Crossword Perspectives with Matt Mullenweg
10 snips
Sep 26, 2025 
Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic, shares his diverse passions, from jazz to photography. He discusses balancing responsibilities with creative freedom and how travel inspires his work. The conversation dives into the evolving nature of WordPress as the backbone of creative expression and the challenges posed by recent community controversies. Mullenweg also reflects on the delicate interplay between leadership accountability and the health of the WordPress ecosystem, emphasizing the importance of trust and openness.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
From Sax To Travel Photography
- Matt moved from music to photography while traveling because instruments are hard to carry.
- He used photography as a personal archive and to remember places he visited.
WordPress As An Operating System
- WordPress is most powerful as a base layer or operating system powering sites and ecosystems.
- That monolithic stack yields the biggest benefit from plugins, themes, and dynamic integration.
Weighing Core APIs Versus Plugins
- Adding APIs to core increases surface area and risk, so weigh core inclusion versus plugin implementation.
- Customer journeys (like mobile apps) often force APIs into core for a consistent experience.