August 20, 2026 — Product builds. Partnerships open doors. Most companies treat these as separate functions that meet quarterly to align. Deals close on promises the roadmap doesn’t reflect, integrations ship that no partner actually asked for, customer feedback dies in notes that nobody on the product side ever sees, and the next big partnership opportunity fades away because nobody connected the dots in time. The presenters have been working this loop together for years. They’ve seen what happens when the loop holds and what happens when it breaks, and they’re shaping how a business operates around that hard-won pattern. In this talk, they’ll walk through partnership decisions made without product context and what they cost, product decisions made without partnership context and what those cost, and key moments where the loop worked and value compounded. They’ll talk candidly about AI as a tool running the loop with them: surfacing patterns across partner conversations and product signals, drafting the first version of things humans then sharpen, and making it possible for a small team to hold more of the big picture at once. The argument isn’t that AI replaces either role. It’s that AI, used well, makes the loop between them faster, sharper, and harder to drop. Expect concrete examples, honest failure stories, and a working model you can take back to your own team whether you sit on the product side, the business side, or somewhere in between.

November 18, 2023 — WordPress as an Open Source ecosystem is decentralized and we all enjoy the benefits.

There are tradeoffs of decentralization, though. Strategic partnerships are the key to mitigating those tradeoffs and growing in the WordPress ecosystem.

Presentation Slides »

September 30, 2023 — For product companies wanting to grow in the WordPress ecosystem, strategic partnerships are often the best place to focus your efforts.

Join us for an active discussion with a group who knows partnerships well and together we’ll learn more about how to think and where to focus our energy to grow through partnerships.

September 10, 2023 — An overview of business models in the WordPress ecosystem, focused on product companies. We’ll review the benefits and tradeoffs of each model and then discuss improvements to each of the models to better reflect the value and market size of the WordPress ecosystem.

July 14, 2022 — WordPress as an Open Source ecosystem is decentralized and we all enjoy the benefits.

There are tradeoffs of decentralization, though. Strategic partnerships are the key to mitigating those tradeoffs and growing in the WordPress ecosystem.

January 8, 2021 — Aprenda cómo iniciar un negocio de comercio electrónico y pasar de la idea a su primer cliente. Aprenderemos cómo elegir una audiencia, solucionar un problema y vender su producto antes de elaborarlo. Hablaremos sobre cómo elegir un sistema operativo, entregar su producto y crear clientes satisfechos.

December 14, 2020

November 13, 2019 — Jonathan Wold will talk about the history of WordPress, its current state, and its future through the lens of serving as an Operating System for creating on the Open Web.

October 31, 2019 — Jonathan Wold talks about the history of WordPress, its current state, and its future through the lens of serving as an Operating System for creating on the Open Web.

October 19, 2017 — Using WordPress to Grow our Network – Maura Teal (Fansided)
Customizer-centric Workflows – Jonathan Wold (XWP)
Tune Up Democracy – Ernesto Aguilar (National Federation of Community Broadcasters)
How a drumming magazine leapt into digital subscriptions with resounding success – Peter Ericson (Zeen 101)
How to design branded content – Katya Bazilevskaya (Setka.io)
A Biased Guide to Managing Bias – Jake Spurlock (Wired)