I am Per Esbensen, the Co-Founder of Codeable. I live in Denmark with my family. I’m 54 years old. Got three daughters and a fantastic wife who has supported me all the way. I couldn’t have done it without her.
I had a career full of ups and downs before starting Codeable. Doing jobs mostly related to sales and marketing.
The Journey began
Eleven years ago, while I was running an online agency, we were working with TYPO3 (CMS) – a very popular CMS for enterprise clients in northern Europe.
While working on the project, we encountered a serious issue with the website of our major client, and we were unable to solve the issue.
So I went to ’Elance’ (an online marketplace for freelancers) which was later rebranded to ‘Upwork’.
Where I luckily found ‘Tomaz Zaman’. He was a certified TYPO3 integrator and help me quickly to resolve the issue, which made my day!
Then, he became my go-to guy and later my partner in creating Codeable.
The Need for Codeable
Codeable Logo
Six months in, we had this idea and started building a business. We wanted to disrupt online outsourcing because the bidding war created a hostile working environment.
It was a race to the bottom. We wanted to do something different. After analyzing the market, we realized WordPress is extensive and was getting bigger.
Starting a company with only one vertical seemed “easier” to do, and that is how we came into WordPress.
We started to get to know the community. WooThemes was our first approach since they needed a go-to place for referring their customers.
They believed in our model and us. WooThemes became ‘WooCommerce’ and was later acquired by Automattic. We have grown together with these amazing companies.
Let us start with our proudest moments. Looking back, there are quite a few. One of which is going live with our MVP was one fantastic feeling – I will never forget that.
Then onboarding and meeting all our incredible Experts working on Codeable is a pleasant experience. We have nothing but awesome people working. They are the reason for our success.
I don’t think we had many worst experiences. However we have made lots of mistakes, but we also learned quickly to embrace the mistakes and learn from them.
Codeable is a WordPress-only managed marketplace, where all-size of businesses come to find solutions to all of their WordPress-related problems and needs.
Myself with my Brilliant Team
We are a fully remote workplace. We come from all over the world. From Denmark to Argentina, passing by the UK, US, or South Africa.
Our staff is located in eleven different countries. We have been regularly attending WordCamps in various countries, which is a great way to explore and meet new talents in the WordPress industry.
We have some great pictures of almost all of them on our website. Take a look and click their respective images 🙂
Codeable Staff at Local Meetup
Advice for Business Owners
New businesses in the WordPress ecosystem should find a way to embrace and involve the community within your product.
The Open Source DNA for WordPress is about collaboration and sharing, finding a way to enable and work together. Then believe in your idea, don’t take no for an answer, and get out of the office.
Customization, optimization, and online sales are very important for the global economy, so I recommend thinking in those niches.
Stay in Touch
WordPress & Beyond
Codeable is striving to create a platform in which everyone can reach their fullest potential. Our end goal is to connect top-notch WordPress Experts with our customers to solve any problem related to WordPress.
WordPress is the leading (CMS) in the world and in the next five years, still, it will be the most enthusiastic platform.
WordPress core team needs to invest and bring more advancement in ‘Gutenberg’ because in-direct threats like WIX, Shopify, and other CMS are also rapidly making an impact in the industry.
My Love for the WordPress Community
WordPress is all about the people.
Before starting Codeable, our agency was working with major brands in the corporate world. The best part of transforming my business into WordPress is making connections with the industry.
I believe that everybody is the same. It doesn’t matter if you’re a CEO or a Dev; you feel relaxed. The camaraderie, the sense of belonging, and working together for a common goal are thrilling.
The Codeable Community DNA within the WordPress community is similar in its approach – built with and for experts.
Doing business among friends and peers is exciting and fulfilling. I greatly appreciate and enjoy participating in meetups and WordCamps.
I have so many friends in the community. My best friends are our experts working on the platform. We are not just friends but family, some of whom I have known for a long time.
WordCamp EU is always one of the year’s highlights where lots of us meet. Meeting people, in general, is the best part of attending venues and events.
Codeable Team at WordCamp
How I Keep Myself Updated
The Lean Startup by ‘Eric Ries’ is a must-read. Especially the first chapter about “getting out of the office” is a good read to learn for startups.
Then I remember reading a blog post by ‘Jason Cohen’ about the ‘Importance of charging enough money for your product/services.
It’s super important to become profitable fast so you can have a good impact on your business.
I Have a Life Other Than the Work
I like spending time with my family and friends. I have a huge family, and I’m blessed with many great friends. Our family likes to travel, and sometimes with our friends. In my free time, I enjoy sports.
We do different kinds of vacations. Sometimes we need to relax and do nothing much but enjoy ourselves in beautiful surroundings, and sometimes we go for a more action-based vacation like skiing, golfing, or hiking.
We still have so many dreams about where to travel, so I don’t yet have a favorite destination.
I have a dog named ‘Aslan’. He’s a nice little white fluffy dog.
I Reward Myself by
The ultimate reward of mine is to learn from other people, it helps to overcome the mistakes they have done, and in this way, one should achieve goals faster by moving in the right direction.
Spending time with family and friends, and going out on vacations is what I reward myself because getting support and love from them is the biggest achievement for me.
