Embark on an inspiring journey with Akshat Chaudhary from BlogVault as he unveils the secrets of scaling a WordPress Plugins Empire. In this enlightening podcast, discover the intricate strategies and success stories behind the growth of BlogVault, WPRemote, MalCare, and Airlift. Gain valuable insights into the dynamic world of WordPress plugin development and learn how to scale your own empire effectively.
Gautam
0:06 – Hello viewers.
0:07 – Welcome to an exciting episode of WP Legends.
0:10 – I’m Gautam, the co-founder of Seahawk Media.
0:12 – And today I’m with Akshat Chaudary, the founder of WP remote and blogvault.
0:17 – Akshat, As you’re ‘about’ space describes existing WordPress management solutions were not enough.
0:22 – We knew we had to build something better.
0:24 – Something that was comprehensive and gave 100% on every feature that agencies need to keep their clients’ website secure, something that guaranteed that they had experts that they could contact for support any time.
0:37 – That’s why we built WP Remote.
0:39 – I absolutely love this summary.
0:41 – But do you want to describe WP remote and what does it do in your own words?
Akshat
0:46 – All right.
0:46 – So again, hi Gautam.
0:48 – Good to see you again.
0:50 – And thank you for having me on this show.
0:53 – I wouldn’t call myself a WP legend but still still honored to be here.
0:59 – Talking about WP remote, it is our product for agencies.
1:03 – It lets agencies manage their, what site, you know, if you’re running a care plan, you are responsible for website, you’re responsible for your client’s website.
1:14 – And that’s a very big responsibility, all things said and done.
1:17 – And it also involves doing a lot of activities on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
1:24 – And all of this takes a lot of effort and time.
1:27 – Our goal with the WP remote is to first give you that peace of mind that all your sites that you are responsible for are well taken care of.
1:34 – And then secondly, reduce time and cost that goes into running these these websites on a daily basis.
1:43 – So that’s, that’s our, that’s our overall goal.
1:45 – Now, there are many aspects of running these and as, as you alluded to security is a very, very big part of making sure that websites are running well because that’s one of the biggest fear that you have.
1:59 – And that’s something which we have spent years building.
2:01 – We have integrated our malcare product into the WP remote.
2:05 – It brings the best of security.
2:07 – It brings the best of malware scanning.
2:10 – So you get alarmed if and when your sites get at and in the, the scanner, we have built it from ground up.
2:16 – It’s unlike any other scanner out there, it finds malware which no one else can find.
Gautam
2:17- And can it handle wordpress websites for any sizes?
2:24 – 10 pages, 10,000 pages can it manage that?
Akshat
2:29 – So actually the size is an interesting one.
2:32 – And so actually we don’t even think about it in terms of sizes, in terms of pages, but rather, and maybe that’s the engineer me.
2:41 – where is we think in terms of gvs of size and the gps of size, in terms of files, media and in terms of, and in terms of GPS of size in the database where all the posts and everything else goes and we have backup sites which are 500 GB, a protected sites which are 500 GB in size.
3:04 – And, and you know, 500 GB files is OK in my window that’s still manageable to handle.
3:14 – What we are really proud of is being able to back up and protect a site which, which has 100 GB of database.
Gautam
3:25 – OK.
3:25 – That’s pretty cool.
Akshat
3:26 – That’s pretty, that is, that is really difficult to do because that can just, and all of doing all of this without, you know, messing up and slowing down the website.
Gautam
3:36 – I can completely imagine our team at Sea Hawk media does migrations and sometimes they face challenges when they’re migrating just for even two GB or three GB.
3:43 – And you’re talking about 50 100 500 here.
3:46 – So I know it is.
Akshat
3:47 – Exactly.
3:47 – So that’s, that’s the thing, that’s something which we are proud of like being able to do that from the first web host again.
3:54 – If you have got like a really powerful server.
3:56 – All of this is a bit is easy to do.
3:59 – But if you have a web host, and you know, like the $5.10 dollar web host, who barely has any capacity, who barely give any power to your website goes from those web posts doing all of this without putting, without slowing the web post, that’s really difficult and that’s what we are able to do.
Gautam
4:19 – So, so if I were to ask you, like, what inspired you to pursue this?
4:24 – And when did you start this?
4:25 – Exactly?
4:25 – I think the foundation of this company, that’s what I want to know.
Akshat
4:28 – So, so it, it was more than 10 years ago.
4:31 – Now, I when we started a blogvault, the first product, the first product starts and I actually come from a non word based background altogether.
4:40 – We used to, I used to make really high end networking in a company which is to make higher networking devices.
4:46 – I used to write code in C at assembly language for previously kernel and this product would, be bought by the likes of Google and Amazon.
4:58 – So that’s, that’s the kind of the world I was in.
5:01 – And then while following, while I was doing that, I was always interested in entrepreneurship and always had some side project or the other in the works.
5:09 – And the one problem, one problem which I came across was on the one of the favorite bloggers that I follow then
5:15 – Jeff at, he’s the founder of T Overflow.
5:20 – So he had a very popular blog but that blog crash.
5:24 – And then I thought that maybe there’s something, there’s a way to protect it because if the founder of staff overflow can, does not protect his website or blog.
5:31 – Well, so then there’s a need for a product and that’s the original story of are pretty blogvault product.
5:39 – And then since then we evolved and today we have blogvault Malcare WP Remote and Airlift, which is a four up for.
Gautam
5:48 – So, so these are the four companies which are part of, part of your group.
5:52 – And for the past decade, you’re only focusing on this or there’s anything besides this also.
5:57 – No, no.
5:57 – So we just, we are just so we are only focused on wordpress websites.
6:01 – We think websites are super important.
6:03 – And what is the way of making websites?
6:05 – We think it’s the, it’s the most powerful way of making websites and we want to enable websites to be better.
6:12 – That’s our goal actually, because today most businesses if you think about it, thewebsite is the most important asset or one of the most important assets and even our own website, if you ask us, we don’t get the most out of it for various reasons.
6:30 – And the reason actually the biggest reason why we don’t get the most out of it is because doing anything that involves taking, getting the most out of your website is really difficult and time consuming and that kind of talent required to do so is not, is very difficult to acquire and then doing it on a continuous basis.
6:50 – But that’s the, that’s the biggest tractor you will see and you know that even smallest businesses face this to the largest business.
Gautam
6:58 – So would you say the biggest challenge you’re facing right now?
7:01 – One of the challenges is like getting the right manpower or what are the challenges you’re facing in 2023 right now?
7:07 – If I ask you?
Akshat
7:08 – Yeah, I’ll tell you what talent is always the number one challenge for businesses like ours like yours and mine, you know, where we are, where we are just so dependent on creating on, on anything.
7:20 – Anything that we do is dependent on talent, on building products, on marketing.
7:25 – All of it is, is just the sheer ingenuity of people is what will make us succeed.
7:33 – And the team, right?
7:34 – And so having good talent is super important, especially for company again, like ours, which is bootstrapped, you know, with limited resources, building, really building a really talented team is really difficult.
Gautam
7:49 – Of course, of course, even in our advanced WP agency business at Seahawk, it is very tricky and I know, sometimes working multiple time zones, multiple hours.
7:58 – Do you have a talent working across multiple time zones as well?
8:01 – I know you’re based in India.
Akshat
8:03 – We tried it and it didn’t work for us.
8:06 – So the kind of discipline required for,, distributed, we just don’t have.
8:13 – I realize that I’m not the discipline,, a person and if you don’t, if you see the founder is not disciplined and, and, but discipline has different meanings.
8:21 – But, you know, there’s a certain type of discipline and it’s a certain, certain processes you need to set up.
8:28 – And if you’re just not that kind of person, then it doesn’t work for you.
8:33 – So post COVID, what we what we knew was that we are, we are mostly going to be in house and we saw that we got a lot of, a lot of stuff done in person with within hours which would take weeks when we were remote.
Gautam
8:49 – Got it, got it.
8:50 – And would you, do you think do you have any personal, you know, mentors who you like?
8:55 – Do you follow anybody?
8:56 – Some book authors you really like?
Akshat
9:05 – So I’m not like I, I wouldn’t say I’m I, I do, I used to read, I do read actually quite a bit of a bi gray and there’s always a source of inspiration but I would not say I, again that,, there are certain people who do really well with mentors.
9:23 – I’m not that kind of person.
Gautam
9:24 – I,, you like, you like to lock in into your work and get zoned in.
9:30 – So, what time, what time do you start your work in the morning?
9:32 – Are you a morning person?
Akshat
9:33 – Late morning person as far as far from a morning person as possible.
9:38 – So, I start, like, at 11:30 a.m. in the morning and you work late hours.
9:47 – That’s the time when I,, because I like to get mad.
9:50 – anything actually I want to do needs a lot of focus.
9:53 – And,, that happens in the evening when there’s like, no disturbance whatsoever.
Gautam
9:58 – I know.
9:59 – I know.
9:59 – I used to, I used, when I was living in Delhi, India, I used to start my day at about noon 1 p.m. Sometimes I used to late hours but then I moved to the UK.
10:09 – So now I wake up at 5:30 a.m. because I like that is my peace hours.
10:14 – The US is not waken up and India is just starting day and UK does again, nobody is up.
10:20 – So I like to like, start my day.
Akshat
10:21 – So whatever gives you peace and quiet time, I think that I’ve tried mornings and that doesn’t work.
10:26 – But it’s amazing that if we’re able to pull that out, I think.
10:29 – Yeah.
10:30 – UK time is great.
10:31 – If you have an international business, the Europe time zone because you get a good amount of overlap.
10:37 – On either side, the only place I think which is difficult to manage is maybe a NZ
Gautam
10:38 I have a secret, I have a secret dog.
10:44 – I have a dog.
10:45 – So even if I don’t want to wake me, wake up like to me and say, take me for a walk which lead me to a question.
10:52 – Who are, who are in your family?
10:55 – Who do you stay with?
Akshat
10:57 – I’m married and I have a daughter.
11:01 – So yeah, and I stayed in, in Bangalore.
11:04 – So for my family, I, I’ve been in Bangalore for almost all my life.
11:09 – My family here in Bangalore.
Gautam
11:10 Bangalore, the weather is amazing.
11:13 – I went there about, I think three years or four years ago for some work, maybe multiple work trips.
11:17 – And I still remember my favorite part of Bangalore is landing in the airport and having a hearty cup coffee, which is my.
Akshat
11:23 – Yes, absolutely.
11:25 – You should come to like I think like we spoke last time you should come to Bangalore and I would love to show you around, you know, really good.
11:33 – I think, I think we should latest food and stuff like that.
Gautam
11:36 – We, we need to jam on a lot of things and I think I should tell my viewers that Akshat and I met at a word camp in Washington DC.
11:45 – Akshat, you went for word camp
11:46 – You actually had a booth there right at Word Camp.
11:49 – And that’s how you and I got connected.
11:52 – And we were like talking about how, you know, how we are using,,, you know, manage WP for managing websites, etc.
11:58 – But how we’re looking for a much better solution.
12:01 – And then you explain to us quickly briefly and you were kind enough to give us a very good trial till the time we were like happy satisfied, etc
12:08 – And our team at Seahawk media started using it and my developers and my page builders, all my teammates, you know, especially my hosting experts, etc internally.
12:17 – They were very happy with the results and we hooked to your tool as well.
Akshat
12:24 – And, you know, I think the good thing about the trial is that I was very happy to see how diligent you and your team was in conducting the trial because a lot of people take the trial and then they add a few sites, forget and then when they get there and then they’re like fine after Monday, I have to find that look fine and just upgrade it’s fine because they were almost pre determine and it was good to see a good diligent fee of of trying out the software.
12:51 – I think that’s very important.
12:52 – And of course, I was happy to see that.
Gautam
12:55 – Now, tell me something for managing all your show air live malcare WP remote blogvault.
13:02 – What are the SAAS tools which you use internally?
13:04 – Any project management tools?
13:05 – Slack.
13:06 – What, what do you use?
13:08 – Let me ask you that.
Akshat
13:09 – So actually we use very little software ourselves.
13:13 – So maybe drive, maybe Google Drive.
13:16 – What, what do you, what is everything?
13:18 – So we use a lot of Google products.
13:20 – So we just have an integrated Google Suite that we use workspace.
13:24 – That’s, that’s, that’s where I live most of the time.
13:27 – And what I, what I’ve realized over time is I’ve, I’ve become a Luddite over time, so I use a lot less software and I’m like, let me just get this stuff done.
13:40 – So, yeah, I wish you use more software.
13:44 – I think the team obviously adopts more software personally though I’m a G suit person spending most of my time there, even, Zoom, you know, we have a Zoom account and, but I’m just like, because it’s integrated into Google, Google meet this use of all the time.
Gautam
13:59 – I hear you.
14:00 – I hear you.
14:00 – I’m, I’m pretty much the same, I think even though we have like this, that whatever.
14:05 – But we, I think 80-90% of our work is done on Drive and Google Suite and Google Hangout and Slack.
14:12 – That’s all technically because those are the indispensable SaaS tools, I would say, right.
Akshat
14:17 – Yeah, I think the good thing is for me is like, while I’m not very process or my, some of my teammates are and so therefore, then you will see them use motion and stuff like that to manage their workloads and of course, set those up.
14:29 – And so yeah, it, it again depends on who the person.
14:32 – So the team has some of the those tools like we have notion I, one of the tools I used to really like and somehow I stopped using it very much is Miro.
14:40 – So we still have a subscription that I think is very good.
14:42 – Like it’s a beautifully done product.
14:44 – Have you tried that Miro?
Gautam
14:45 – I have heard of it but I have not tried it personally.
Akshat
14:51 – Yes.
14:51 – So we have what, which tool do you use for project management?
Gautam
14:55 – ClickUp,
Akshat
14:57 – Miro is more from like, you know, it’s like it’s a collaboration platform from a visual perspective.
15:04 – So you can if you’re designing products, etcetera.
Gautam
15:07 – I know, I know, I know, I know now, sorry, I got confused.
15:09 – We use at Atarim for web collaboration and project management.
15:12 – It’s a pretty cool to is a great product at is a fantastic product.
Akshat
15:16 – Vito is a great friend and he’s done a superb job with that product.
15:20 – And for us, yeah.
15:22 – So I think atarim is one way of solving it mirrors on a slightly different angle.
15:27 – But yeah, at is such a great product and highly recommend.
15:30 – I think if any agency owners are watching this, they will also love trying out that product.
15:35 – I, I agree with you, you know, you know, any, any customers coming from this, get my affiliate, make sure to include that.
15:45 – No, we don’t do it as we were discussing prior to this.
15:48 – We are not very much into the affiliate thing.
15:52 – We just want to know that it was just a good joke., you know.
Gautam
15:54I think you and I are in a lot of other like some other people in our personal network.
16:02 – We are very happy just to make wordpress world a better place for everybody.
Akshat
16:07 – When you see when you see such people, especially people like Vito makes such great products, right?
16:12 – And with such passion, he is such a fantastic entrepreneur.
16:16 – You should definitely get him on the podcast if you have not already.
Gautam
16:19 – Oh yes, 100%.
16:20 – So WP legend, which is relatively new and definitely he will be on one of these interviews as well.
16:26 – 100%.
16:26 – Absolutely.
16:28 – You are a WP legend.
16:29 – He’s a WP legend.
16:30 – There are many, many WP legends in this space.
16:37 – Let me ask you one more thing.
16:39 – 2023 is about to end 2024.
16:42 – So you have some plans.
16:44 – So what are your wordpress travel plans?
16:46 – Are you going to be going for all word camps or maybe few, maybe not any other events like cloud fest?
16:52 – Maybe.
16:52 – What are your 2024?
Akshat
16:53 – Cloudfest is something I want to do.
16:55 – I want to do cloud fest this year.
16:57 – I’m going to check out, try and do cloud fest first for us in, you know, one of the biggest challenges getting visa.
17:03 – I need to figure that out.
17:04 – So that’s, that’s one thing
17:06 – I’ll definitely do WordCamp Europe
17:08 – That’s something which I, I believe would work.
17:10 – Camp Europe is like the best.
Gautam
17:11 – By the way it is in Italy, you should make a vacation out of it.
17:15 – Bring your family along.
17:16 – Yeah, absolutely.
Akshat
17:17 – So, yeah, I was just going to say that for me, what camp Europe is my way of seeing Italy, 1 country at a time and just spend a good amount of time.
Gautam
17:28 – I think that’s a good move.
17:29 – I think that’s a very good move and that’s what I intend to do in the near future now.
17:35 – You know, at least explore one city, one new town, et cetera and make a vacation out of summers and, and do your work too.
17:41 – Get new customer.
Akshat
17:43 – Exactly.
17:44 – And what camp Europe is so interesting, you know, because you go to a city and you have like a good mix of, you have some locals but you have a good mix of people that you are aware of friends and they’re all coming together to explore that city.
17:54 – So in this case, like Italy, Durian will be such an interesting place to to hang out for a week and just exploring and doing it in a slow pace if people are finding out about other great places to eat and then you’re going there with a bunch of people at the same time.
18:08 – So, I, yeah, I highly recommend going to, WordCamp Europe
18:13 – And maybe WordCamp US
18:13 – That’s too far away though.
18:15 – Apart from that I’m, even about going to Asia in Taiwan.
18:23 – It’s my, it is can be an excuse to land up in Taiwan because I don’t know what other reason I’ll have to go to.
18:32 – That’s the good one.
18:34 – But,, but I don’t know, maybe I, maybe I’ll see the last year.
18:39 – I had done that.
18:41 – I had done something similar, like I was in half mind about going to work camp Asia in Bangkok.
18:47 – Then last minute I decided, ok, let’s just go for it.
Gautam
18:51 – That’s a good one.
18:51 – And what about Athens?
18:52 – Did you go to Athens as well?
18:53 – I didn’t see you there.
18:54 – Yeah, I was, I was there.
18:56 – So, yeah, these camps are so large, right?
18:58 – That you can be around and you’re not bumping.
Akshat
19:00 – Oh, yeah.
19:01 – But you didn’t have a booth in Athens.
19:02 – You had a booth in WP, we did have a booth in Athens.
19:05 – But because again, the venue was so large with so many people that it was very easy to lose the, to not attend everything.
19:13 – so, yeah, we did have a booth in Athens, so it was not like a large booth.
19:18 – So maybe there’s a good chance,
Gautam
19:20 maybe we missed you when we were doing our rounds.
19:22 – You’re right.
19:23 – Could be quite possible.
Akshat
19:24 – Yeah.
19:24 – So, but, but,,, if you are in Italy would be, would be awesome to catch up.
Gautam
19:30 – Yeah.
19:30 – Yeah.
19:30 – Yeah, a 100% like we try to be at any word camp, we possibly can go, you know, cloud fest actually.
19:37 – cloud fest.
19:37 – I went for the first time this year in Germany and by the way, it’s a little far from one of the main towns.
19:44 – So you will actually have to go to the airport, get a car and then drive down.
19:47 – It’s not that bad, but the Europa Park experience was pretty cool and it’s massive.
19:53 – So cloud fest is, I would definitely say is must visit.
19:57 – Even if you don’t exhibit, you should definitely check it out for the first time, you know.
Akshat
20:01 – I did Cloud Fest.
20:04 – I think it was called something.
20:05 – It was, it had a different name about 5-6 years ago.
20:11 – Yeah, a couple of factories.
20:13 – 2016 or 2018.
20:15 – I think that’s when I did Cloud Fest.
20:16 – It was called something else then.
20:18 – And at that time, only we have learned is that at that time, it was barely about WordPress.
20:23 – So you would see some things about wordpress.
20:25 – But apparently now this year from the previous year in 2023 there was a lot of wordpress happening and I think 2024 again, the wordpress is going to be a very big focus at cloud fest.
20:36 – So if you go, so I think that is changing.
20:39 – Are you planning to be at work?
20:40 – Cloud?
Gautam
20:41 – I’m gonna definitely try but around that time I’m expecting my first baby, so I’m not sure if I can go.
Akshat
20:46 – Congratulations.
20:47 – So yeah, then there are priorities, other priorities.
Gautam
20:52 – Thank you.
20:54 – So yes, that is priority number one.
20:55 – Otherwise my wife will strangle me, but I’m yeah, yeah, I’m very excited and I don’t think I’m gonna be able to manage cloud fest this year, but word camp is in June.
21:09 – So yes, definitely, I’m gonna make the best of it and I’m gonna go for word camp in June.
21:15 – That’s gonna be fun and I’m looking forward to doing that for sure.
21:19 – No doubt about it.
21:19 – I think events, events is a good place to meet people, talk to people like I met you at what camp US.
21:24 – I met Vito at a local event in the UK, a small event people.
21:30 – And we too and I were both giving talks and we just found each other and we became, you know, friends and we started working together in a lot of other ways, etcetera.
21:36 – So you never know who you meet, you know, just absolutely.
Akshat
21:40 – So one of the things actually, which I’m trying to do is go to more events which are focused on agencies and still see small events.
21:47 – And one of our, one of the really good events I went to this year as well as last is something called Macon.
21:53 – It’s hosted by this Troy Dean who does this thing called Agency Mavericks, which is again a fantastic resource.
Gautam
21:54: I have seen ads for Mavericks for the past year, but I haven’t looked into it to be very honest
Akshat
22:00 – He is such a great guy and they’ve got a great program and so they have like a very small, like 50 to 60 member event.
22:17 – They, they had it and I was there in October for it.
22:21 – So I did the second trip to US just for that and even a small event, but totally worth going to.
Gautam
22:28 – You should try UK as well in the UK.
22:34 – There are a lot of agency events let’s talk about, I’ll send you some messages after the this recording and I will send you some, you know, things which are happening in the UK scene because UK has a lot of these localized agency focused events and that might be a good outfit for you as well.
22:49 – And that would be a good way to meet you in person here again.
Akshat
22:52 – Absolutely.
22:53 – No, no, I’ll definitely,, put this because that was a, there’s an apprehension about around attending you know, Macon because it is such a small event.
23:02 – But I, I was quite surprised how, good that event is organized simply because of the concentration of agencies in such an event.
Gautam
23:13 – Got it, got it.
23:14 – So let’s just to do some fun personal questions which I wanted to ask you.
23:19 – Do you watch Netflix Prime or Apple TV?
23:23 – So what is your favorite show?
23:25 – Something out of the box?
Akshat
23:26 – So for one of the things, I’ve got an addictive personality, if I start something, then I’ll just watch it till the end.
23:32 – Like I won’t stop at all.
23:35 – So which is why for the longest time I have Netflix, I didn’t have even have Netflix because because then I, yeah, so even now the only Netflix I get is actually something which I got with my internet because I’m trying to avoid Netflix and I’ve got time you know, prime video Amazon Prime.
23:54 – But but yeah, I try and avoid watching shows.
23:58 – The last one I saw on Amazon Prime.
24:03 – This was very good and have something I highly recommend.
24:05 – It’s for, it’s in Hindi.
24:07 – It’s, but there’s a thing called Patal lok, which is fantastic.
Gautam
24:10 – I have seen that show, mind blowing show, mind blowing show.
24:13 – Yes, I saw that.
Akshat
24:14 – I finally got around to it.
24:15 – So I was, I downloaded the whole thing for travel to us and I was watching it on the flight.
24:20 – So I like, I, yes, I was avoiding watching all these shows at all and then I like to find there a long flight.
24:27 – Let me download it.
24:28 – And it was fantastic.
24:29 – I think even an international audience, if they’re at all interested in in foreign films might enjoy foreign shows would enjoy.
Gautam
24:39 – But my co founder Ryan, he loves Hindi shows.
24:44 – I just have to tell him watch this and he watches subtitles.
24:47 – So a lot of people, you’re right.
24:48 – People just don’t know about it.
24:50 – But original Netflix documentaries do really, really well.
24:52 – Anyways, I have another fun question for you.
24:55 – What if tomorrow you win a lottery, $25 million in your bank.
24:59 – What is the first thing you’ll do with that?
25:03 – 25 million?
Akshat
25:04 – Actually, I’m really, really boring person.
Gautam
25:07 – Invest in your business, maybe invest in your business, buy, buy whatever.
25:16 – Yeah.
Akshat
25:16 – You know, mostly I’ll come back and the, the, the, the very next day I actually, honestly I would not, I would not know what to do with it.
25:24 – Like mostly,, in a, in a few months time I plan a good night’s vacation.
25:29 – That’s the one thing that would happen because of it.
25:33 – And so vacation is my, like, I, I think that’s,, that’s the,, you know, that’s the advantage money gives you is,, it gives you, it gives you the ability because taking a vacation actually is a luxury in many ways. Taking a vacation without,, without something going on in the back of your mind.
25:54 – And that, I, I think that’s, that’s something which I, I value a lot.
Gautam
25:58 – Got it.
25:59 – And, and you mentioned you lived in Bangalore but have you ever thought of not living in Bangalore maybe somewhere else?
26:03 – And if yes, where, where would you live, if not in Bangalore?
Akshat
26:07 – So I’m not really like I thought about it.
26:09 – I had different opportunities but, but all my family is here.
26:13 – All my family is here.
26:14 – I love the place I’ve grown up here.
26:15 – All my friends are here.
26:17 – So that’s again, something which I value a lot, being able to try and spend time with friends and family.
26:23 – You know, you are obviously busy most of the time, but when you get a chance being able to spend time with friends and family, no, it’s, it’s something you cannot do that.
26:34 – I prioritize over almost anything else.
Gautam
26:37 – I agree with you.
26:38 – I just moved to my country 2.5 years ago and I think that’s the one thing I cannot get here.
26:44 – Yes.
26:44 – You know, good quality of life, good weather and all that.
26:48 – Not good weather is very, very cold here right now.
26:52 – But, but yes, you’re absolutely right.
26:54 – I do miss my family, friends a lot.
26:56 – You know, that’s one thing you cannot get here.
26:58 – You know, you build, you build relationships for 20 years.
27:00 – It’s very difficult to leave them.
27:02 – So, yes, I agree.
Akshat
27:02 – Yeah.
27:03 – And there are people who, I think even people who make friends easily and I’m not one of them.
27:07 – But even those folks, I think there’s always you know, long term friends are long term challenge and there’s an advantage you are in the com
Gautam
27: 10 – You seem to be like, see, I, I use this terminology a lot happy compulsive workaholic because I am that OK.
27:24 – I think you are kind of similar happy compulsive.
27:27 – I think that’s a good, that’s the first time I hear that.
27:29 – But I don’t mind.
27:31 – I want one saying happy convers workaholic.
Akshat
27:35 – Yeah, happy happiness is, again, is such an interesting thing, right?
27:38 – I believe again, very fortunate to be happy but being happy and content is it, it just makes it easier, you know, especially if you’re running your own company and doing as an entrepreneur, there are stresses in life.
27:52 – But if you’re happy, generally happy it takes away it makes the rest of it so much easier.
Gautam
27:59 – That’s true.
28:00 – And final things which I would like to ask you is where do you see your business WP mode logboard?
28:05 – All of this going three years from now and 10 years from now.
28:08 – Where do you envision that?
28:10 – 10 years?
28:10 – I know it is very far.
28:11 – But three year vision.
Akshat
28:16 – And the reason why I say I never think in terms of 10 years.
28:19 – So this is actually something which I’ve learned also over time.
28:22 – Let me tell you 10 years happens.
28:24 – So don’t feel like 10 years won’t happen.
28:26 – And there’s a chance that the business will survive for 10 years.
28:28 – So don’t rule that out and plan at least have some side of sense of some sense of thinking that OK, fine, this is going to be there for 10 more years and what happens in 10 years?
28:40 – That’s one way to look at it, something which I did not think about for a long time.
28:44 – Because you also know you’ve seen that and my favorite example is nokia and blackberry disappeared basically in 2 to 3 years.
28:52 – In that case, we are, we are such small fish, but at the same time, there’s a high chance that things will line up and your business will survive.
28:59 – So plan for if it happens
Gautam
29:00 – What happened to Ju and Magento, look what happened to Jumla and Magenta in the past 7 to 10 years.
29:06 – Can you imagine like, I don’t, I don’t think anybody uses those anymore.
Akshat
29:10 – Exactly.
29:10 – So, it’s very difficult to predict it.
Gautam
29:11 – But if it happens then you, you should at least have something, like if things lined up, then what does it look like?
29:17 – You should have that?
Akshat
29:18 – Like, it’s not more than three years.
29:19 – Three years is kind of growth for your business.
29:22 – Acquiring more customers.
29:24 – Yes, I think three years, the good thing is that WP, remote, we are really seeing infection curve.
29:29 – So, agencies are purchasing our product and we are adding and we are making the product better than we have ever done before.
29:38 – We are very bullish on being able to make websites.
29:41 – But I think that’s a goal.
29:42 – So when next year you will see, our products all come together in a manner making any website, you know,, get much, much higher outcome for the business.
29:56 – I think that’s our goal and you’ll see that panning out over the next three years.
30:00 – So you, today, if X, our business is able to achieve X from their website,, after I think in three years time, our products been unable to,, them to achieve X plus wine and a, a significant win.
Gautam
30:16 – Well said, well said.
30:18 – And finally, Akshat, where can our listeners,, where can they find you online of your email website, contact form?
30:24 – How do you, if somebody wants to get in touch with you linked in.
30:27 – What’s the best way?
30:28 – Where do you respond fast.
Akshat
30:31 – I respond faster that my email ID is akshat@blogvault.net
30:35 – But I’m also there on Facebook.
30:37 – Look at look me up on Facebook, facebook.com/akshat.
30:42 – and on Twitter, I’m Akshat.
30:44 – See, so any of these places if you ping me, I’ll get back to you for sure.
Gautam
30:48 – Sounds good.
30:49 – Thank you.
30:50 – Thank you Akshat for being on our show.
30:52 – Thank you for your time today and explaining your journey, some personal questions here and there.
30:57 – I’m looking forward to meeting you in person actually very, very soon.
31:00 – You know, also like either at WordCamp. Maybe if you’re talking to the UK for this agency stuff, who knows?
31:06 – You know, maybe if I travel soon, I’m sure I’m gonna be talking to India soon.
31:10 – And you know, my co-founder Ryan and I like he, we have been dying to do like a trip in India because we are a remote company.
31:15 – So we definitely want to do tours like Delhi Mumbai Bangalore.
31:19 – So we’ll try to make an effort to meet you in person as well one way or the other.
31:22 – For sure.
31:22 – Thank you so much for being on our show.
Akshat
31:25 – Thank you both for having me and congratulations again.
31:28 – I don’t think you should be traveling for the next few months.
31:32 – You got a lot of higher priority items happening.
31:35 – but we’ll definitely try catch you catch you once you’re a father.
Gautam
31:39 – Yes, absolutely.
31:41 – Thank you, Akshat.
31:42 – Thank you.
