Just landed back home from WordCamp Europe. I’d say it was the best one yet. Funny thing happened - people I'd never met were stopping me and referencing that initial “this is me” post from a couple of weeks ago. A few said some version of: "you don't seem like someone who just came out of the corner" which is flattering - it’s not as easy as it looked. That feels kindof strange because I was always the shy kid (*with a dash of breaking the rules here and there). Now I’m actively putting myself out there as a CEO. I feel this is something that is simultaneously personally intimidating yet necessary for my business right now. Plus it kinda feels good 😊 So was the event worth it? Four meetings were the most obvious value add to @SearchAndFilter : • The team from @commercegurus , two amazing chaps from Ireland (@simontomkins & @colmtroy), sharp on ecommerce - it’s our second time meeting and I think without meeting in person we wouldn’t be having the productive conversations we are today. • @KatieKeithBarn2 and I had a few chats. We have some overlap in products - I love her openness and desire to collaborate on other areas (and we will probably). • @paloukas from Pressidium - all round great energy and we made some good progress with a partnership we’ve been discussing. • Caught up with @MrBrianHaas and the digicube team again. They went from customer, to building our website, to friends - I always look forward to seeing their team at these events. I also asked a question I was curious about: why do people who've been building for 10+ years, some, mostly invisible, suddenly start showing up? It was a common pattern this year. I assumed it was new products or struggling with user acquisition. @dannyvankooten was one of them - and his answer was simpler: he just wanted to “stick a finger in the air and see which way the wind is blowing” with WordPress. That's partly why I went too. It was also the first year bringing the whole team and it was really great getting to know them better - I have to say I couldn’t have done it without them - a huge thanks to Vesela & Panagiotis @BobWP @remkusdevries @idavinder #wceu