Founder’s Field Guide
Episode 20 The Past, Present, and Future of the Internet
Founder’s Field Guide

Episode 20: The Past, Present, and Future of the Internet

The Past, Present, and Future of the Internet

Matt Mullenweg is the co-founder and CEO of Automattic, the company on top of the open-source project WordPress. We cover the state of the internet, the symbiotic relationship between open source and proprietary projects, and how the best companies are master world builders.

This episode is brought to you by:

Tegus. Tegus has built the most extensive primary information platform available for investors. With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 10,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. Visit tegus.co/patrick to learn more.

Vanta. Vanta has built software that makes it easier to both get and maintain your SOC 2 report, at a fraction of the normal cost. Founder’s Field Guide listeners can redeem a $1k off coupon at vanta.com/patrick

 

[00:03:15] – [First question] – What the internet felt like when he first started building Wordpress

[00:05:11] – What was wrong with his impression of the internet then

[00:06:50] – Being a connoisseur of things overlooked 

[00:08:34] – How permission less publishing and open source software shaped the internet

[00:12:30] – Balance between centralization and decentralization and where we are in the cycle

[00:14:08] – The cycle between direct-to-consumer and having intermediary

[00:16:32] – New opportunities and challenges of the internet today

[00:18:49] – Potential of cryptocurrency to enable big changes on the internet

[00:21:22] – The idea of distributed work via the internet and the utopia of it

[00:24:31] – Advantage of having a team distributed across geographies and timezones

[00:26:46] – What he learned from Amazon’s API mandate

[00:29:12] – Landmines of distributed work

[00:31:13] – Interesting lessons learned building Wordpress

[00:34:55] – Company building as world building

[00:35:52] – Lessons from Microsoft on platform building

[00:38:53] – Key ingredient to world building within your company

[00:41:09] – Lessons from Wix and Shopify 

[00:42:23] – How to decide what to do next in resource and capital allocation

[00:47:00] – How to engage with other stakeholders in a platform business

[00:50:06] – The continued connectivity created by the internet

[00:53:14] – Kindest thing anyone has done for him

The Past, Present, and Future of the Internet

Introduction

Patrick
My guest today is Matt Mullenweg, co-founder and CEO of Automatic, the company on top of the open source project WordPress that Matt helped start. Today, WordPress powers, 40% of all websites in the world. Our wide-ranging conversation covers the state of the internet when Matt first started WordPress, the symbiotic relationship between open source and proprietary projects, and how the most successful companies are really master world builders. I hope you enjoyed this great conversation with Matt Mullenweg.

The State of Web Content Management Systems and Blogging

So Matt, I always try to name these episodes in my head before having the conversation as a sort of frame for what ground we can cover. One of the ones that me and my team toyed with for this one is The Past, Present and Future of the Internet, given what an integral role you and WordPress and Automatic have played in the development of the internet. I thought it would be fun to start by asking you what the internet felt like in early 2000s when you first started building WordPress and ultimately Automatic. What did it feel like to be a participant back then?

Access the full transcript
Sign in or register to view episode transcripts.

Contact

Get in touch at help@joincolossus.com