Trying to Build the Company I Wished for as Employees

I have deep admiration for entrepreneurs with a clear vision of their goals, especially those dreaming big about creating innovative products that change the world.

But let’s be real — it took me two and a half years to develop a clear vision for my company and what it should become.

About time, right?

About six months ago, I shared our second year in review with you, highlighting how we went from $12K to $25K per month in six months. I also discussed the challenges of growing from two founders to a small team of four, and the importance of documenting everything we do.

Fast forward to today: we’ve almost doubled our monthly revenue (45k/MRR) and team size, and so many things have changed in how we operate.

I’d say that WP Umbrella is becoming a real, yet unique, company—the kind we wished for when we were employees and the kind we aspire to have as customers. We’re doing everything we can to make this a reality.

Building Our Company Culture

Operating a fully remote company with six people across different time zones and cultures is a challenge. Autonomy and ownership are essential, but balancing this without becoming a “mercenary” company is crucial.

As the CEO of WP Umbrella, I strive to hire people with the right mindset: kindness, ownership, and goodwill, in addition to the hard skills they need to do their job.

I aim to bring together a diverse set of personalities so that we are not all alike, and diversity can fuel what we do.

Our company culture is built on freedom, ownership, kindness, and goodwill. As I told the team during our first startup retreat in the Alps, it’s not the founders who define company culture—it’s the employees (though I really dislike that word).

We’re at a pivotal moment, having hired bright minds and seasoned professionals. It’s time for me and my co-founder to pass on leadership roles and operational responsibilities to these great minds.

We are not a VC-funded company, so our team members don’t have equity, and the end goal isn’t to sell the company. We’re on this journey to create an awesome product with fantastic people.

My main concern, alongside customer satisfaction, is ensuring our team members feel accomplished and understand that our ultimate goal is to add value to our customers in everything we do—product, marketing, support.

Frankly, this is not easy.

They didn’t experience the “0 to 1” period, where every penny spent meant something (often us eating pasta).

The race to earn a living before our French state employment help expired forced us to make impactful decisions that added value to our users.

We learned to prioritize high ROI activities over perfection and avoid wasting time.

I need to inculcate this culture, without breaking the fun and the hype of what has become a collective venture.

Will dark mode increase our revenue? Is it worth to spend a half-day on a teaser movie that will make 50 views?

Giving people space, but ensuring that they are laser-focused on what really matters, is, in my opinion, what will dictate the success of our company in the next 6-12 months.

Challenge accepted.

Organizing Our First Startup Retreat

I organized our first startup retreat in Serre Chevalier, en route between Lyon and Torino, where WordCamp Europe (which we were sponsoring) was taking place.

This was definitely a “work hard, play hard (and eat a lot of cheese)” moment.

During the retreat, we defined the roadmap for Q3/Q4 and had many open discussions on everything we do. It was a fantastic opportunity to reshuffle the cards with fresh perspectives and onboard new team members (we added two people in June, growing from 4 to 6).

As a product led growth company where customer support department is the most important thing, discussing the product roadmap was the most efficient way for me to onboard these new team members. It was a good opportunity to delve into everything we do, and everything that we will be releasing before the end of the year.

Besides work, this was a fantastic moment for the team to bond, and I was happy to see friendship happening and team spirit rising.

Not everything was perfectly organized, but this was a memorable first start-up retreat that none of use we will never forget. On a personal note, I was glad I could show the team the place I live in most part of the year.

Nothing will ever replace the value of in-person interaction.

WP Umbrella in numbers

Before I close this article, I'm sharing a few metrics about WP Umbrella that I know you'll like:

• Revenue Milestone: In July, we celebrated hitting half a million in revenue.
  
• Widespread Adoption: WP Umbrella is now installed on over 30,000 websites, something we never imagined reaching so quickly.
  
• Global Reach: Our biggest market is the US, with France following closely behind. 🇫🇷
  
• Customer Loyalty: Keeping our customer churn rate between 2% and 4% is a major win and shows we’re on the right track.
  

So What’s Next ?

We’ll continue transitioning from the most chaotic bootstrapped company ever to a more structured one, delegating leadership to people who are better than me and my co-founder at what they do.

I wish that to all the Indie Hackers here!