Elliott Richmond blends two long-standing passions—WordPress development and a surprising local pizza business—into a single story about using the web as practical glue for real-world services. A self-taught developer active since the b2 days, Elliott has been in the WordPress community for more than 20 years, producing resources like a 2013 WordPress advent calendar and a steady stream of technical videos while doing freelance development.
A lockdown project turned business
During the COVID lockdown Elliott and his wife started a short-term pizza delivery service for their local community. What began as a temporary effort grew into an ongoing operation employing several people. The stack driving it is classic WordPress: WordPress + WooCommerce + Jetpack, plus custom integration code Elliott wrote to handle ordering and logistics.
From dogfooding to a plugin: Pizza Pilot
To replicate the ordering and delivery workflow they built, Elliott packaged the system into a plugin (nicknamed Pizza Pilot). It’s offered as freemium and Pro, and supports small-business delivery needs like time-based order slots, radius-based/postcode delivery restrictions (while still allowing collections), and other order controls useful for bakers, gardeners, or any niche local delivery enterprise. Licensees buy the business model and get the plugin bundled; it’s explicitly non-franchise—intended to be copied by entrepreneurs in other towns rather than run as a centralized chain.
WordPress as adaptable glue
Elliott emphasizes WordPress’s strength as an adaptable platform that can connect pieces of a business beyond a brochure website. His wife ran marketing and documented processes; Elliott filmed pizza-making steps and turned them into a course covering recipes, operations, and social strategies. The plugin grew from dogfooding that workflow, enabling scalable, time-limited local deliveries without complex infrastructure.
A content partnership with Automattic
Separately, Automattic reached out (via Michelle Frechette and Stacey Carlson) to sponsor content about wordpress.com. That developed into a broader relationship where Elliott creates educational videos explaining features, workflows, and developer tools for a broad audience. He’s been given early access to some wordpress.com features to test and explain, and he’s collaborated with Brit Solata and Jamie Marsland (head of WordPress YouTube), who helped shape his approach.
Elliott publishes on his own channel (elliottrichmondwp) and retains creative freedom while aligning with wordpress.com priorities. He submits scripts and typically receives light editorial feedback—an arrangement built on trust and autonomy rather than tight control.
Teaching practical, accessible technical topics
Education is central to Elliott’s output. He focuses on making complex ideas accessible: templating, pattern workflows, debugging tools like Xdebug in the Studio app, and new AI integrations. He mixes long-form tutorials with short-form snippets optimized for social distribution, using motion graphics and analogies to simplify confusing concepts. YouTube’s comment feedback loop helps him refine future topics and product decisions; he welcomes constructive criticism as useful input.
Production approach and tools
Elliott keeps a low-tech capture setup—mainly an iPhone, a homemade diffuser (a small box with tissue paper), and studio monitors from his music-production background. He edits and crafts motion work in DaVinci Resolve, praising the free version for being powerful enough for most creators. His scripting workflow starts with a brain dump via voice-to-text in Notes, then AI-assisted polishing, and finally structuring into prompts or loose scripts so he can stay organized while keeping some spontaneity on camera. Motion graphics and editing are where he spends most creative effort.
Community, unexpected use cases, and ongoing work
Elliott highlights the value of community meetups and the many unexpected ways people use WordPress—examples include a gardener running invoicing or local niche businesses using tailored ordering systems. Opportunities stemming from years of presence in the community and consistent content creation have opened doors for him. The Automattic-sponsored work is scheduled through the year with the option to continue; Elliott remains free to publish independent content alongside sponsored pieces.
Where to find him
YouTube: elliottrichmondwp
Website: elliottrichmond.co.uk (double L, double T)
More links and the podcast transcript are available in the WP Tavern show notes for the episode.