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Matt Mullenweg

Founder & CEO, Automattic · 1 appearance on the record.

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founderexecutiveengineerinvestor@photomatt ↗LinkedIn ↗ma.tt ↗Wikipedia ↗Instagram ↗

Matt Mullenweg is the co-founder of WordPress, the open-source content management system. He is also the founder and CEO of Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, WooCommerce, and Tumblr.

19statements → 6claims → 4claims resolved → 75%fully supported → 3.79/5average certainty → 1.79/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated → 41said about them ↓

3 supported 1 partly supported 0 contradicted 2 not checkable as stated how the 6 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

2 predictions · 4 assertions · 2 opinions · 4 insights · 7 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 6 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 4 are resolved, and 2 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Matt argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Automattic raised at a $200M valuation to provide secondary liquidity
“So we were able to do a round at like a two hundred million valuation. Matt Mullenweg: and that was New York Times actually joined that and it was largely our existing investors. Matt Mullenweg: So all of our existing investors kind of re-upped and we did do a…”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 13:36 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
100% certainty 3
83% certainty 4
none yet certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Matt Mullenweg on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

Everything Matt Mullenweg said on Top Founders that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Insight
Commercial spin-outs usually damage their underlying open-source projects
“The history of most companies coming out of open source projects is that the open source project really suffers.”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 5:08 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Mullenweg predicts 99% of crypto token issuances will go to zero
“One, I think there's a lot of, 99% of those are going to go to zero. There's a, but there's also some in there that'll be category changing and change the world.”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 35:38 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg
Prediction Partly held up
Gutenberg lets anyone build New York Times-style rich layouts for free
“What New York Times spent probably tens of thousands of dollars to do a few years ago will be able to enable anyone with WordPress and Gutenberg to do just kind of out of the box.”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 8:52 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg
Insight
Public market quarterly reporting prevents companies from making 10-year strategic bets
“And while they have access to, you know, the public capital markets, which is great. Matt Mullenweg: there, I think lost, you lose a little bit of your ability except for very few companies to make really long-term strategic bets. Matt Mullenweg: And we believ…”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 16:14 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg
Insight
Co-CEO arrangements create conflict; companies require a clear hierarchy
“I had seen co-CEO and other kind of arrangements and that seemed to create a lot of conflict. So I wanted everyone in the company to be clear. There was like, there was a clear hierarchy and Tony was at the very top. So he had the final say on everything. Whic…”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 19:44 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg
Insight
Mullenweg models Automattic's WordPress strategy on Google's Android and Pixel ecosystem
“Think of it kind of like Google with Android. Like, they'll make their Pixel phones, so we'll make some versions of WordPress that we think are the best in the world. But very key to our strategy is also working with every other manufacturer out there and ever…”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 23:25 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg
Opinion
Cryptocurrency is disconnected from fundamentals, acting primarily as a commodity
“I think that right now we're in some ways a little bit disconnected from the fundamentals because it's become essentially like a new commodity, been a flight to safety, a hedge against, you know, inflation and central banks printing money.”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 27:08 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg
Disclosure
Mullenweg has sold the vast majority of his crypto holdings
“I sold the vast majority of what I have and over the years, and I'll just keep a bit just for fun to keep an eye on it.”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 27:36 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg
Disclosure
Subscription revenue accounts for 98% to 99% of Automattic's business
“So we are, you know, vast, vast majority, 98, 99% subscription business.”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 9:31 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Automattic received a $200M buyout offer in 2008 with just 25 employees
“It was 2008, so it was about two years into automatic, two and a half years. Nathan Latka: And it was a two hundred million dollar offer? Matt Mullenweg: It was of that magnitude, yeah. Matt Mullenweg: And the company at the time was also Matt Mullenweg: Reall…”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 11:47 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg
Assertion Supported
Automattic raised at a $200M valuation to provide secondary liquidity
“So we were able to do a round at like a two hundred million valuation. Matt Mullenweg: and that was New York Times actually joined that and it was largely our existing investors. Matt Mullenweg: So all of our existing investors kind of re-upped and we did do a…”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 13:36 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg
Disclosure
Automattic has surpassed $100M in annual recurring revenue
“I think the thing that we're saying publicly is that we're into the nine figures.”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 18:31 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg
Assertion Supported
WP Engine needs 450 employees for a vastly smaller customer base
“WP Engine at this point is 450 people. You know, that's, Automatic's only six 50. So just serving their customer base, which is much smaller than ours takes almost the same number of people.”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 22:47 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg
Opinion
Changing the editor is the most controversial task in WordPress history
“Changing the editor, since that's really in many ways the heart of WordPress, Is by far the most controversial thing you can do, and the hardest, because lots of people are very used to how WordPress has worked for the past 14 years, and there's lots of opinio…”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 24:43 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg
Disclosure
Mullenweg joined GitLab's board of directors
“You know, I'll go super underground and talk about a company I just joined the board of. Which is GitLab.”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 32:04 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg
Disclosure
Automattic has raised $200M in primary and $150M in secondary capital
“I think total at this point, I've raised around, Matt Mullenweg: Let's say around 200 in primary and about another 150 in secondary. Nathan Latka: Okay. Matt Mullenweg: So somewhere around three 50 total.”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 14:59 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg
Assertion Supported
WordPress was an early major platform to accept Bitcoin at $12
“And WordPress, I think, was one of the first large Internet services to add support for accepting Bitcoin for our services. At the time, Bitcoin was about 12 dollars”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 26:34 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg
Disclosure
Automattic coordinates 650 remote employees across 62 countries
“And we want to open source and release a lot of the tools that we use to be one of the larger, totally distributed companies in the world, you know, coordinate across time zones, across, you know, 650 people in, like, 62 countries.”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 29:40 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg
Disclosure
Automattic operates with zero internal email using a custom blogging tool
“So we use this thing we built called P two. You can look it up P two theme.com and it's basically like an internet blogging tool. So you can use it to share things with your colleagues. We use that instead of email. So there's basically no email inside of auto…”
Matt Mullenweg Feb 12, 2018 ▶ 32:45 933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg

The other half of the tape: Matt Mullenweg's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 38 times in 9 episodes on Top Founders. 3 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Nathan Latka 37Aaron Fulkerson 1

Statements about Matt Mullenweg, by other people (3)

Opinion
De Valk: Matt Mullenweg and Automattic cannot afford to acquire Yoast
“I don't think he can afford us, first of all.”
Joost de Valk May 9, 2020 ▶ 14:02 1750 With $12m in ARR Yoast CEO Says Wordpress Couldn't Afford to Acquire
Insight
Fulkerson: Most founders fail when monetizing open-source software
“Matt's a great guy, and he was one of the few who traversed that successfully. There's, most don't, right? I mean, they just don't.”
Aaron Fulkerson Mar 28, 2018 ▶ 5:59 977 How Mindtouch Landed $1m+ Customers, $7m ARR Bootstrapped, Now $20m+
Disclosure
De Valk: Co-invested in companies with WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg
“We, we've invested in companies together.”
Joost de Valk May 9, 2020 ▶ 14:39 1750 With $12m in ARR Yoast CEO Says Wordpress Couldn't Afford to Acquire

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
008315520182019202020212022episodesmentions
03520182019202020212022episodes it came up in
007.52.515520182019202020212022episodesmentions per episode
2022 3 mentions in 1 episode
2021 1 mention in 1 episode
2020 13 mentions in 1 episode
2019 6 mentions in 1 episode
2018 15 mentions in 5 episodes 3 per episode

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
933 Why Wordpress CEO Raised $300m, Replaced Himself, and New Gutenberg Feb 12, 2018 22m
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