Disclaimer: I am a founder at WP Engine, but I am no longer with the company. I still advise and am a shareholder, but I am not involved in day to day operations.

From the first day of business at WP Engine, we knew we were not for everyone. Most average bloggers and businesses will do fine with lower cost solutions. They were never our target audience, although WP Engine enjoys moderate success even among this demographic.

Our target was the individual blogger that has primary interest in the health, wellness and speed of their WordPress blogs, businesses and VIP customers who did massive traffic on a daily, weekly, monthly basis and found their sites were "too big to fail".

The recent price increase from $49 to $99 and $99 to $199 reflects that reality that significantly-sized customers will pay premium prices to ensure their WordPress site is safe and sound and in good hands.

I'm excited for my colleagues at WP Engine who are continuing to build a superior product and are making strategically notable decisions like taking Automattic investment money, as well as others like Silverton Partners and Eric Ries, to name a few.

Thanks for the writeup, Jeffro...