Web performance optimizing matters a whole lot to both Google and your visitors, which is why Optimizing Matters (Frank Goossens) develops free and open source plugins such as Autoptimize and Async Javascript and provides premium support at https://autoptimize.com.

Do you want to know more about our Virtual sponsor Optimizing Matters? We asked Frank Goossens (the founder of Optimizing Matters) a few questions!

How did the company get started?

I started trying to improve WordPress performance for my own little blog as a happy hobbyist around 2010 and in the process wrote some plugins and took over ownership for some others. In 2016, due to the uncertainty following a big outsourcing project in his daytime job and as especially Autoptimize began taking off, I decided to test the water and start a company to build commercial activities around the free & open source plugins. I’m still in the process of learning and growing and expect to be so forever 😉

Do you have any tips for people who want to start their own WordPress business?

I’m a firm believer in scratching one’s own itch: have fun, experiment, find a problem and try to solve that. When your solution works for you put it out there and see if it’s useful for others. If it is not you’ve at least solved your own problem and gained knowledge & experience. If it is, you just might have found a product for yourself to nurture, grow and conquer the world with (or at least a small part of it).

Who (or which company) inspires you in the WordPress community?

The WordPress users, no doubt! I love doing support and think it’s one of the main reasons for Autoptimize’s success; performance optimization is not always easy and helping people when they encounter problems makes for happy users who are often willing to share their positive experience in reviews or blog posts of their own or to take it a step further and hire us to optimize their sites even more. Moreover, the daily communication with users gives me great insight into what issues they encounter, which feeds back into the product roadmap. Without those users, there would be no Autoptimize and not Optimizing Matters!