I am Florian Sami Salman, founder of WP Bug Detector, former WordPress freelancer (top 3 on Google in Germany), and former drummer for the band MATIJA, a well-known indie band in Germany – and yes… I quit everything to fully commit to WP Bug Detector.
The Journey Began
Back then I always wanted to have my freedom, be creative, make music, and follow the latest tech innovations.
As Giorgio Moroder in Daft Punk’s song says, “The dream was so big, That I didn’t see any chance” – at first. I discovered WordPress and found out that more than 40% of all websites are running on it.
That was when I decided to quit my job, become a WordPress freelancer and do my music. In terms of music, 2019 was the greatest year of that time.
We played Germany’s biggest festivals and were signed to one of the biggest booking agencies and music labels in Germany.
Then Corona hit (us all). The music suddenly stopped. And everything went upside down.
I re-focussed and built a WordPress agency together with a friend and business partner.
We hired probably the greatest WordPress minds out there. And we built an agency focusing on maintenance.
The Need for WP Bug Detector
WP Bug Detector Logo
It was later that I discovered that keeping high quality in maintaining hundreds of websites is really challenging. You never know when or where something broke in your style through updates or manual work. You always have to check that manually.
So we created a tool. It was the prototype of the WP Bug Detector. It was such a great extension to our workflows, that I later took the best people I knew in terms of WordPress and we created WP Bug Detector.
Of course, there were competitors, but none of them was easy-to-use. They were all conceptualized to record multiple scenarios and set up heavy test cases.
This takes time and is hard to maintain as soon, as something bigger changes on the website. For small and medium website owners and WordPress focussed agencies, this act is not affordable.
On the other hand, there are screenshot-based tools for WordPress that help to do safe updates. Those on the other hand do not help you keep a visual record of a client’s website. When something breaks, you cannot see how it was before.
We started with an MVP. This resulted in heavy support and bug fixing right after the start. But we got so much positive feedback for our plugin, that we soon decided to create a dashboard for agencies and also an API for hosters and other website management tools (both will be released soon).
Right now we have, what you can call, real fans. WordPress agencies whom we can help to ease up their maintenance processes just as much as it helped me back then. I am really proud of that.
WP Bug Detector
Myself with my Brilliant Team
As a completely remote team, we haven’t had the chance to meet each other in person just yet.
Unfortunately, this means we also lack any team photos. However, we’ve discussed the possibility of arranging a WordCamp as our first meetup.
I recently attended WordCamp Vienna. While it was a great experience in itself, meeting the whole team in person is definitely a top priority for us.
Florian at WordCamp
Advice for Business Owners
When it comes to launching a new product, my recommendation for fellow business owners is to prioritize the needs of your customers and verify their satisfaction as early as possible.
Maintaining a strong connection with your customers and potential users is also crucial. By doing so, you’ll receive valuable feedback on your product’s direction.
Stay in Touch
WordPress & Beyond
Our current focus is on developing the best visual testing tool for WordPress available on the market.
However, in the future, we plan to launch a separate dashboard for managing multiple websites, as well as an API for integrating WP Bug Detector into your own dashboards or tools.
This will allow us to expand the availability of our software to all types of websites.
My Love for the WordPress Community
I had the pleasure of attending my first local WordCamp recently and had the opportunity to assist at the help desk.
The experience was incredibly positive, and I also appreciated the various meetups and Facebook communities that support WordPress.
The community is truly exceptional and supportive, providing an opportunity to share ideas and enthusiasm for WordPress.
It’s wonderful to have events like these, and we’re looking forward to giving back more to the community in the future.
How I Keep Myself Updated
In addition to engaging with other developers directly, I also maintain a collection of blogs and magazines that cover a range of topics.
Some of my favorite sources include WP Tavern, WPBeginner, ManageWP, and Kinsta, as well as non-WordPress-related publications like Hubspot and TechCrunch
I Have a Life Other Than the Work
During my free time, I enjoy staying active by playing sports and playing the drums. Living near the mountains, hiking has become one of my go-to activities. It’s a great way to explore nature and stay in shape.
