What I’d Build If I Had to Start Over in WordPress Today

About 12 years ago, right after we launched GiveWP, we did what a lot of WordPress builders do when something starts to work.

We got distracted.

We had GiveWP gaining traction, but we also shipped another product around the same time called “Maps Builder Pro”. On the surface, it made sense. It was a solid plugin, it solved a real problem, and it was technically interesting. Heck, Chris Lema even helped us promote it!

However, it relied on third-party APIs, had a learning curve, and at first glance felt like a business, but it wasn’t something we truly controlled or could scale the same way.

It also heavily depended on things we didn’t control (Google APIs), required more effort to onboard users, and was already starting to feel like a niche inside a niche.

At the time, we didn’t think of it that way. We just saw another revenue stream.

Then our mentor looked at what we were doing and basically said, “What is this…? Why are you spending time on this?”

It wasn’t subtle. The point he made stuck: we were spreading ourselves across products we didn’t fully control, while sitting on something with much bigger upside.

His advice was simple. Cut everything else and focus on GiveWP. Not just as a plugin, but as a full donation, donor management, and fundraising platform.

We didn’t see the full picture right away, but we listened.

Over time, that focus compounded. GiveWP became the thing, not because it was the only idea we had, but because it was the one we had real experience with and we chose to go all in on.

Looking back, that lesson matters a lot more today than it did then.

The Core Mistake Most WordPress Builders Make

Most people build tools for WordPress users. Forms, SEO, analytics, payments. It feels logical, but it’s backwards. How many page builders are there these days? Answer: too many.

WordPress users are not a market. They’re a distribution channel.

The real market is the business on the other side of the website. If you’re not tied directly to how that business makes money, you’re optional. And optional software gets churned.

What I’d Do Differently Today

If I were starting over now, I’d take that same lesson and push it further.

Back then, picking “donations” as a niche was enough. Today, I’d argue it likely wouldn’t be.

I’d go narrower.

Not just donations, but something like donations for small to mid-sized churches, or fundraising for local nonprofit events, or campaign-based giving. The same idea applies outside of donations too. Payments for mobile car detailers, booking for pool service companies, operations for small restaurant groups.

The riches, my friend, are in the niches.

The bar has moved. You don’t win by picking a category anymore. You win by picking a very specific customer inside that category and building around them.

The Model I’d Follow

I wouldn’t start with a plugin.

I’d build a vertical SaaS product and use WordPress to get customers.

That shift changes everything. The product lives in the cloud. The WordPress plugin becomes the easiest way to get started, the bridge into the system, and the distribution engine. It’s not the product itself.

What I’d Actually Build

I’d focus on a business that has real revenue, repeat transactions, and operational friction. The kind of business where small improvements actually matter.

Then I’d build a system around it: booking and scheduling, payments with upsells and subscriptions, customer profiles, messaging and reminders, and simple reporting.

If you’ve ever looked closely at how these businesses operate, it’s usually a mix of text messages, spreadsheets, and disconnected tools. That’s what we discovered when we were building nonprofit websites day in and day out. You’re not competing with other plugins at that point. You’re replacing chaos.

Where WordPress Fits

WordPress is still incredibly valuable, just not as the center of the product.

I’d use it for marketing sites, landing pages, SEO, and local lead generation. More importantly, I’d use it for distribution.

The plugin should be simple, fast to install, and immediately useful. It should connect users to the SaaS, where the real value lives. Over time, more functionality shifts out of wp-admin and into your product.

Want an example? Check out Metorik, they’re crushing it.

Why This Is a Better Business

The economics are different. A plugin might sell for $49 to $199 per year. A product tied directly to a business’s revenue can charge $50 to $300 per month.

Churn is different too. If you’re powering bookings, handling payments, and managing customers, you don’t get casually replaced. You become part of how the business runs.

And you’re not boxed into WordPress. With a SaaS backend, you can onboard users without it, build mobile apps, integrate with other platforms, and move upmarket over time.

The Constraint That Matters

None of this works without focus.

That was the real lesson from Maps Builder Pro, Quick Checkout, Yelp Widget Pro… the list goes on. Was that they weren’t bad products; they just weren’t the right ones to spend our time on.

The temptation is always to go broad and build for everyone. A platform for all service businesses sounds great, but it rarely works early on. Especially when bootstrapped.

You pick one type of customer and go deeper than feels comfortable. Something like owner-operators running one to three trucks doing mobile detailing. That level of specificity is where real product-market fit starts to show up.

How I’d Execute

I’d keep it simple.

Start with a thin SaaS backend. Ship a basic WordPress plugin as the entry point. Get a small group of real customers and talk to them constantly. Facebook groups work great for this… just check out what Adam Preiser is doing. Then move more functionality into the SaaS as you learn what actually matters.

The plugin is the wedge. The SaaS is the business.

Where AI Fits

AI is useful here, just not in the obvious and cheesy, inauthentic, ways.

It can help with follow-up messages, upsell suggestions, and basic customer insights. It’s less useful when it turns into an “AI builder” or an overcomplicated dashboard. If it doesn’t make the business money or save time, it’s a distraction.

If I Had to Boil It Down

If I were starting over today, I’d go narrower than we did with GiveWP, build for a specific business with real revenue, and create a SaaS product that runs part of that business. WordPress would still play a role, but as a distribution channel, not the product itself.

That’s the play now. Everything else feels like trying to win a much harder game than you need to.