Almost 8 years ago, Jason and I created the GitHub repository that began it all: an open source membership plugin for WordPress.
This plugin, and this membership business, have grown so much over the last 8 years. As we cross the 80k active installs milestone, we wanted to share a little party with our community. BUT since we’re a busy, distributed team, we decided to send the party right to Travis (who is now in bed with a terrible stomach ache).
All jokes aside..
Here’s a 1,000 ft. view of Paid Memberships Pro over the years. If you’re just starting a membership site, know that the road is long, winding, full of existing opportunities and marked with a few blocked paths. We’re on the same journey and are here to help you at any step.
Fall 2010
The plugin starts taking shape as an independent business. Jason and Kim start this informational website to begin creating documentation and information about the plugin.
April 2011
Jason publishes the first “post” on this site about why we have chosen a 100% Open Source, GPLv2 license for Paid Memberships Pro.
September 2011
Paid Memberships Pro is released in the WordPress.org Plugin Repository. The plugin and all Add Ons are free. We settle into having one $97 per year plan for support.
January 2014
Jessica and Hersha join the Paid Memberships Pro team, providing plugin support and ongoing development.
May 2015
The new logo for Paid Memberships Pro is created and released. Bye bye, purple website monster.
July 2015
We publish our first transparency report. PMPro is making $10k per month, but we want to work on the plugin full time. Later this month the Plus membership is launched at $197 per year, giving users access to download and update Add Ons of ours which aren’t hosted in the WordPress.org repository. The plugin has 40k active installs.
November 2015
We publish an update to our transparency report with new statics from the Plus launch. People are willing to pay for Paid Memberships Pro. The plugin is generating about $30k per month, replacing our consulting incomes. We are able to focus on PMPro full time.
March 2016
Andrew and Travis join the Paid Memberships Pro team, giving us two additional support team members and the beginnings of a marketing team for PMPro.
September 2017
Our Plus membership price is increased from $197 to $297 for new users, giving us more revenue to expand the team, develop new Add Ons, and continue to maintain the platform.
July 2018
We run a Summer Sale to mirror the Black Friday sale we did in 2017. We have been updating our support systems, updating our documentation, streamlining our Add On landing pages, increasing our focus on content marketing, and launching new and updated Add Ons. We being work on our Site-wide Sales Add On so other PMPro users can run sales like we do.
October 2018
Memberlite, a theme designed for Membership sites, is released in the WordPress.org Themes Repository. This theme currently powers 600+ active sites.
January 2019
PMPro Version 2.0 is launched—our biggest feature-packed release to date. The Memberships admin area gets an overhaul to give site owners better access to the most important actions and help new sites know “what you need to do” on day one.
February 2019
PMPro hits 80k active installs in the WordPress.org plugin repository reporting and over 1k Twitter followers. With new customer numbers staying steady and more customers renewing each year, we’re on pace to make $70k per month in 2019.
March 2019
Three new team members, Jessica, Femi, and Theunis, become a part of the PMPro team. We are now in a place to provide a quicker support turnaround and focused development for the core plugin as well as new and existing Add Ons.
April 2019 (est)
Announcing a new team member and mascot for PMPro. Hint: She lays golden eggs and helps you grow your nest.
Phew. Time for a nap.
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