What happens at Prestige Conference Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas…or does it?

 

Now, don’t worry, we won’t spill details about things that happened after the After Party. But we do want to share some highlights from the conference for those that couldn’t make it or those that are wondering what to expect at the next event in Minneapolis this August.

You can verify that our memories aren’t too fuzzy by cross-checking our story with these other great Prestige recaps:

• Exceeding Expectations - Return attendee Jennifer Bourn of Bourn Creative
• A Small Business Perspective - First-time attendee Wes Chyrchel, Web Business Coach & Developer
• A Prestigious Affair You Shouldn’t Miss - First-time attendee Dre Armeda of WebDevStudios
• The Good, Bad, & Amazing - Speaker Chris Lema of Crowd Favorite
• World of WordPress Developers in One Weekend - First-time attendee Russell Aaron of Geek Street WP
• Prestige Conference Las Vegas 2015 - Return attendee James Dalman of Happy Joe
• Photos from Mendel Kurland of GoDaddy
• More photos from Aaron Hockley of Hockley Photography

Friday Night Product Panel

Our Friday night product panel included Andrew Norcross of Reaktiv Studios, Cory Miller of iThemes, and Ben Fox of Sidekick.pro, moderated by Jake Goldman of 10up.

 

It’s easy for us to be biased about our own event, so we pulled some Twitter highlights to share instead.

“How many customers exist for WordPress products?” @jakemgold “Enough to sustain really good businesses.” @corymiller303 #PrestigeConf — David Bisset (@dimensionmedia) February 28, 2025

.@norcross on his partnership w/ @studiopress & @newrainmaker - “They’re good at marketing.” Smart thinking bout distribution. #PrestigeConf — Chris Lema (@chrislema) February 28, 2025

“The lowest-common-denominator customer is always me” - @corymiller303 #PrestigeConf pic.twitter.com/8kbiumelkZ — bro(ton)grammer (@joshbroton) February 28, 2025

“I’m all about the money because that’s how we keep employing people that love to work in WordPress.” @corymiller303 #PrestigeConf

— David Bisset (@dimensionmedia) February 28, 2025

“We spent $200k (money & time) in 12 months before we made our first $1.” @benjaminefox #PrestigeConf pic.twitter.com/aSScdqCHC9 — David Bisset (@dimensionmedia) February 28, 2025

Saturday: Tons of Great Sessions

We kicked off Saturday with a unique perspective from John Hawkins of 9seeds and Kim Schaefer of Downtown Project. Hearing both perspectives from developer and client led to some fantastic discussion and questions from the audience.

 

An interesting question raised by the discussion at #prestigeConf: how do you best engage busy clients to provide feedback and approvals?

— Vasken Hauri (@vaskenhauri) February 28, 2025

“We aren’t JUST WordPress Developers” @vegasgeek Yep, we’re problem solvers & solution makers. It’s not just code & websites #PrestigeConf — Michelle Schulp (@marktimemedia) February 28, 2025

April Downing, CFO of WP Engine, has raised over $200 million in capital throughout her career. She gave a great talk on options to to fund your business.

 

60% of bootstrapped startups start with less than $10,000. @aprildowning1 #PrestigeConf

— Ben Fox (@benjaminefox) February 28, 2025

In the #WordPress world we should be looking at 5-8 times annual rev as valuation for your #startup - @aprildowning1 #PrestigeConf — Bart Dabek (@Bartdabek) February 28, 2025

Pippin Williamson of Pippin’s Plugins & Easy Digital Downloads was interviewed by Jake Goldman on his place in the WordPress marketplace.

 

Talk 3 w/ @pippinsplugins: Integrations with other products. Know your market, builders, and niche. #PrestigeConf pic.twitter.com/0OZyVgaMxw

— Be Lee (@StudioBeLee) February 28, 2025

In the add-on model, building features that are cool, don’t sell. building features people need, sell really well. #PrestigeConf — James Giroux (@jamesgiroux) February 28, 2025

Brad Williams of WebDevStudios addressed those looking to move from freelancer to agency. His talk was “Hiring Employee #1.”

 

Talk4: “Remote (workers) is about trust & communication. It really comes down to trust.” @williamsba #PrestigeConf pic.twitter.com/fcXjDmwfU0

— Be Lee (@StudioBeLee) February 28, 2025

“Attitude as important as skill… I know great devs who always think they’re right, they know everything” @williamsba on hiring #PrestigeConf — Jake Goldman (@jakemgold) February 28, 2025

Stop Sucking at Accounting was the message Brianna Norcross of Balance Virtual shared at Prestige. And she totally nailed it.

 

“If you can’t afford basic business fees, raise your rates. otherwise, it’s not a business. It’s a hobby” @sarcasmically at #PrestigeConf

— Norcross (@norcross) February 28, 2025

Love this analogy via @sarcasmically “Double entry accounting is like Newton’s 3rd Law-every action needs an equal reaction.” #prestigeconf — christopher carfi (@ccarfi) February 28, 2025

John Eckman of 10up took the stage to share his “Tales from the CMS Wars” and provided great insight on the enterprise side of WordPress.

 

.@jeckman‘s hard hitting slide on enterprise perception of #WordPress: lots of words w/lots of truth #PrestigeConf pic.twitter.com/qFNYcLm9cr

— Michelle Schulp (@marktimemedia) February 28, 2025

Enterprise CMSs are marketed with a solution-first approach. WordPress (even at scale) tends to take a tech-first approach #prestigeConf — Vasken Hauri (@vaskenhauri) February 28, 2025

To round out the day, Chris Lema of Crowd Favorite took the stage to discuss “Why Here, Why Now?” in an interview with Jake Goldman.

 

“Shares and equity stakes are worthless. Sharing that with you all here so you don’t have to learn this.” @chrislema #PrestigeConf

— David Bisset (@dimensionmedia) March 1, 2025

Overwhelming to think of the learning potential about business, WordPress, & WordPress business when you attend @PrestigeConf #PrestigeConf — Rich Robinkoff (@rkoffy) March 1, 2025

We received overwhelmingly positive feedback for the event and the content our speakers presented. Thank you to all of the attendees, speakers, sponsors, and volunteers that made Prestige Conference a success!