This year, WordPress celebrates its 20th anniversary : a true milestone that we decided to celebrate by going back into the exciting course of the CEO of Be API, whose professional trajectory is very related to the development of WordPress in France. Behind its humility and authenticity is a visionary spirit driven by strong convictions. The good mix that led to co-founding the Francophone WordPress community in 2005, then a few years later, the first French WordPress agency. Although this story does not start in a garage, it shows the success of the one who has worked since its beginnings to position CMS at the heart of the company's market.
Together, we return to the beginnings of WPFR, the golden age of the web 2.0 and the place of the human in the success of the agency.
WordPress & WPFR: origins
In 2005, Amaury Balmer began his graduate studies in computer engineering in Valenciennes to learn programming. Quickly, he stands out by expressing an interest in the Internet and its community aspect – a passion that finds little echo among his comrades, who then consider the web as an introduction to programming. Despite this, Amaury continues and begins to create websites in parallel with his studies.
We are in the middle of the blog's age: many actors are looking to invest the web to reach a wider audience. Contributors are gradually taking the lead on webmasters, generating unprecedented demand.
What attracts Amaury is the communities that drive blogging platforms. He made the discovery of WordPress in 2005, while CMS only had two years of existence. In France, the community consists mainly of two people: Mathieu Bellon and Xavier Borderie. Attracted by this promising tool and the emerging project, Amaury proposes to join them, using his skills as a computer developer.
Under the impetus of this trio, the French-speaking WordPress association – WPFR – is born. Amaury lays the foundations of the WPFR website and creates the self-help forum. During these years, he spent considerable time intervening on the forum, accumulating several thousand messages to his credit.
I've always been a « false develop ». In working groups, I was the one who wondered whether the project was practical for users..
Amaury Balmer
By placing the contribution, accessibility and ease of navigation at the heart of its concerns, Amaury responds to the needs of users at a time when blogs are not yet a mainstream tool: it is the professionals who come directly knocking on his door.
Thanks to his active engagement on the WPFR forum, he is gaining visibility. Although her involvement began on a voluntary and selfless basis, she offered her first professional opportunities in 2006. Contacted by a communications agency, he was entrusted with the creation of a hippie festival blog, which led him to create his self-entrepreneur status. From thread to needle, the demands multiply, allowing him to gain valuable experience.
From virtual to real
As part of his studies, Amaury began a web agency internship in 2007. This is where he is working on his first major project for the South West newspaper, which commands a blog platform for the presidential election. The project reinforces Amaury in the idea that the WordPress adventure is just beginning. Feeling little in line with the company's values, he resigns after only a few months of internship to start entrepreneurship and start his first business, wp-box.fr. This company allows him to propose various missions related to WordPress, making him one of the first French actors to live through CMS.
At the same time, Amaury remained extremely active in the Francophone community, which was booming. Along with Xavier and Matthew, he organized the first French BarCamps. The concept is simple: « We find ourselves in a café and those who wish to exchange on WordPress are welcome. » It's crafty, simple... But effective! These participatory workshops are expanding and attracting more and more participants. Amaury plays a key role as a technical manager. "Now we move from virtual to real. Community, self-help: it becomes tangible”.
It also contributes in open source, notably by participating in the translation of WP-MU and creating more than a dozen open-source plugins in parallel with its professional missions. Since the beginning of his career, he has incorporated the concept of « giving back », which consists of give its time and expertise to CMS in return for the opportunities that the tool offers.
During one of these famous BarCamps, the three friends receive a visit from Matthew Mullenweg, the American creator of WordPress. He salutes the French initiative, delighted to see his project carried and animated with passion. The day ends with a meal on the roof of the restaurant Georges Pompidou, a memorable memory with a small moment of loneliness: « Talks to him with a strong American accent and I find it hard to decipher. So Xavier translates And I listen by drinking beers. » An important recognition that remains engraved in the memory of our CEO.
Years pass and demand continues to grow. At that time, Amaury founded its second company by associating with one of its customers, Patrick Dahan, then director of Media Factory.
Thus born Be API, the first agency pure-player WordPress in France.
Be API : WordPress towards infinity and beyond
A period of careless growth begins for Be API, marked by the arrival of the first clients, which also leads to the first recruitments. Developers are first hired to support Amaury, then project leaders are hired to accompany clients on larger projects. True to itself, the CEO attaches great importance to the human criterion: he seeks experts, but also benevolent, respectful and positive people. This philosophy, which stands out in the agency sector, leads some members of the team to remain involved in the adventure for more than ten years – the oldest have even become associates (salutations Nicolas, Meriem, Alexandre and Yann!)
At the level of its strategy, the agency remains faithful to what has made WordPress successful: an approach centered on contributors.
We didn't want to be an agency of the past, which bills text changes on a site.
That was forbidden for me..
Amaury Balmer
In projects, everything has to be taxpayer and the ultimate goal is to make the client self-sufficient. With this approach and responding to technical and organizational needs, the agency manages to carry out a true mission of evangelization and demonstrates the relevance of WordPress to support large-scale digital projects.
Be API is structured to support ISDs and large accounts clients on increasingly ambitious budgets and issues: the offer and methodology evolve to meet needs on high traffic sites and work on complex projects of creation, redesign or maintenance WordPress. We're far from the early blogs!
In parallel, Amaury and his team make sure to keep time for continue to get involved in the French WordPress community. When WordCamps arrived in France from 2012, the agency participated as logistical, artistic, technical and financial support. The team members are also involved in many inter-CMS professional events, such as the AgoraCMS and CMSday.
This commitment and the achievement of ambitious projects are rewarded in 2019, when Be API becomes the first French agency partner of WordPress VIP.
Outlook & Future
But then, is this an end in itself? Of course not! The visionary spirit of the beginnings remains attentive to the market and recognizes the importance of changing the agency to meet new needs. « CIt is never frozen. We need to constantly evolve teams, processes, methodologies to adapt to customer problems and achieve our objectives.« . Thus, It is time to develop, with many ideas currently under construction – Yes, it's almost a teasing!
With regard to his feeling on the journey, a point of nostalgia arises when Amaury remembers the prosperous era of CMS. A period of rapid growth and a disruptive technical solution that would disrupt the market – a true « game change ». Today, with the success of WordPress worldwide and the breadth of its ecosystem, the challenge is different.
The challenge is to show that the added value comes not only from the tool, but also from the expertise that accompanies it, to create suitable solutions.
Amaury Balmer
Finally, beyond the commercial stakes, Amaury concludes on the aspect that is most important to him in terms of the journey: the exceptional human experience represented by the creation of WPFR, then Be API, which he describes as a true collective success.
« Over 15 years, more than 150 people have contributed to the Agency's success. It revealed vocations, created strong relationships and built beautiful stories. It is thanks to all these people that we have arrived where we are today."
A big thank you to Amaury for this interview!
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