Words
Occasional, and long.
I write when I have something to argue, and I'll talk about it if someone hands me a microphone.
2026
Long poston LinkedInValue-based pricing, fixed fees, and the toothbrushEveryone is pitching outcome-based fees as the answer to AI making the work cheaper. The market sets the price, not your pricing model. Fixed fees still make sense, but only when they rest on an honest estimate of effort.
Interviewfor FueledInside the Official WordPress Browser ExtensionA Q&A with Annie Gieser on the extension, why open source has been a constant, and why AI was the tires and not the driver.
Guest poston WordPress.orgIntroducing the WordPress Browser ExtensionThe official announcement, on the WordPress News blog: what the extension does, how a personal itch became an official project with Matt Mullenweg's support, and credit to Fabian Kägy, Khokan Sardar, and the Fueled testers.- Long poston LinkedInHow a personal itch became the official WordPress Browser ExtensionFrom a small frustration with the admin bar to release candidates for two app stores in three months, with credit to the people who shaped it along the way.
- Podcastwith Fueled By ProgressAI Brings Back Web Dev's Golden EraWith Mark Szymanski: building 10up to 300 people, why it was never about me, and why clients will keep paying agencies as AI does more of the work.
- Long poston LinkedInMy first plugin on WordPress.org in over a decadeAuto Release Posts for GitHub, built on WordPress 7.0's new AI Connectors, and an honest account of how much of it I typed myself.
Videowith The WP MinuteThe WordPress Browser Extension Goes Beyond the Admin BarA live demo of the extension with Eric Karkovack, back when it was still in beta.
Guest editorialin The RepositoryBetter, Faster, and Yes, Cheaper – Or Be Left BehindA guest editorial on what AI does to the price of digital services, and why another year on the job no longer makes you worth more.
Videowith Craylor MediaHow Can Web Agencies Survive the Vibe Coding Era?A conversation at PressConf 2026 with Christian Makoa. Short version: agencies should be worried, and that's not drama.
Articlein Press GazettePublishers don't just need more traffic, they need a loyalty systemAs search and AI eat discovery, publishers need to design for the second and third visit: loyalty as a product problem, not a bucket of newsletters. Written with WordPress VIP.
Videowith WP Cloud's Impressive HostingWhat Role Will AI Play in the Future of WordPress Websites?With Jesse Friedman: how AI reshapes website experiences, why commerce sites aren't going anywhere, and the business case for a services company giving its work away as open source.
2025
- Long poston LinkedInVisual regression testing, finally worth the troubleWhy VRT tools always buried real breakages under false positives, and how an AI review pass at Fueled changed the math on test coverage.
Podcastwith Agency HealthThe Future of New BusinessWith Mark O'Brien of Newfangled and host Arlen Byrd: why focus still wins, which new-business channels actually work now, and why survival depends on a team that can adapt to AI.
Videowith WP LegendsMerging 10up with Fueled, Scaling WordPress Businesses & MoreEpisode 21: from solo founder to 300 people, Fortune 500 clients, and the strategic thinking behind the merger.
Videowith Greyd ConversationsAI & WordPress: Opportunities, Disruption & VisionWith James LePage of Automattic and host Jakob Trost: what's hype and what's helpful in WordPress AI, Big Sky, and building a team culture that embraces the tools instead of fearing them.- White paperon the Fueled blogOnline Accessibility Strategies for Government Efficiency and TrustA white paper with Brian Bourn, from seven years of work with State of California agencies: the efficiency case for accessibility, and how CMS architecture and automation keep it from decaying after launch.
- Articleon LinkedInNew Brand, New Title, Renewed Focus: 10up's Evolution with FueledUpdating my LinkedIn profile for the first time in fourteen years, and what it's like to watch the company you founded change shape without being its final arbiter.
- Podcastwith The WP MinuteJake Goldman Talks Agency Mergers and RebrandingWith Eric Karkovack, the week the refreshed Fueled brand launched.
Articleon the 10up blogMeet the new Fueled brand; 10up becomes the brand of our WordPress practiceWhy 10up kept its name as a practice inside the refreshed Fueled brand.- Articleon the Fueled blogFueled for the Future: A Renewed BrandThe brand refresh, co-written with Justin Livesay and Rameet Chawla.
Talkat PressConf US 2025, TempeWho Is WordPress for Anymore?My first in-person conference talk since the pandemic. A short, deliberately provocative one.
Videowith Matt MedeirosThe Future of Agencies in the WordPress EconomyA pre-conference conversation with an old friend ahead of the PressConf agency panel.- Long poston LinkedInThe unglamorous tool I love mostNot as exciting as the AI work, but Monitor, our homegrown site-health toolkit, is one fast, opinionated place for updates, accessibility, Core Web Vitals, and logs across hundreds of sites.
- Long poston LinkedInThe first agency panel at a WordPress conferenceA screensaver surfaced WordCamp San Francisco 2013: Matt Mullenweg moderating, the late Alex King trolling the remote crowd, and a debate about open company data that still feels current.
- Long poston LinkedInShipping is harder than critiquingOn another round of WordPress leadership drama: a toast to the people who quietly move releases forward, and a plea to weight the voices of those who do more than think and critique.
- Long poston LinkedInIs 10up still hiring? Yes. Here's how we navigated 2024.A candid account of restructuring: reorganizing engineering around craft, shifting some capabilities to contract staffing, moving faster on performance gaps, and where we were still growing.
2024
- Videowith Roger Williams of KinstaFrom web design to 10up, and where the craft stands nowA conversation on LinkedIn: starting out in web design, building 10up, reminiscing about college, and whether the work is heading toward low-code or toward stitching complex systems together.
- Articleon the 10up blogTechCrunch Relaunches in Partnership with 10upA ground-up rebuild of a site I've had a hand in since 10up's first year: the block editor first, then a cleaner, faster reader experience with TechCrunch and its design partners.
Webinarwith WordPress VIPCalifornia, WordPress, and a Modern Government CMS StrategyA panel with Michael Valle of California's Department of Health Care Access and Information, Brian Bourn, and Tugce Menguc on how the state put a modern CMS strategy into practice with WordPress.
2023
Podcastwith WP Tavern JukeboxJake Goldman on Agency Mergers and AI in WordPressWith Nathan Wrigley, a month after the merger: why 10up joined Fueled, and why AI is an accelerant for builders rather than a replacement.
Podcastwith Post Status DraftJake Goldman of 10up on Merging, WP, and the WebWith Cory Miller, two weeks after the merger: why 10up joined Fueled, and why WordPress is stretched across too many audiences to beat closed platforms on ease of use everywhere at once.- Articleon LinkedInMaking something bigger: 10up + FueledThe merger, from the founder's chair: why I stopped being the sole owner of the business I started, and why that was the point.
- Articleon the 10up blogFueling Up: 10up joins forces with Fueled Digital MediaThe announcement.
- Articleon the 10up blog10up Turns 12Year twelve in review: a twelfth straight year of growth.
2022
- Articleon the 10up blog10up Turns 11Year eleven in review: past 230 people, and a stack of Webbys.
2021
- Articleon the 10up blog10 Years And UpA decade, from a home office in Rhode Island to the week we relaunched WhiteHouse.gov.
- Articleon the 10up blog10up helps launch a new WhiteHouse.govSix weeks to Inauguration Day.
2020
Podcastwith Beyond 7 FiguresNavigating an Economic DownturnRunning a nearly 200-person agency through the first pandemic summer.- Articleon the 10up blogWork From HomeWhat nine years of running a distributed company taught us, written for everyone who was suddenly doing it in April 2020.
- Articleon the 10up blog10up Celebrates Its 9th AnniversaryYear nine in review.
2019
Podcastwith WP-TonicWP-Tonic #452GitHub Actions for plugin deployment, LearnDash 3.0, and the state of agency life in 2019.
Podcastwith Hacker NoonThe Journey of EntrepreneurshipWith Trent Lapinski, on how a developer ends up running a company.- Articleon the 10up blog10up's 8th AnniversaryYear eight in review: revenue and headcount both up thirty percent.
2018
- Articleon the 10up blogLucky number 7: 10up's seventh yearYear seven in review: Old San Juan, Lift UX, Distributor, a record thirty new clients.
2017
- Articleon the 10up blogSix years of 10upYear six in review.
2016
- Articleon the 10up blog5 Down: 10up's Fifth YearYear five in review.
2015
- Articleon the 10up blog10up turns fourYear four in review.
2014
Archivefrom the first version of this siteDistributed straw menA reply to Chris Lema on hiring the best, and what people get wrong about remote teams.- Archivefrom the first version of this siteSpeaking of hub and spokeWhy 10up was distributed from day one: the good reason, the lame reason, and the costs and benefits as they looked in 2014.
Podcastwith WP ElevationWP Elevation, Episode 16With Troy Dean: building SEO Slides, keeping a talent pipeline full, and why a WordPress product is a hard business.
2013
- Archivefrom the first version of this sitePanel: WordPress agenciesNotes from a WordCamp San Francisco panel with Alex King, Shane Pearlman, and Brad Williams on running a WordPress agency.
- Archivefrom the first version of this siteWordPress as an app platformThe case, in 2013, for WordPress as an application platform and not just a publishing tool.
- Archivefrom the first version of this siteWhy I shouldn't blogThe first post on the first version of this site: every reason a founder shouldn't have a personal blog, followed by one.
2012
Interviewfor Code PoetJake Goldman InterviewAn early interview for Automattic's Code Poet, a year into 10up.
2011
Articlein Smashing MagazineNew WordPress Power Tips For Template Developers And ConsultantsThe last of the Power Tips series, written the spring I founded 10up.
2009
- Articlein Smashing MagazineAdvanced Power Tips for WordPress Template Developers: ReloadedMore template tricks, from when I still wrote templates for a living.
- Articlein Smashing MagazineAdvanced Power Tips For WordPress Theme DevelopersThe sequel.
- Articlein Smashing MagazinePower Tips For WordPress Template DevelopersMy first piece for Smashing, and the start of the series.