Over the last decade, WPBeginner founder, Syed Balkhi, has built a family of great WordPress products that help small businesses grow and compete with the big guys.
Currently, our portfolio of WordPress plugins & software products are being used on over 25 million websites (and growing).
In this journey, Syed has partnered with many talented founders to give them a quick, straightforward exit that protects their team and customers.
In other cases, we’ve made friendly minority stake investments to help founders scale their businesses to the next level.
And … this has worked out really well for everyone involved.
If you’re looking to sell your business (on fair, founder-friendly terms), or partner with an experienced group of entrepreneurs to help grow your business, then you’re in the right place.
- What is the WPBeginner Growth Fund
- The story behind WPBeginner Growth Fund
- Our Philosophy
- Format & Details
- Sell Your Business / Apply for Investment
What is the WPBeginner Growth Fund?
WPBeginner Growth Fund is the first-ever investment fund focused entirely on WordPress and WordPress-adjacent businesses, started by WPBeginner founder, Syed Balkhi.
We invest in businesses that are profitable ($250k – $10M range) where the founder is thinking about their next chapter: either handing the reins to someone else, or partnering with experienced entrepreneurs for the next phase of growth.
Unlike other investment funds, we’re not backed by sleazy private equity or venture capital. Instead the only investor in the fund is our founder, Syed Balkhi.
This allows us to make the deal process fast, friendly, and simple for entrepreneurs while ensuring that we always take good care of their businesses.
Along with the investment, we work closely with each team to refine & optimize their existing products / processes by using the Awesome Motive playbook which contains Syed’s years of experience + lessons learned.
Each company also benefits from our vast media resources, and the business network that we have built over the last decade.
The Story Behind WPBeginner Growth Fund
We never set out to become investors.
When Syed started WPBeginner, he simply talked to our users, figured out what they needed to grow, and built the tools that helped them succeed.
Before we knew it, the products he created were being used by millions of users across the world.
This made our company a great target for private equity and venture investors, but it was always a miserable experience.
Most of them didn’t understand the open source, WordPress ecosystem, and they simply dragged out deals for months, renegotiated over and over, and the whole process was just horrible.
As Syed talked with other entrepreneurs in the community, they all shared similar frustrations.
Here’s what it looked like:
If a private equity company approached you, they’d offer you a high valuation to lure you in, but over the 3 – 6 month renegotiation process, you’d learn that the money isn’t upfront. Instead their complex terms lock founders into working for them for several years just to earn out the valuation.
If you were approached by venture capital, they’d offer you crazy huge valuation, but again in the 3 – 6 month process, you’d learn that they’re actually not interested and were just using you to collect data. In other cases, they’ll invest the money, but there’s no cash for founders … only growth capital with complex term sheet & requirements.
This approach just didn’t feel right, so he decided to create a new way.
Our goal is to be the investors that we wish we had when we first started out.
Our Philosophy
We know that independence is one of the main reasons why people want to create a business in the first place, and it’s also one of the reasons why businesses succeed. Our goal is to interfere as little as possible with the day to day.
We believe that founders of WordPress-focused companies are great at hacking. We want to empower them with our framework and resources to do just that.
Despite what typical investors say, they’re primarily financial investors. In our case, money is by far the least valuable component. We want to share our experience, knowledge, and resources (collectively “needle-movers”) to help founders grow their business.
We will offer a lot of advice, but we will never force anyone to take it.
The kind of advice that we will give literally can’t be bought because very few companies have the WordPress-specific insights like we do. And those that do are not in the business of consulting.
In other cases, where founders are looking to move on to the next phase of their life, we offer the simplest term with a clean exit.
Our goal is to make the founders proud for entrusting us with their companies and their team. We do our best to follow through on their vision and culture.
Format & Details
Founders reach out to us primarily for two reasons:
- To get a clean exit with confidence of knowing that they’re handing the reins to someone reputable in the industry.
- To partner with an experienced team for the next phase of their company’s growth.
For entrepreneurs that are looking for a clean exit, our goal is to make the process fast and simple. We have an easy due diligence process that focuses only on details that matter.
- You fill out the form, and we’ll respond in 48 hours.
- If we believe we’re the best fit, then we’ll make an offer in less than 7 days.
- Once the offer letter is signed, we close the deal in 3 – 4 weeks.
- Our terms are straightforward – all cash payments (no complex structure).
- There are no golden handcuffs – founders can leave typically in less than 30 days.
For entrepreneurs that are looking for an investment + strategic partnership, our goal is to work closely with them to identify hidden growth levers in their business, and implement the right processes that are proven to accelerate growth.
Our due diligence process is quick and simple.
Aside from the financial investment, below are some of the valuable benefits that you’ll have access to:
- Our playbooks for product development, growth, and operations.
- Office Hours with Awesome Motive Partners (including Syed Balkhi)
- Office Hours with Other Industry Experts
- Bi-Annual Mastermind Meetings
- Exposure on our media properties and access to our PR team
- Private Founders Slack
Sell Your Business / Apply for Investment
Please note: this fund is for existing WordPress-focused businesses (i.e WordPress plugins, themes, services, and SaaS companies that serve the WordPress market).