Matt Mullenweg Quick Info | |
---|---|
Height | 5 ft 9 in |
Weight | 68 kg |
Date of Birth | January 11, 1984 |
Zodiac Sign | Capricorn |
Eye Color | Blue |
Matt Mullenweg is an American technology entrepreneur and the brain behind the development of popular web software, WordPress. Matt had started working on WordPress in January 2003 when he was just 19 years old and a freshman at his university. In March 2004, he co-founded the company Global Multimedia Protocols Group, which in collaboration with fellow WordPress developers, launched a service named Ping-O-Matic that notified search engines about blog updates. In the same year, in October, Matt was hired by CNET networks to work on their blogs and new media offerings. Matt dropped out of university and moved to San Francisco for that job. By December 2004, Matt had announced a software for forums called bbPress and by February 2005, his team had released WordPress version 1.5 named Strayhorn, which witnessed more than 900k downloads.
Matt left CNET in late 2005 to focus on WordPress related activities full-time. Soon, he released another popular service named Akismet, which was comment management and spam prevention tool. In December 2005, Matt revealed that he was starting a new company named Automattic, which would become the business force behind services like WordPress.com, Akismet, Gravatar, VaultPress, IntenseDebate, Crowdsignal, and Tumblr. By January 2008, Automattic had raised nearly USD 29.5 million through various investors, including his former company CNET. Within a year, traffic to WordPress sites significantly outstripped its competitors like Blogger and Six Apart; adding 15,000 new blogs every day and growing 10% month-on-month. Soon enough, WordPress came to be regarded as the ‘Facebook of the Blogging World’ and by July 2011, it was hosting a staggering 50 million blogs across the globe.
Born Name
Matthew Charles Mullenweg
Nick Name
Matt, The Blog Prince
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Mullenweg
Sun Sign
Capricorn
Born Place
Houston, Texas, United States
Residence
Houston, Texas, United States
Nationality
Education
Matt attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, Texas, where he studied jazz saxophone. He then attended the University of Houston but did not complete his degree in Political Science as he dropped out in 2004 to work at CNET Networks.
Occupation
Technology Entrepreneur, Web Developer
Family
- Father – Louis “Chuck” Charles Mullenweg IV (Computer Scientist) (Died in 2016)
- Mother – Kathleen Anne Hageney (Homemaker)
- Siblings – Charleen Anne Mullenweg (Older Sister)
Build
Slim
Height
5 ft 9 in or 175 cm
Weight
68 kg or 150 lbs
Race / Ethnicity
White
Hair Color
Light Brown
Eye Color
Blue
Sexual Orientation
Straight
Distinctive Features
- Neck-length, frizzy hair
- Often sports a beard
- Affable smile
Best Known For
- Developing WordPress, the immensely popular and widely used open-source web software
- Founding the tech company, Automattic
Personal Trainer
Matt believes in committing to regular naps and frequent exercise activities throughout his day. He uses a time management method known as the Pomodoro Technique which recommends breaking down any daily routine into 25 minutes of work, followed by a 5-minute break. Matt utilizes these 5-minute breaks to do a few push-ups, squats, a plank, or to even meditate. He believes that although these 5 minutes may not seem to be much when viewed in isolation, but they add up to a significant impact when practiced regularly over a longer duration of time.
Matt Mullenweg Favorite Things
- Music Genre – Jazz
- Tech Entrepreneur – Jeff Bezos
- Tech Devices – Kindle, Airpods
- Phone Brand – Apple
- Headphone Brands – Sennheiser, Bragi
- Beer Brand – Temptation
- Book – Mindless Eating (2006) by Brian Wansink
- Musical Instrument – Saxophone
- Travel Destination – Russia
- Apps – Pause app, Calm
- Restaurants – Eleven Madison Park in New York City and The Aviary in Chicago
Source – Facebook, Wedevs, Reddit, ma.tt, Slideshare, Tim.blog, RippleSmith.com
Matt Mullenweg Facts
- Matt’s love for computers and programming came from the influence of his father who was a computer scientist. His father would often take him to local technology non-profit organization’s weekend meetings, where Matt learned how to fix broken computers. He was also introduced to the concept of open-source software at those meetings.
- Matt earned his first pay by building websites for local jazz musicians in Texas such as David Caceres, Warren Sneed, Woody Witt, and Kelly Dean.
- WordPress had started in 2002 when Matt was 18 years old. At that time, Matt was using thе blоg fасіlіtу named b2саfеlоg. However, thе dеvеlорmеnt оf b2саfеlоg was ѕuddеnlу stopped. This led Matt to start working on WordPress development from January 2003. He was soon joined by Місhаеl Vаldrіghі, the original developer of b2саfеlоg.
- In March 2007, Matt was named in the list of the “50 Most Important People on the Web” by tech magazine, PC World. He was placed at number 16 and was the youngest person on the list.
- Matt is known to be fierce in his determination to keep his company, Automattic, independent. He reportedly turned down a USD 200 million offer to sell his company in late 2007.
- Temple University’s Fox School of Business honored Matt with the “Information Technology Innovator” award in 2008 for opening up new business opportunities. He was also named the honorary patron of the University’s Philosophical Society.
- In July 2008, he was featured on the covers of the business section of the newspaper San Francisco Chronicle and the tech magazine, Linux Journal.
- Matt started running a reputed angel investment firm named Audrey Capital in 2008, which has more than 30 companies in its portfolio, including the commercial-free music streaming startup named Earbits. For his work, he was included by Forbes magazine in its May 2012 list of “Most Influential Angel Investors”.
- In September 2008, Matt was named amongst the “Top 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30” by business magazine Inc. and was included in the “25 Most Influential People on the Web” list by Bloomberg BusinessWeek magazine.
- Matt is a free-speech advocate and due to his refusal to comply with China’s censorship policies, WordPress.com was blocked by China’s censorship and surveillance program called the Golden Shield Project.
- In December 2010, Matt was awarded the “TechFellow Award” in Product Design and Marketing. In January 2011, financial magazine Business Insider placed him at number 3 in their “30 Founders Under 30” list. Business Insider also named him as one of the “Top 10 Most Influential People Online” in March 2011.
- Matt is a noted philanthropist and has supported non-profit digital and legal organizations like Archive.org, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Free Software Foundation, Long Now, and Innocence Project.
- An April 2012 report in the Bloomberg magazine reported that Matt’s company was powering almost 12% of the internet with 1,350 servers and just 80 employees spread across the globe in 62 cities. Remarkably, all of this was being achieved at an astoundingly low cost in the range of just USD 300k to USD 400k per month.
- In October 2011, Matt was included in Vanity Fair’s prestigious list of “Rising Talents in Tech, Media, Policy, and Business”. The same year, in December, he was placed in Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list for his impact on the open-source blogging realm.
- Matt is a regular invitee to tech conferences and events around the world. He has been a keynote speaker at global WordCamp events, Web 2.0 Summit, YCombinator’s Startup School, Lean Startup Conference, and the International World Wide Web Conference.
- In April 2012, it was reported that WordPress was being used by 49% of the top 100 blogs in the world and by more than 70 million websites in all, generating a yearly revenue north of USD 45 million.
- He is also a member of the non-profit organization named Charity: Water which helps people in developing nations gain access to clean drinking water. For the organization, Matt raised USD 28k in 2012 and more than USD 44k in 2014 through various campaigns.
- Matt was the first donor to the San Francisco-based art and light installation initiative called The Bay Lights Project. He helped its members finish the project by contributing more than USD 1.5 million.
- In January 2014, Matt took over as the CEO of Automattic. He had not taken up the role till then as he felt that he was too young for the role and that people under 30 should not be at the helm of such a giant undertaking. In just a few months, he raised a further USD 160 million, taking the valuation of the company over the mark of 1 billion USD.
- Matt has served as a board member for tech companies and organizations like GitLab, Inc. (2017 to 2019), and Grist.org. He is also the only non-company high-level sponsor of the Apache Software Foundation.
- Matt is known to be a speedy typist and can clock more than 120 words per minute. His hobbies include photography, traveling, playing the saxophone, and reading. He regularly populates his Instagram with photos capturing the natural beauty of the places he travels to.
- Visit his official website @ ma.tt.
- Follow him on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr, SoundCloud, and Instagram.
Featured Image by Silicon Prairie News / Flickr / CC BY-2.0