{"id":1,"date":"2015-07-27T11:23:18","date_gmt":"2015-07-27T11:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shortpixel.com/blog\/?p=1"},"modified":"2015-11-09T12:08:30","modified_gmt":"2015-11-09T12:08:30","slug":"hello-wordpress-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shortpixel.com\/blog\/hello-wordpress-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Hello @WordPress community!"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been a shifting turn for us to start a project that is mainly designed for\u00a0WordPress users. And I must say, it feels good to be part of such a nice crowd! I’m also excited to finally say hello to everyone we’ve met so far along the way, and tell our story.<\/p>\n

We’ve started to build ShortPixel over a year ago\u00a0(just realized) and many things have happened since. Some of these\u00a0moments should\u00a0not go unnoticed, so I’ll recall some of them here below.<\/p>\n

I\u0336m\u0336a\u0336g\u0336o\u0336o\u0336s\u0336e\u0336 \u00a0 ShortPixel was born. With a twist.<\/b><\/p>\n

The original name we had in mind for our service was ‘Imagoose’\u2014it sounded funky, but when written down, it became\u00a0clear that it was a bad choice to address our users this way. Our logo\u00a0was originally a constipated feverish robot. Meanwhile, we gave it a chill pill to\u00a0change this\u00a0frightened look.<\/p>\n

\"ShortPixel<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

WP plugin<\/b><\/p>\n

After many compression tests and algorithm adjustments, our image optimization tool was ready and came with a completing API. We couldn’t ignore the\u00a0market share WordPress is looking at\u2014nearly 60% of all CMS websites are built using WordPress. It was decided: we would start building a plugin that would automate the image optimization process for WordPress websites.<\/p>\n

We launched the ShortPixel plugin\u00a0in public Beta and gave our first users 50,000 free image credits to optimize their websites. I dug out our first tweet <\/a>ever, to discover this was back in November 2014\u2014 our 1 year anniversary is already approaching!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShortPixel\/status\/531868135784452096\/photo\/1<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

During this\u00a0Beta\u00a0trial, we had the chance to perfect the plugin, talk to our users and learn about some interesting new features they were asking for. This is how we introduced optimization for animated GIFs, the saving of original images into a separate backup folder,\u00a0CMYK to RGB conversion, and optimization of PDF files. In 6 months we\u00a0processed around 9,2 million images. Working with large\u00a0numbers is no longer something scary for us\u2014there seems to be a name for such a condition ‘Arithmophobia‘.<\/em><\/p>\n

In April we launched the freemium version of the\u00a0plugin<\/a>, followed by\u00a0a torrent of updates\u2014 perfecting the API, the plugin UX and small bug fixes. We’ve now settled for a period of two\u00a0weeks between each new plugin release. The last iterations\u00a0included important changes like the image resizing option and tell-a-friend referral program. And we’ve got lots of good stuff prepared on the way.<\/p>\n

We’re kind of the new kids on the block<\/em>, as Matt Cromwell noticed<\/a>. I’d say caring for our users is what we do best.<\/p>\n

ShortPixel team\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

ShortPixel is being run by a team of four<\/a>\u00a0people, working on this project\u00a0single-handedly. Some of you know us from the direct support emails we’ve written, with many we\u00a0have come in contact via the WordPress landscape.<\/p>\n

Alex came up with the idea of building an image optimization service and got me and Sorin quickly involved.\u00a0He convinced us to start our second venture together, after the unfortunate failure of an older project <\/a>we created a couple of years back.<\/p>\n

Dealing with image compression and a large scalable service, required for a new team member\u2014Simon\u2014who became our partner in this so far bootstrapped endeavor. Here’s Simon doing a remote meetup presentation\u00a0on the 10 Commandments of WP optimization<\/a> from our office in Bucharest, streamed live\u00a0in Bordeaux, France:<\/p>\n

\"A
Simin Duduica, CTO ShortPixel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The WordPress community<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our users have been a constant support in developing our plugin, and I hope we have been for them as well. I never knew\u00a0how rewarding it is to receive reviews<\/a> for something we<\/em> created, fromma people who have actually used the\u00a0plugin. This is how we got closer to the WP online community.<\/p>\n

It was about time we came out and introduced\u00a0ShortPixel to the local WordPress community. We were invited to take part in the monthly WordPress meetup in Bucharest and speak about our\u00a0image optimization plugin. Instead, we talked about the importance of customer support and our\u00a0long-term goals. Our\u00a0strategy is\u00a0having\u00a0the user in mind, not the\u00a0competition, or the revenue. We think the best way to secure a lasting business is to make our users happy.<\/p>\n

\"July
Presenting ShortPixel at the Bucharest WordPress Meetup\u2014July 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was at this meetup we met the\u00a0ThemeIsle<\/a>\u00a0team, who (probably) build the most popular WP theme in 2015. The discussions\u00a0we’ve had\u00a0with\u00a0Ionut Neagu<\/a>\u00a0helped us better\u00a0understand the WordPress frame of mind.\u00a0Thank you Ionut\u2014looking forward to\u00a0paying this forward!<\/p>\n

There are others who have helped us, many of whom are doing great things in WordPress. I’ll make sure you read\u00a0about them in our\u00a0future\u00a0posts, planned to be published here.<\/p>\n

As I said\u2014it was exciting to start something new\u2014but the unexpected\u00a0surprise came from what followed. The people from the WordPress community have proved to be extremely nice and open. From users who gladly worked with us to solve their issues, to replies written late at night, our users were by our side and helped us more than expected. Somehow, even if at the bottom line we are just\u00a0a service provider and they are our clients, the feeling is that we’re in this together and the support is mutual.<\/p>\n

I can’t say for sure if this is something WordPress related, but I sure hope it is, and we just happen to be on the right side of the Internet.\u00a0<\/span>Thanks for reading and don’t be a stranger\u2014say hello<\/i> in the comments below!<\/span><\/p>\n

Sabina Ionescu
\nCEO & co-founder ShortPixel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s been a shifting turn for us to start a project that is mainly designed for\u00a0WordPress users. And I must say, it feels good to be part of such a nice crowd! I’m also excited to finally say hello to everyone we’ve met so far along the way, and tell our story. We’ve started to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-updates-and-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortpixel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortpixel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortpixel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortpixel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortpixel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":57,"href":"https:\/\/shortpixel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75,"href":"https:\/\/shortpixel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions\/75"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortpixel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortpixel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortpixel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}