Elliott Richmond has been developing with WordPress for over 20 years, tracing his experience back to the b2 days before WordPress was forked. Self-taught and active in the community, Elliott has freelanced, worked with various CMSs, contributed projects like a 2013 WordPress advent calendar, and now combines development with content creation and an unexpected pizza business.
Background and WordPress roots
Elliott’s early web work began in the 1990s making sites for bands and personal projects. After agency work and then freelancing, he explored CMSs like Joomla and Drupal before settling on b2/WordPress. Community involvement — meetups and collaborations — shaped his path. He still develops for WordPress, creates technical videos on YouTube, and remains passionate about simplifying complex concepts for learners.
The pizza business and plugin
During COVID lockdown, Elliott and his wife launched a local pizza delivery operation to serve their community. What started as a temporary effort grew: five years on they employ five staff and license the model to others. Crucially, WordPress is the backbone: WordPress itself, WooCommerce, Jetpack, and custom plugins glue the system together.
Elliott built a plugin (Pizza Pilot) to replicate the ordering and delivery logic. Features include:
– Slot-based ordering with time windows
– Radius-based delivery restrictions by postcode (customers outside the radius can still opt for collection)
– Time-based constraints so certain items or slots are available only at set times
– A freemium offering and a Pro version bundled for licensees
The business model isn’t a franchise; licensees buy the model, get training and plugin access, and replicate the micro-business locally. Elliott also produced course material — recipes, production steps, and marketing modules (his wife handles marketing) — to support licensees.
Working with Automattic and wordpress.com
Elliott was approached by Michelle Frechette and introduced to Stacey Carlson at Automattic to create content about wordpress.com. That led to a broader relationship involving Brit Solata and input from Jamie Marsland (head of the wordpress.com YouTube channel), who influenced Elliott’s video approach. The result is a series of videos through 2026 focused on wordpress.com features, workflows, and practical developer tools.
Content aims and approach
Elliott’s content is educational and practical: long-form videos plus short-form cutdowns. He aims to simplify technical topics (templates, template parts, patterns, developer tooling) and explain how to use features, not just announce them. He’ll cover practical developer topics like enabling Xdebug in the Studio app, and emerging areas like AI and how WordPress integrates with shifting tech.
Automattic provides early access to features and flexible briefs. Elliott described freedom to choose topics aligned with his audiences; guidance is about target viewers rather than heavy-handed directives. The collaboration is a sponsorship-style relationship where content lands on Elliott’s own YouTube channel to reach his audience, while aligning to wordpress.com priorities.
Community feedback and the value of comments
YouTube comments are an active feedback loop for Elliott’s work: they prompt follow-ups, surface misunderstandings, and guide future videos. He welcomes critical feedback as constructive, and values the two-way learning dynamic between creator and community. This feedback loop helps refine explanations and informs subsequent content.
Production process and tech stack
Elliott keeps a low-tech, pragmatic setup:
– Filming: iPhone camera on a simple rig
– Lighting: DIY diffuser (e.g., a cat food box with tissue paper over an LED)
– Sound and monitoring: studio monitors from music production gear
– Editing and motion graphics: DaVinci Resolve (paid version for bells and whistles; free version is already powerful)
– Scripting: a “loosely scripted” process that starts with voice notes (using Notes and voice-to-text) for a brain dump, polished by AI and refined into a script or flashcard prompts
– Motion graphics and animation: custom work in Resolve’s node-based tools; Elliott prefers to learn and build rather than rely on stock templates
He treats scripting as a key part of quality: not rigidly word-for-word but structured enough to avoid rambling and to sequence concepts clearly. Editing is iterative and enjoyable for him; he’ll record, edit, step away, then re-edit.
Philosophy and creative freedom
Elliott values autonomy and creative freedom. He described himself as “unemployable” in the conventional office sense, preferring remote work and independent creation. The collaboration with Automattic fits this: he keeps control of voice and format while contributing informed, early-access content. He also emphasizes the broad applicability of WordPress — example: a gardener running invoicing through WordPress — underscoring how the platform can power many kinds of businesses beyond traditional websites.
Topics Elliott intends to cover
– wordpress.com features and workflows, with early access perspective
– Developer-focused tools and debugging (e.g., Xdebug in Studio)
– How to implement and use templates, patterns, and template parts
– Simplifying AI concepts and how they relate to WordPress (LLMs, etc.)
– Case studies and practical uses, including how WordPress powered his pizza business
Where to find Elliott
YouTube: elliottrichmondwp
Website and blog: elliottrichmond.co.uk (double L, double T in Elliot)
Summary
Elliott Richmond blends long-term WordPress development experience with hands-on entrepreneurship and content creation. His pizza business exemplifies how WordPress can be the operational core of a real-world microbusiness, while his videos aim to demystify new and evolving WordPress features for a wide audience. Working with wordpress.com gives him early access and an amplified platform, but he retains creative control and continues to focus on educational, practical content created from direct experience.
