Our Nepali New Year’s day is tomorrow and we, the DevotePress team has come up with an interesting series this New Year 2075. We’re very happy to announce that we will be starting our new series of interviews with WordPress personalities from this month. It is a monthly series, which means, there will be a new interview each month with different WordPress personalities.
For the first episode of our interview series, we’ve caught up with the founders of WEN Themes – the top vendor of Theme Palace. WEN Themes is a WordPress Theme and Plugin Development Company that is dedicated to making the web convenient and elegant by offering simple and clean WordPress themes and plugins. During the interview, we asked the founders about their service, future plans and more. Here are some of the highlights of the interview.
A Little Something about Your Company?
It’s been 3 years since WEN Themes has come into existence. We first started with nothing and now, it feels so good to know that we are among the top listed vendors in Theme Palace. A big thank you to Theme Palace; they’re one of the many reasons that we’ve come so far successfully. They’ve supported our company in many possible ways. In these past years, we’ve learned a lot about this business and grown better by overcoming the mistakes that we had made in the past.
How’s the Theme Development Going in the Company?
The theme development process is at a very good pace right now. Everything’s going smooth and we’re slowing growing.
How long has it been since you’ve been one of the vendors in Theme Palace?
Initially, we used to provide only the free WordPress themes to our users. Later on, as three of our free themes went live on WordPress.org, we started developing premium WordPress themes. Meanwhile, Theme Palace was on the way to establishment. And, we decided to provide our premium themes in the marketplace instead of our website. You can find the premium WordPress themes developed by our team on our website, however, the purchase process would be handled by the Theme Palace team.
Has switching to the marketplace been a good decision? Or, what changes have you felt after entering the marketplace?
The main thing is the payment gateway. We are a Nepal-based company, and we have to go through a lot of struggle to receive our payment from the foreign countries. So, deciding to switch to the marketplace has been a great decision. We do not have to go through all the payment process. All of our payment processes are done by the marketplace, which means we can focus better on the development of our themes and plugins. And also, not only the payment, Theme Palace has also been handling our Support Forum, which we think is a great plus-point for us. So, overall, it has been a very great decision.
Could you tell us about your team in WEN Themes?
We’re a team of two people; one being the developer and the other being a designer. This does not mean that we lack something or somewhere. Sure, we’re only a team of two but this somehow has been a good thing for us. We’re able to communicate accurately. And, we believe if a good developer and a creative designer come together, the outcome would be excellent.
Being the only two members in WEN Themes, how do you guys manage to keep it fun?
There are pros and cons of working with such a small team. The pros definitely include the easiness in teamwork and communication. However, yes, there are some cons to it. It’s only the two of us, which means lesser fun, of course. But we are looking forward to adding some creative people and grow our team in near future.
What strategies do you guys use to stay updated on the marketplace?
Everyone working in this field knows that it is a must-do thing to stay updated on the latest hot and happening news in the market. We, being in the theme business have to stay updated on how the theme development market is currently going. We also stay updated on the news provided by the overall WordPress theme companies, WordPress.org, and more.
The next big thing in WordPress is probably the new editor, Gutenberg. We’re staying updated on Gutenberg Editor lately. We’re focusing on providing WordPress themes that are compatible with the new editor.
And we think that one of the best ways is to get involved in the community via Theme Review. Reviewing themes can benefit in many ways, including the self-enhancement and giving back to the community.
Any thoughts on the design parts of the Gutenberg Editor?
Gutenberg is an editor, simply, a page builder. We are following up with the designs of the Gutenberg editor and we hope we will be able to keep up with the designs that Gutenberg editor will bring up.
Any difficulties that you had to face while working with Theme Palace?
On the initial phase, all the submission process were manual and we had to deal with all the hassle. However, it is no more a problem now. Theme Palace has grown so better and handles everything so smoothly. Another difficulty that we had to face at the beginning was the manual theme updates; now the issue has been solved. Theme Palace has introduced automatic updates, making it easier for the vendors to provide updates to their users easily. So, all the themes available at Theme Palace are secured and safe to use.
Both of you have completely different personalities, so what keeps you two connected or in sync?
The main and the most important thing that keeps us together is WordPress and our work. We do have our own personalities which are completely different from one another, but, we still kind of sync together and we think that is a great thing while you’re in the same business.
There are people who’re jumping into the Theme Development Business without having the knowledge of it; any feedback or suggestions for them?
We think the main reason why people are doing this is the success that they see. They don’t actually know the amount of struggle that successful personalities in WordPress have to go through. They don’t actually want to see the dark side of the failure that we have to go through before the success. And we guess that’s the reason why they’re jumping into something that they’re not fully familiar with. And another possible reason could be the easiness with WordPress. It is easy to submit themes in WordPress.org and maybe that is why the newcomers think that it’s an easy-peasy job.
But, the reality is quite different than this. It is possible that you’d see a slight glimpse of success in short time, but consistency is the key feature and you might lack that. So, if you’re serious about diving into the theme business or any other business, it is better to do some deep research first. One must have the potential to give their best and learn more about the theme business before directly initiating your business.
Any suggestions for the IT students?
As said earlier, on any business initial, without enough knowledge and preparation, no business can lead to success. Research and collect information as much as you can on the field that you want to start your business in. Before starting any business, one must have a good knowledge on the company registration, taxes, and more. Having only the theoretical knowledge is not going to help you start and maintain a company. You also need some interesting and serious skills, certain confidence level and most importantly some experience in the same field to start your own business. Starting a company right after finishing your studies is not a good step, you need to be well prepared, knowledgeable, have patience, and most importantly supportive team members.
Conclusion
For this interview, we caught up with Mr. Nilambar Sharma and Mr. Anil Basnet, the co-founders of WEN Themes. You can find the full interview session with them here.
And if you want to see more from us, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel – DevotePress.
We will be back with our monthly series of interviews next month with another well-known WordPress personality.
Happy New Year 2075!
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