I grew up in West Chester, a cozy town in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I attended college at Temple University, and have been in Philly ever since.
I’ve always been drawn to entrepreneurship and launched numerous side businesses during my time at Temple. One year, I made enough selling SEO services that I didn’t have to return to my summer job cashiering at a local grocery chain, and I was officially hooked.
The Journey Began
My journey with WordPress began when I launched my first site in 2010, writing and learning about SEO and digital marketing. After learning the ropes and gaining experience as a WP user, I decided to try developing my own themes. I learned programming through Lynda courses, YouTube, and a lot of trial and error (ChatGPT would have made things much easier back then). My theme shop, Compete Themes, officially launched in 2014, and over the years, I released 20 themes, which have garnered over 2 million downloads.
Fast forward to 2022, and I had an exciting new idea I wanted to pursue, which would become Independent Analytics.
The Need for Independent Analytics
Independent Analytics
I got the idea for Independent Analytics while working on a content calendar plugin. I thought it would be cool to have “content analytics” that were tightly integrated with WordPress. The idea was to show publish dates, categories, post types, and other WP data inside the analytics. What was originally going to be a feature for my plugin grew into a much bigger idea that deserved its own product.
At the same time, I was watching the drama unfold between the EU and Google. For the first time since I started working with WordPress in 2010, people were considering alternatives to Google Analytics.
Rather than making a niche content analytics tool, I realized that by focusing on privacy, we had an opportunity to create a full-fledged alternative to Google Analytics. I merged the two ideas together, which became Independent Analytics. A privacy-friendly analytics platform that is also tightly integrated with WordPress.
Myself with my Brilliant Team
This idea was way too big for me to tackle on my own. Luckily for me, my close friend Andrew Mead was also itching for a new business opportunity and agreed to join forces. Andrew is a Udemy instructor with over 100k students on his JavaScript and React courses, and for obvious reasons, is the lead developer on Independent Analytics.
We have an office space at Bok, in Philadelphia, where we code, collaborate, and drink ungodly amounts of Spindrift seltzers. Occasionally, we can be seen outlining new features on the whiteboard.
Advice for Business Owners
Something I’ve learned over the years is the importance of timing. When I launched Compete Themes in 2014, it felt like I was at the tail-end of that opportunity. I had some themes that got enough visibility to have enduring success, but new themes I launched in 2016 and later never got as many installs as my early themes, even if they were better designed and more feature-filled. In 2025, it would be exceedingly hard to open a successful theme shop.
Likewise, the opportunity to create a new privacy-focused analytics tool arose in 2018, when the GDPR went live. However, it became a bigger deal when Austria outright banned Google Analytics in 2022, and we launched just a few months after that. There was also the forced migration to GA4 in mid-2023, and we were able to ride that wave as more people began searching for alternatives.
If you’re looking to launch a new product in the WP space, I would recommend paying attention to larger trends and getting in on something early. There are market forces that are bigger than us, and will have a huge impact on your business that go beyond your own skills and dedication to your craft.
Stay in Touch
WordPress & Beyond
Right now, we are working on bringing more awareness to Independent Analytics across the WP ecosystem. We feel that there are millions more users who would love to switch to IA, and we just need to get our product in front of them. We’ll continue bringing awesome new features to IA in the meantime.
As for the growth of WordPress, I think that WordPress is best positioned to take advantage of the AI boom as an open-source platform. It’s hard for me to imagine that someone doesn’t create a new AI integration that becomes the de facto way to build WP sites in the next couple of years. I’m bearish on AI being able to develop entire apps on its own, but a website is much more straightforward.
My Love for the WordPress Community
I’ve found a lot of inspiration from other WP entrepreneurs like Katie Keith and Matt Cromwell. I’ve been binging their WP Product Talk podcast and soaking up everything I can.
I’ve only recently joined Post Status, and am looking forward to connecting with more folks there and at upcoming WordCamps and PressConfs.
How I Keep Myself Updated
I keep up with the happenings in WordPress through X and a few newsletters. Notably, Within WordPress is great and something I read every Friday.
I Have a Life Other Than the Work
Outside of work, I enjoy gaming (anyone else play the Battlefield 6 beta?), working out, hiking, and traveling. My favorite travel destination is the Caribbean. I’ve been to many of the islands, but St. Martin/Maarten was my favorite. It’s the perfect getaway to break up those long winter months.
At home, I’ve got two cats, Andre and Mysha. Andre is 13, and Mysha just turned 1 (He finally lets her sit next to him now).
I Reward Myself by
I reward myself by closing my laptop at 3:30pm every day.
Work-life balance is extremely important, and I’ve dropped my old workaholic habits. Having free time and space from work lets me live a fuller life, and I think I actually get more done too.
Connect With Me
If you want to connect with me, you can find me on the Post Status Slack or reach me directly at my email ben[at]benjaminsibley.com.
