This post marks 5 years of my weekly blog postings documenting my journey with WordPress and business. Everything I’ve done has been 100% bootstrapped. I’ve never taken any investment money nor do I have any plans to do so. Instead I’ve made known my intentions through public announcements, like this, as a way to lean into the direction that I want to go. That’s preciously how I started Anchor Hosting, check out that original announcement post here. Amazingly just a few short years after making that announcement I was fully sustained by hosting revenue. In a similar way I want to take this time and talk about CaptainCore and the future of Anchor Hosting. Don’t worry, it’s all good.
CaptainCore is the software I’ve built that powers Anchor Hosting’s backend.
As a web host reseller, I sit in the sweet spot of being able to maintain complete control over hosting provider decisions, which allows me to efficiently handle WordPress maintenance issues for my customers. This lean approach has afforded me the ability to develop CaptainCore as I’ve grown my business.
Over the past few years, CaptainCore has enabled Anchor Hosting to manage 1000+ WordPress websites as a solo web developer. While it’s technically an open source project, it’s currently only used by myself and another alpha tester. Many things need to happen in order for CaptainCore to be usable by others.
I don’t want to build just another WordPress maintenance business. I also don’t have any intentions of being a web hosting provider. I like the freedom that comes with being a web host reseller as I can focus on solving WordPress maintenance related issues through software development. That’s what I want to expand on.
When I grow a team, I want to do so by solving the bigger WordPress maintenance ecosystem issues, not just a pain point for me and my hosting customers. I feel that CaptainCore is in the best position to do just that. That starts by me packaging up CaptainCore into a common format for anyone to use and continuing to focus software development.
The future of Anchor Hosting is CaptainCore.
It’s through better tools and better software that WordPress maintenance, as an ecosystem, can be improved. Yes, that will require people with the right focus, however I don’t see WordPress’ maintenance ecosystem being solved by an individual WordPress web host or a WordPress maintenance provider. No, for that to happen the WordPress community needs an innovative software company which is committed to an open source first solution which can be embedded throughout the ecosystem.
So how do I make all of this happen? I don’t really know, but I do know how to start it. That is in making this post and publicly sharing with the world that CaptainCore is the future of Anchor Hosting.
What’s actually is changing today?
- I’m no longer going to write weekly posts on anchor.host/blog. Instead will focus on regular writing over on CaptainCore.
- I’m opening up a Github sponsorship page dedicated to getting CaptainCore ready to use for the open source community. See here: github.com/sponsors/austinginder.
- Currently my time is split 50/50 between running Anchor Hosting and software development. Over the next few years I’d like to transition to 75% software development and 25% running Anchor Hosting. This would be goal ratio the entire company, not just a personal goal.
Questions and Answers
If I’m a customer, should I be concerned with hosting my website through Anchor Hosting?
I can not see a future where CaptainCore is successful without Anchor Hosting. While I do think it’s time to focus development efforts on CaptainCore, the future of Anchor Hosting is also very bright. Being an Anchor Hosting customer is the best way to experience all of the latest and greatest of CaptainCore. Keep your eyes on continued improvements to the hosting backend: anchor.host/account.
Are you looking for new hosting clients?
For sure! Agency and web developers checkout my new bulk pricing for WordPress hosting. Anchor Hosting is truly hassle-free WordPress hosting for freelancers and web professionals.
Who is CaptainCore for?
CaptainCore is a WordPress management toolkit for geeky maintenance professionals and host providers. All customers of Anchor Hosting see it when they sign into their hosting panel.
Does CaptainCore have a roadmap?
I do not have a roadmap for Captaincore, however I do have an order of product releases. First, I plan to release an open source version of CaptainCore which is polished and usable by anyone willing to spin up a VPS. Second, I plan to release a paid hosted version of CaptainCore which will help sustain future CaptainCore development.
Is this a change in Anchor Hosting’s mission?
Not at all. In fact I strongly believe that focusing on software development is how Anchor Hosting will be able to achieve it’s goals at being the best hassle-free WordPress hosting for freelancers and web professionals.