WP Media, the company behind WordPress caching plugin WP Rocket, published a post that highlights how successful the plugin has been since launching a year and a half ago. When we wrote about the international launch of WP Rocket, we questioned whether it would be able to compete against all of the free, robust options available.
In a show of transparency, WP Media shares stats that indicate the plugin is doing well. Since launching a year and a half ago, WP Rocket has achieved the following milestones while being a 100% bootstrapped company:
- $0 to $35 000 in monthly revenue
- 0 to +15 000 websites using WP Rocket
- 0 to +4300 customers.
Despite launching the product without a business plan, customers have shown they’re willing to buy a caching solution that’s simple to configure and use.
Jean-Baptiste Marchand-Arvier, Co-founder of WP Rocket, says the move towards greater transparency is inspired by other companies that have revealed revenue numbers, recruitment strategies, and productivity tips.
We are really inspired by great companies like Buffer, Baremetrics and Mattermark where transparency is a company culture. They share it through several channels:
- Buffer Open Blog, “Our journey to greater productivity, more transparency and a happier work culture”
- Medium posts of Danielle Morrill, CEO and Cofounder of Mattermark
- Baremetrics Blog
These companies have helped us greatly by sharing a lot of internal information including their monthly revenue, and more.
At the end of 2014, Easy Digital Downloads and WP Ninjas published year-end reviews that show how well each plugin has done. However, Matt Medeiros, of MattReport.com cautions, that while reading about the success of others can be motivational, it can also be depressing.
Entrepreneurs or small business owners that have been in the game month-after-month or 3 years in still struggling to make it. “Everyone is doing better shit than me.” or “Look at the money they are making! Why can’t I?”
The new social has amplified everyone else’s success while making yours seem insignificant.
I want to see as many companies as possible open up to their customers and readers by publishing revenue numbers and strategies that don’t work out as intended. Aside from knowing the numbers, I think a lot of people in the community would love to read about the struggles businesses are having and what they’re doing to overcome them.
WP Rocket is proving that, despite jumping into an established market, there’s enough room for new products to grow.
Hi Jeff
Yes I’ve looked at WP Rocket with longing eyes… I may not be strong enough to resist….