The Journey from a Side Project to a WordPress Agency @WordCamp Nürnberg

Some people in our industry are writing long and detailed business plans before they start with an idea or a product.

Others just build stuff in order to do what they love to do.

I never planned to be self-employed or even run my own company. It just happened somehow by doing what I love.

I’d like to tell you a story - the story of how I teamed up with great people to build a side project which led us to become a WP Agency.

Transcript

1. THE JOURNEY from a Side Project to a WordPress Agency image by boris-baldinger.com
2. THE TEAM how we met
3. Silvan Karin (Front-end Designer) (Front-end Engineer)
4. Silvan Velthy Karin (Front-end Designer) (Front-end Engineer) (Interface Designer)
5. Silvan Velthy Karin Stefan (Front-end Designer) (Front-end Engineer) (Interface Designer) (PHP Developer)
6. Silvan Velthy Karin Stefan Designer Developer THE TEAM a good mix of skills
7. THE SIDE PROJECT building something without a client involved 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
8. FINDING A JOB irrelevant job-results 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
9. WEB JOB TITLES are not formal nor protected 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
10. Web Design Web Entwickler/In Web Application Developer (m/f) JEE Software Engineer Web Applikationen (80-100%) Web Developer Senior Java / Web Developer Web Publisher/In Web Analyst/in 100% Embedded Linux Firmware & Web Application Developer Entwickler im Bereich Web (m/w) 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
11. THE IDEA a niche job-board with consistent content quality 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
12. MOVING ON the idea never left our minds 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
13. STARTING LEAN a prototype to prove the idea 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
14. MOBILE WEB jobs on the go
15. SwissWebJobs 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
18. THE NAME find a catchy name 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
19. Freshjobs
20. THE PRICING make it affordable to startups 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
21. THE DURATION finding good staff takes time 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
22. CONTENT QUALITY reviewing every listing manually 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
23. CONTENT QUALITY fix formatting and spelling issues, update meta info for SEO 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
24. SPREAD THE WORD lets tweet 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
25. Freshjobs @freshjobs_ch
26. Freshjobs Was gibt es hier? freshjobs.ch wird eine Stellen-Plattform von und für Personen aus dem Bereich Internet. Hier findet man freie Jobs wie z.B. folgende: Webdesigner, Frontend Engineer, Web Developer, etc. Copyright 2010 © Freshjobs – Die frische Job-Plattform Arbeiten mit Internet
27. THE LAUNCH first paid listing on the very first day 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
30. MISSING FEATURES how we engaged with our clients 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
31. MISSING FEATURES consistent content and engaging personally with the clients 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
32. 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016 SPONSORING support the web community, giving back what we make
33. Screenshot: frontendconf.ch
34. HOW TO FINANCE IT get funded or bootstrap it 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
37. FRESHJOBS version 2.0 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
38. THE REBUILD how we did it 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
39. LE ROMANDIE bridging the “Röstigraben”
40. Freshjobs Deux
47. STILL DIFFICULT 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016 to find web jobs on the major platforms
49. THE ANNIVERSARY 5 years freshjobs.ch 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016 2006 2010 2011 2013 2014 2016
50. THE BALANCE working for clients while running a job-board
51. FOCUS MATTERS only do what you do best
52. UX Design &
53. THE TAKE AWAYS what we learned
54. THE BEST PRODUCT HAS A VISION decide what your vision is and run with it.
55. LET LIMITATIONS GUIDE YOU constraints drive innovation and force focus
56. FOCUS ON YOUR EXISTING CUSTOMERS treat them well and they will become your fans
57. DON’T BUILD SOMETHING FOR PROFIT ONLY people can sense it
58. AN IDEA BY ITSELF IS WORTH NOTHING it’s the team that executes that makes the difference
59. FALL IN LOVE WITH A PROBLEM everything else will follow
60. People who are passionate about solving a problem, are the ones who eventually find each other and make it happen. Thank you - @karinchristen