke said on May 14, 2008
Thanks Guys! It was a lot of fun talking to Matt about Wordpress and his company Automattic. Expect more great interviews in the near future!
@EVAN: To my knowledge there is not a 3 letter domain minimum and if there is, it is just for the .com name. The .tt extension is just a domain extension for Trinidad and Tobago.
Glenn said on May 14, 2008
Excellent interview! Like everyone else, I would love to see some more like those in the near future… any chance you might eventually post a “tips and tricks” guide on how one might score the opportunity to chat with such interesting people?
Justin Nowak said on May 14, 2008
We could make a tips and tricks article in the future, once we get a few more interviews done!
avin kline said on May 14, 2008
awesome interview … major score. the last answer always intrigues me: “do what you love and don’t focus on money”.
people say that so often, but do they do it? should they?
Wilhelm Murdoch said on May 15, 2008
Even though I can’t stand WP, I agree that this is a pretty decent interview. Let’s just get some more of this going here at YGG.
No new content is bad, mmmkay?
Aside: 10 Questions with Matt Mullenwag | Cory Miller Media | Custom and Premium WordPress Themes said on May 16, 2008
[…] 10 Questions with Matt Mullenwag […]
mojaam said on May 17, 2008
He’s not a businessman, he’s a business, man. I love that lol! Great interview, life is indeed short and I know heard it a million times to do what you love. Some can’t however but just try to do that thing you love. Nice interview!
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