Last night, I had dinner with Matt. Matt Mullenweg. For those who don’t know who Matt is, he is the founding developer of WordPress, the software that this site runs on, and that powers millions of blogs on the Internet. Matt is also the founder of Automattic, the company that runs his online ventures. It happens that Matt is in Davao for WordCamp Philippines, a gathering of people who use WordPress software. There will be a mini-WordCamp in Davao tomorrow night, and a full blown WordCamp in Manila on Saturday. Matt is here to address the conference, which will be the first WordCamp in SE Asia.
The dinner was a small, rather intimate affair, attended by Feyma and I, Matt, Blogie, Ted Padova, Rodney and Chattee. Blogie is a well known blogger in Davao, Ted is one of the world’s leading authors on Adobe PDF and other Adobe Creative Suite Products, Rodney owns a local software outsourcing company, and Chattee is also a local blogger, and a photographer too. So, it was a small number of people, and it gave me an opportunity to talk with Matt about various WordPress issues, software problems, and just generally learn more about blogging, and share my experiences too.
With Matt being such a well known person on the Internet, I was not quite sure what to expect. Maybe he would be a little big-headed, having captured such a huge following at the young age of 24. I was pleasantly surprised, though, when I met Matt. He is very down to earth, just a “regular guy” if you know what I mean.
Of course, having Ted Padova at the dinner was nice also. Ted has written dozens of books about Adobe software, and is quite well known in his circle. If you search for him on Amazon you will find that they are carrying dozens of Ted’s books. Ted has been a good friend for more than a year now, and I always enjoy spending time with him.
I was talking with Feyma tonight, and we were kind of joking, but almost amazed at how many well known people we have met since living in the Philippines. What is the chance of meeting somebody like Matt and having dinner with him if I were living in the States? It would be very remote, yet living here we have met many people like Matt. I guess it is one of the benefits of living as a “big fish in a small pond.”
Great to meet you, Matt, if you happen to read this. I enjoyed our time together.
Hi Bob
You certainly are traveling in good company over there. Maybe someday we can have dinner together and you can write a post about it. 😀
Wow that is great meeting people like that . You are right in the states u would never be able to meet them in a personl setting like you did in davao ..Keep up the good work Bob …Phil R .
Hi phil R. – It really was a fascinating meeting, and I enjoyed it a lot. In the States, the closest I would have come was maybe seeing Matt speak at a conference or something along those lines.
Hi Dan Mihaliak – I'll be looking forward to our dinner meeting! Hope to see you soon!
Any chance of sharing your experiences through an online seminar or book on making money on the internet in the near future?
Keep up the good work – a great read.
cheers,
Mike
Hi Michael – Actually, I have already completed a video seminar and a book. I am now putting the final touches on a website where I will be selling these items. You should see this available in the next few days.
Thanks for your interest.
I am sooooo jealous Bob! I've been a fan of Matt since 2004 when I moved from b2 to WordPress and I am just a huge, huge, huge fan! He's such a cool guy, as are you! 🙂
Very nice reoirt, Bob, and nice job of conveying a little first hand info about the kind of person Matt really is. Even though I have been know voice a hwine or moan about QWordPress at times, it is still far and away the best such producton the market … and it isn't "on the market", that's the beauty of it. Matt is a guy who saw aneed people have and instead f worrying about someone stealing his idea, or figuring out how he would make money upfront, he just built it and filled the need. The principle of abundance in action and he's certainly an object lesson for all of us locking our ideas away in the closet to 'protect' them.
You are so right about meeting people here, too. I've even been to the Palace and met the president … how cool id that .. back in the USA I'm now not even allowed to drive on Pennsylvania Aveune … and for an ordinary citizen to have merienda with the Emperor (oops, I ment the President) is just about unthinkable. There is more to the 'culture shock' equation than eating balut 😉
Hi mia – Wow, thanks Mia.
Hi Dave Starr – Yes, Matt is quite a guy. Imaging, at such a young age, having such a worldwide impact. He deserves nothing but accolades.
Oh – it's the OTHER Matt! 😀
Hi Matt – Oops! Sorry about that! 😆