Topics

Latest

AI

Amazon

Article image

Image Credits:Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

Apps

Biotech & Health

Climate

Cloud Computing

Commerce

Crypto

Enterprise

EVs

Fintech

Fundraising

Gadgets

Gaming

Google

Government & Policy

computer hardware

Instagram

layoff

Media & Entertainment

Meta

Microsoft

Privacy

Robotics

certificate

Social

Space

startup

TikTok

Transportation

Venture

More from TechCrunch

result

Startup Battlefield

StrictlyVC

newssheet

Podcasts

video recording

Partner Content

TechCrunch Brand Studio

Crunchboard

get hold of Us

Calls for WordPress co - founder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenwegtostepdownfrom his leadership role have increase in recent month amidhis controversial competitiveness and legal battlewith host fellowship WP Engine .

Mullenweg not only intends to stay , he ’s also thinking about how he design to manage chronological succession preparation . He does n’t want to surpass on what he aid build to a “ committee , ” but rather to another CEO who will keep on to act as a steward to the WordPress community .

In a recently aired episode ofLenny ’s Podcast , Mullenweg for the most part hash over the play environ his fight with WP Engine — a company he believe has been taking vantage of WordPress ’s open source nature to build its business without contributing back sufficiently to the WordPress project and community . WP Engine is built on WordPress .

Mullenweg also briefly commented on what he attend forrader for WordPress ’ future and that of Automattic , the parent company to the hosting troupe WordPress.com , WooCommerce , Tumblr , and other businesses .

Mullenweg pointed out that the most “ iconic ” companies of our propagation are those where the executive has keep on some majority in voting command , which is a factor he consider in succession preparation .

“ … If or when I ’m gone , I do n’t require to pass it to a committee , ” Mullenweg said , speaking of what he ’s build with Automattic and WordPress . “ I want to fall out it to someone else who could have a character similar to mine , and really sort of examine to be a steward . ”

“ And there at last is a assay and balance on that , because , again , the biotic community could leave , they could separate the software , people could change … , ” he tote up , observe that the role was “ a lot more being like a city manager than a chief operating officer ” in that the individual would ultimately be accountable to others , like substance abuser and those who are lead to the undertaking .

Mullenweg also touted the role that Automattic itself plays to hike up adoption of WordPress , cite how the free version of WordPress.com assist introduce more than 100 million people to the software .

“ That kind of for - earnings , nonprofit , open source , run in concert — I reckon is a really informed model that we ’re starting to see a lot more companies do , ” he tell of the collaborationism between Automattic and WordPress.org . “ It ’s actually very exciting to me that some of the things that were controversial when we started — like undefendable source or distributed workplace — are now the default for so many exciting Modern startup and this whole ecosystem . ”