"We only physically met 18 months later..." Mark Forrester reflects on building a company with strangers from opposite corners of the world.

The Freelancer's Frustration

"For many years I had been freelancing in the UK as a web designer. It was a hard slog and it was largely repetitive work. Through this process I discovered WordPress."

Meeting Strangers Online

"In late 2007, after building many WordPress websites, I connected with two like-minded strangers. We were in opposite corners of the world, but shared a common goal – to turn our limited billable hours into off-the-shelf WordPress products."

WooThemes Launch

"In 2008, we launched a company together – WooThemes. We built commercial WordPress themes and were focussed on making beautiful, innovative design accessible and affordable."

The WooCommerce Pivot

"It was quite clear that our customers were demanding more and more functionality from an evolving WordPress. We decided it was time to venture into plugin development."

"In 2011, we launched WooCommerce – which soon became the most popular eCommerce plugin for WordPress, and the fastest growing eCommerce platform on the internet... It changed everything for our business."

The Acquisition

WooThemes was acquired by Automattic (the company behind WordPress) in 2015. WooCommerce now powers approximately 30% of all online stores.