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I'm Rich Tabor — creator of CoBlocks & ThemeBeans (both sold to GoDaddy), and other products in the WordPress space. AMA!

Heyo IH! I'm a designer/turned engineer/turned product manager who enjoys running product and making beautiful software, specifically in the WordPress ecosystem.

Like a lot of folks, I started off making WordPress themes, but eventually jumped into Gutenberg with CoBlocks, sold my products to GoDaddy, joined their amazing team as a PM for a few years running WordPress Experience, left, and now I run product at a much smaller startup called Extendify — where we're building next generation experiences for WordPress.

Have any questions for me? Ask away!

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    Hi Rich, I am using CoBlocks and when I try to make certain edits, I am now getting a JSON error - and am unable to edit. PLEASE HELP! Using Gutenberg - thank you so much :-)

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    How Extendify is different than EasyWP and WPEngine?

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    Congrats on the sale! Could i get your view on whats the future of building website in Wordpress ? I mean, with so many page builders and themes are there, what is your bet on the skill level that a new web developer should focus on it.

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    Hi Rich, I was an early user of CoBlocks, I loved your job.

    What do you think of the future of Headless WordPress? We are creating something here and we are very excited to contribute to the ecosystem: https://gorillacms.com

    Greetings from South America.

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      Hey thanks! I'm very curious about headless WP and I see a case for it big time. I still think it's very much a developer-oriented direction, but in time I foresee perhaps headless could become the norm.

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    How did the sale to GoDaddy go down? I know you might not want to share all the details, but were you actively looking to sell at the time?

    (I was a super-early CoBlocks user, btw!)

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      Cool man! Do you still use it by chance? Curious. Honestly, it started with getting attention via video shorts and writing profusely about CoBlocks, then when I happened to be at the right place, at the right time, I was introduced to the right person from GoDaddy who helped broker the relationship. We met a good bit and talked through the future of WordPress, blocks and Gutenberg, then decided it would be mutually awesome to join forces - so we did.

      It was as smooth as I’d imagine an acquisition going. Still stressful for sure, but I couldn’t have asked for a better team to jump in with.

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        Awesome.

        No, I don't use it much anymore, but it's still an active plugin on a few of my sites. I now use a similar plugin that had a few extra blocks I was looking for, so I'm using only that one to keep things looking consistent.

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    Which wordpress theme would you recommend for someone starting to create a content/creative agency?

    really like Extendify as its been great for someone who isn't a WP master and just wants to have something up fast.

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      Awesome! I'm leaning into the next era of Block Themes, focusing on how those play with the new Full Site Editing feature-set. So I'd recommend Tove, TT1 Blocks, and the upcoming Twenty Twenty Two theme.

      And we may be working on something big... ;)

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    How did you find your first customers with Extendify?

    How did you build Extendify and did you do it yourself or with a co-founder/contractors/ect.

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      I've only been here a month heading product, but the two co-founders started Extendify out of seeing how complex/fragmented/difficult the average WordPress experience is. Right now we're iterating towards the next era of WordPress; positioning ourselves to be the #1 solution for folks who want the best of WordPress (Full Site Editing).

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