Derek & Mark Chat About Building a WordPress Product Business
Posted on March 5, 2025
I recently had the pleasure of joining my friend Mark Westguard from WS Form on his podcast, WP Behind the Build, to talk about my journey in WordPress and the work behind Conversion Bridge. Mark’s a great host and someone I’ve known for a while, so it made for a really relaxed and thoughtful conversation.
We covered a lot—starting with how I got into WordPress back around 2007–2008 and made the shift from client work into full-time product development. Like a lot of folks in this space, I started by doing everything myself for clients, then slowly moved into building plugins, first with Sunshine Photo Cart and now with Conversion Bridge.
The heart of our chat was about Conversion Bridge—what it does, why I built it, and how it makes conversion tracking easier across multiple analytics and ad platforms. We talked about how important it is for plugin developers and site owners to have simple, reliable tools to measure what’s working on their websites.
Beyond the product, we spent time talking about the realities of running a bootstrapped WordPress plugin business. Mark and I dug into lessons I’ve learned along the way, like:
- Support is marketing – Fast, thoughtful support creates fans who share your product with others.
- Marketing can’t be an afterthought – I learned the hard way that marketing needs to be part of the plan from day one.
- Community matters – The WordPress community has been a huge part of my growth, from WordCamps to Twitter to friendly conversations like this one.
- Pick a niche early – Feedback changed my mind on supporting Google Analytics, which taught me the importance of listening early and often.
We also talked about what it means to be a solo founder—wearing all the hats, balancing marketing and development, and staying focused on building something useful.
It was a great chat and I appreciated the chance to share the story behind Conversion Bridge. If you’re building products, thinking about launching one, or just love hearing about how WordPress tools come together, I think you’ll enjoy this one.
