Nathan Wrigley talks with Matt Cromwell about his move from co-founding GiveWP and working with StellarWP to launching Roots and Fruit, a fractional chief growth officer agency focused on helping WordPress product companies grow.
From GiveWP to Roots and Fruit
Matt helped build GiveWP, scaled it, and sold it to Liquid Web in 2021. After several years working across products at StellarWP, he left in late 2025 to found Roots and Fruit. His new venture helps WordPress product teams and solo founders shift from a code-first approach to a product- and customer-first mindset. Roots and Fruit combines fractional leadership and mentoring to help teams prioritize the right work and build repeatable growth routines.
Why WordPress matters and where AI fits
Matt is optimistic about WordPress but realistic about challenges. He argues that WordPress is well positioned for AI because of its vast open source codebase and documentation. That makes it easier for AI systems to learn how WordPress works and for Core to incorporate AI features that keep the platform relevant. At the same time, the broader web ecosystem continues to produce successful companies, showing there is strong demand for web-focused solutions beyond the traditional plugin model.
Discoverability and competition have changed
The era when you could “build it and they will come” is over. WordPress used to provide strong discoverability through wordpress.org, but with many more themes and plugins and a richer set of competing solutions like SaaS products, discoverability is harder and competition is stronger. Customers now choose on overall experience and outcomes, not just on whether something is a plugin.
The shift from code to product
A central message from Matt is that successful product companies stop thinking like developers and start thinking like product businesses. Developers often measure progress by features and code, but customers judge the end-to-end experience: clarity on the website, trust signals, confident checkout, and onboarding that actually delivers the promised outcome. Product-first teams design around discovery, purchase, and adoption—not just the underlying implementation.
Practical advice for founders and teams
– Put the customer front and center: build your website, messaging, and onboarding around real customer problems rather than technical achievements.
– Treat product work like a business: invest in branding, marketing, and UX as much as in engineering.
– Prioritize ruthlessly: focus on a few high-impact initiatives instead of a scattergun approach across many channels.
– Favor process and discipline over chasing playbooks: consistent experimentation and careful prioritization beat jumping to the next supposed silver bullet.
– For solo founders: create structure and accountability so marketing and growth work gets done instead of deferred.
– For small teams: consider a fractional growth leader to bring focus and maintain momentum while founders stay on product and strategy.
How Roots and Fruit helps
Roots and Fruit targets two main groups: small to medium product teams that need a fractional chief growth officer to lead prioritized growth efforts, and solo founders who benefit from coaching and group support to develop repeatable growth habits. The offering emphasizes choosing the right priorities, adopting disciplined processes, and measuring progress through customer outcomes rather than raw technical activity.
Credibility and lessons learned
Matt draws on the experience of launching, scaling, and exiting GiveWP and on lessons from running multiple products at StellarWP. He acknowledges failures along the way and uses those experiences to guide other founders. That practical track record shapes the agency’s approach: realistic, outcome-focused, and rooted in product experience rather than only engineering.
Final thoughts and contact
Matt encourages product builders to look beyond code and invest in creating discoverable, trustworthy product experiences. He is active on LinkedIn under his name and on X as @learnwithmattc, and his agency website is rootsandfruit.com. If you make WordPress products and want help moving to a customer-first growth model, Roots and Fruit is positioned to help you build sustainable momentum.