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For long-form interviews, news, and commentary about the WordPress ecosystem. This is the companion show to The WP Minute, your favorite 5-minutes of WordPress news every week.
Matt Medeiros (00:00)
Matt Telfer, welcome to the WP Minute.
Matt Telfer (00:02)
Yeah, thank you. Thanks for having me.
Matt Medeiros (00:05)
Get the the legalities out of the way. 20i is a fantastic sponsor of the WP Minute. But I'd have this conversation with you anyway. You and I have been chatting off and on for quite some time and happy and delighted to finally have you on the podcast so we can learn a little bit a little bit more about who you are, what you do and what 20i is up to these days.
Matt Telfer (00:25)
Yeah, fantastic. Yeah, yeah, looking forward to get into it.
Matt Medeiros (00:29)
So 20i WordPress hosting, not just WordPress hosting, does a bunch of other hosting stuff. We're going to talk about that in a minute. But you are doing marketing for 20i. Tell us about your role at 20i. What's your day to day like?
Matt Telfer (00:43)
Yeah, sure. So I'm the marketing director here at 20i. Just from a personal perspective, I've been in the industry on and off for about 20 years now, give or take. So I got into hosting, let's say 20 years ago with a company called 123 Reg. Then I bounced around a few different companies. Sometimes we're posting, sometimes not, but it's one of those industries that every time you think you've left, you kind of get dragged back in again. And it's probably one of the...
Matt Medeiros (01:10)
You
Matt Telfer (01:13)
few industries where I've enjoyed the topic as much as marketing itself. It's an area that I've always found interesting. There's always something new going on. ⁓ As we're seeing every few years, it feels like new technology is coming out, new ideas coming out. ⁓ Just as an industry, not just ourselves, feels like they're pushing the boundaries in terms of what's possible, which obviously then benefits the customers.
So here at 20i my role is to manage a team, marketing communications, so just trying to sell the benefits and explain to people why they should come and host the 20i over all the various web hosts really if you get down to the nub of it.
Matt Medeiros (01:54)
Yeah.
Well, again, we'll keep talking about 20i, but I'm curious, ⁓ is there a sales team at 20i, and do you interface with that sales team? Like, what does that interaction look like? I'm always fascinated. mean, kind of, what I'll say, grew up in the tech space. My first job was at a hosting company many, many, many, years ago. And then I worked at a host for a few years in my more professional career.
I'm always curious about that interaction between like marketing, sales, product, especially at hosting companies. What does that look like if at all at 20?
Matt Telfer (02:29)
Yeah, we have a sales team. They primarily deal with inbound inquiries, so whether that's a phone or chat or email. And then yeah, they just help guide prospective customers through the various solutions we've got. I think the great thing about this team is they're very honest.
you'll sometimes even hear them say, that might be too much, you don't need to spend that much, you don't need that where you are right now, you might grow into that, we can always upgrade later. I'm very open about that and yeah, obviously we want people to come through the door but we want people to stay as well and I think if you come in and buy something that's unusually expensive or overpowered, I think you soon get very dissatisfied with what you've got, you realise that pretty fast so yeah, we definitely...
have a culture of doing right by the customer. That then definitely is reflected by the way the sales team behave. But we were very close together in terms of what you call marketing communication sales.
we will support them with assets that they might need in terms of information, how to position the product, to help sell the product as well. But then also equally works that we would get feedback from them, any roadblocks or any concerns that customers have, how we can then either address that from a communications perspective, also how can we make the product better. Because that day, along with the support team are obviously at the call face dealing with people directly in a way that actually our sales and marketing occasions
It's not in terms of direct communication. We have a feedback form which we use extensively and we get lot of feedback from customers. With that back and forth we don't have that. So yeah, we do lean a lot on the sales team to help us in that area as well.
Matt Medeiros (04:17)
Obviously, AI is a huge topic. I'm trying not to front load all of my conversations with AI because we can go down a million different paths. But I'm curious how marketing has evolved for you because you've seen a lot. You've been in the industry for a while. You know, I know, you know, again, so many lovely ⁓ hosting companies support the WP Minute. I know how challenging and how competitive the space is.
I'm curious from your point of view with 20i, is it still pay-per-click ads, the number one? Is it word of mouth? Like how have things evolved for you, if at all, in the marketing game? Then we could talk about how AI has impacted it. I guess what works for you, what's the tried and true marketing for you? Because I think maybe a lot of people listening to this, they might be running an agency, they might be running a service or a plugin for WordPress. ⁓
And sometimes we get ahead of ourselves. start thinking like, okay, this old thing doesn't work anymore. This tried and true thing doesn't work anymore. Now we're onto this nice shiny object. Just curious from your standpoint, does the old stuff still work or are you onto cutting edge stuff these days?
Matt Telfer (05:27)
I think the old thing still definitely works. So from our perspective, the two biggest drivers for traffic and then sales are organic search and ⁓ paid search, which basically means Google, you're being honest about it. So yeah, so PPC, organic search, that's where we invest most of our time. We are seeing the impact of AI and we are adapting to that. So the best example.
of that is where we had that traditional approach of we have a blog that has informational content so how do I do this, how do I do that, it's related to direct related to hosting or even guides about running a business or even for freelancers and agencies.
We have seen a drop off in traffic to that informational content because Google is answering that in the AI overview. And even when we are the primary source of information that Google's scraping, obviously nobody's then clicking through because the answer's been given even when you've written it. So we are changing our strategy around the kind of content we're creating already on the back of that. And we are seeing the benefits of having done that already. We are seeing an uplift in what we want
to see. So that's really positive. So I would say right now, you don't want to throw everything out because like I said, they're showing you objects, but you definitely have to start evolving and working your way towards what probably is going to be the new normal in the coming years, definitely.
Matt Medeiros (07:02)
Yeah, I think it's more, you know, I know I'm biased and you're one of my sponsors, but I think it's more partnerships like this that's gonna work for everyone. Like I think whether it's, you know, paid sponsorship or just like doing more podcasts and at the end of the day being more human, ⁓ you know, because I think that when all of our, like everyone's traffic is down and like, so how do you get exposure from other human beings?
without the robots involved, right? you know, if we're just creating content for the LLMs to consume and just to spit it out on somebody's, like, terminal, you know, when they're getting questions answered, because now all we're doing is looking at text. It's kind of funny how we've gone back in time when the internet started. It was just text.
You know, and now, and then, and then it was like a 15 inch monitor and everyone was like, my God, look at this thing, you know, and then it went up to these huge monitors and now we're back down to phones and we're back down to looking at just text again. It's a wild ride. Anyway, the point is, is I think more human interaction. ⁓ You know, I know you and I have have talked in the past that when you go to events or maybe some events just aren't the target market for for 20i.
⁓ I'm curious, like, what does human interaction look like to you throughout the rest of 2026 and beyond? Or am I not thinking about this ⁓ properly, like, what human connection might mean to a hosting brand?
Matt Telfer (08:30)
No, I think it's a good point. think, think,
yeah, certainly when you can add, they said that we serve as human interaction and credibility and original thought. think those are three increasingly important things for brands. ⁓
So if you can provide value, think yeah, probably providing original value I think is a key thing for brands in certainly where things are going. So whether that's supporting a community or an event or providing original insights, whether that's data or surveys and then sharing that out with the community. I think they are gonna become increasingly important. And I think also just...
Yeah, being seen to be real, that's human element. So when you sponsor an event and then you can then turn up and meet people, I think some of the best times we've had actually is when we go to an event in person and the mix of people coming over asking who you are and just wanting to have a chat and then finding out more and then explaining what we're about. But also when existing customers come over and just, oh, hey, know, I'm with 20i and...
They might be in this for five years and this is the first time we've actually seen a human face because historically web hosting can be a very faceless industry. ⁓ And that's really positive and they walk away feeling great and we walk away feeling great as well. So I think adding real value and credibility is definitely going be key going forward.
Matt Medeiros (10:03)
Yeah. Many, well, I think probably about a year ago when we first chatted about sponsorship and I was learning a little bit more about what 20i does and how you operate. You mentioned something and forgive me because I forget the details, but in the UK, things are just different, I think you said, with with hosting. ⁓ Was it something to do with with Brexit? I am I getting this wrong? Is there something unique in the hosting industry in the UK where you're based?
Can you explain that? if I'm totally getting this wrong, we can just cut this from the podcast. But I think you said there was something different. ⁓
Matt Telfer (10:41)
No, I've got a memory like a goldfish, we might have had a really in-depth and lightening conversation about this and it's completely gone from me as well to be honest with you. In terms of differences between the UK market and US market, because we do have the data center in the US and in Dallas and then also in terms of kind of satellite data centers in Miami and LA. ⁓ I think that there are...
There obviously are differences in terms of what people expect from their web host. We tend to find that...
in the US they want not quite a turnkey as in do everything for me but they definitely want a bit more business support or help getting set up whereas in UK I think and maybe it's just culturally it's just leave it leave me to it I'll crack on and I'll kind of find my way through the weeds if I need to think that those are two broad kind of differences between the two but they're also quite a lot in common to be honest with you the fundamentals are the same they want fast websites reliable platform good value for money great customer support
and fast loading websites. I think that doesn't mean that's the way you go, I think those are always the fundamentals.
Matt Medeiros (11:48)
Yeah.
Yeah. All right. can we can chat about AI. I'll finally allow us to talk about it a little bit here. I mean, obviously just a massive headline with AI and like how it's impacting everything. ⁓ know, my theory and we don't have to unpack this yet is my theory is hosting companies might actually be better positioned with AI in the future, especially as these models get ⁓
faster and smaller ⁓ to locally host. Like imagine if your very powerful LLM model was the size of a WordPress plugin and you could just upload it to your site and it did things for you, whatever that thing might be. ⁓ I think hosts might be in a great position to be like, hey, we'll host your LLM for your business. Like maybe in the future, every business has a specialized LLM for their business that just lives up in their hosting provider. ⁓
That's my crazy theory, we don't have to unpack that one. But how have you seen AI impact ⁓ business or customer expectations first and foremost? Are people coming to you going, hey, I can design this site with my favorite LLM and your support team is going, whoa, whoa, we can't support you doing all of this stuff without some kind of structure here. How has it impacted 20i so far?
Matt Telfer (13:17)
we haven't seen that to be fair. This year we launched our own AI assistant that we call 20. ⁓ And that has been, it's been fascinating to see it roll out and be used because there's always a little bit of apprehension when you launch something so fundamental and what you hope is going to be success and you hope it's going to achieve certain goals for customers. then when you release it to the wild, is it then going to do that or?
our expectations too high for it but what we didn't want was just a simple bot which basically brings back answers from our knowledge base because we have a knowledge base, a searchable knowledge base just...
putting an AI wrapper on it or giving it the little stars logo which all the AI have or making everything purple doesn't add any value. So what we wanted was a genuine AI tools which would, yeah, okay, it can answer your question, but also it can look at code and tell you where you've gone wrong. It can write copy for you if you want to. It can come with ideas for new domain names. can actually query the data about your accounts or how much bandwidth did you use this month? How did that compare to last month or last year or two years ago? Things like that.
and it's been really great to see the kind of feedback we've got on on 20 which has been super positive but also even when
as with anything that people have kind of hit dead ends because it's ours. We've been able to go and fix it. We're not having to go over to a third party and say, hey, these are our problems. And then waiting six months to a year for them get around to it because we own it and we developed it. And the team that works on it, six in the same office as I do, as support, as the sales team, as sysadmin, it's great because then literally within...
within hours, it's a simple thing, or days, if it's more complex, it's updated. ⁓ So that's been probably the great thing that it's just freed up time for our customers. It's enabled them to do more and faster. But also just from an internal process and resource. So if the customer's got a question, which...
they can go to AI and get the answer for. That means that our support team is dealing with more complex problems and they can spend more time on that and that helps that customer. The other customer's got a fairly straightforward question, gets the answer straight away. So that's been great to see as well. I think it's just speed and efficiency and accuracy and hopefully more productivity of things, what we've seen so far in terms of the use of AI.
Matt Medeiros (15:55)
Yeah. Have you been? Well, has the support team been using it for even that frontline support? Like, I've got a question. How do I reset my password? Is it serving up those types of answers ⁓ or is it getting connected to a human straight away when somebody somebody chats?
Matt Telfer (16:14)
Yes, the way we've done it is, the first attempt will be the AI and honestly more often than not it gives the answer but then there's always like I said, always those edge cases where ⁓ either the answer isn't quite right or...
it simply doesn't know the answer to it because it's an edge case and then we'll always then connect them with a human and straight away they'll be on it. So yeah, just hopefully just covers that 80 % which has been asked many many times and then the human will deal with the 20 % with that kind of old 80-20 rule where 20 % which needs, it's a bit more complex and needs a kind of human brain still to get involved.
Matt Medeiros (16:53)
Yeah, that's not the genesis of the 20i name, is it?
Matt Telfer (16:55)
No, no. remember asking
about that when I first joined. don't think there's actually much logic behind it, be honest with think it was just a box in someone's head, a half-suspect's wise way, it's a holding name and then it just never got changed. Yeah, yeah, so...
Matt Medeiros (17:10)
Yeah, it was like the dot com was available. there's okay. Let's just let's just
use it. ⁓ That's awesome. ⁓ WordPress. ⁓ A lot of hosts start to lean into doing things like having a tailored WordPress experience ⁓ with their hosting. I believe and correct me if I'm wrong. ⁓ 20i has just a standard stock WordPress experience. We're not building anything extra into.
WordPress at 20i, I have that correct, right?
Matt Telfer (17:42)
I would have to create that slightly. So we have a built in caching technology that we call stack cache. And then yeah, it definitely sits on its own platform, which is optimized for WordPress. So I think we're very keen to emphasize that it's not just a one click install on a Linux server. It's way more than that. But we know we don't have the branded experience. We've not gone and messed around with that. Some will have, yeah.
Matt Medeiros (18:08)
Yeah.
Curious though, if AI and the 20AI product or feature ⁓ will, if there's anything that maybe you've discussed internally that maybe we can actually start to leverage this to have some kind of more interactive experience with WordPress or maybe quickly talk to ⁓ the 20Chat bot and say, hey, I want a WordPress site.
I want it to be for my plumbing business with a contact page and a services page of all my services. Is that in the cards at all? Are those things that you all discuss internally and maybe AI helps accelerate that? Both for your own development and for the customer.
Matt Telfer (18:51)
Yeah, we've definitely had conversations and it's certainly something we've explored. I think we don't feel it's quite there yet where our target audience are probably more advanced intermediate users. So people who at least know how to edit existing code or even code from a blank page or certainly how to use WordPress at a good level. really, I'd say our audience...
are less likely to want those almost WYSIWYG style builder tools that the AI, like I say, it's more text-based and click, drag and drop, but it's kind of the WYSIWYG mentality. So our resellers, so a big part of our business is reseller hosting.
So we have customers who then sell hosting, their end users certainly, there's definitely a use case there depending on who their target audience is. And yeah, we are looking at how we can potentially without making any promises because our customers start thinking this is around the corner, we're only weeks away, that definitely isn't the case. But yeah, it's certainly something we're looking into because I think it'd also be wrong for us not to. think what, again, I was going say.
Obviously marketing director 20i so I'm not going to say otherwise but one of the great things about 20i and I have got experience working at web hosts so can say this confidently because the culture is to build things in-house and have proprietary technology and software but also we are genuinely always looking for new opportunities to add more value and we are very keen to stay at the forefront of technologies not from ego's perspective just simply because it helps our customers and that honestly is the culture within 20i so
Yeah, it's a separate conversation because I think it'd be remiss not to do that.
Matt Medeiros (20:41)
Yeah, I do want to talk about your best customer avatar for 20i. Lots of agency owners in the audience, lots of freelancers in the audience. When I started my agency, I was leaving the ISP that I worked for, so we're just a small little regional ISP, small hosting, mean, maybe a thousand hosting sites, maybe more, I forget. But we were small, we were just regional.
One of the first things I did in my agency was I'm going to get me a reseller account. Now, remember, this is 20 years ago, 22 years ago. Right. So reseller hosting back then was just the worst. And I was like, I don't know, like I'm going to. You know, I had hosting experience. mean, I ran the servers. I ran two cpanel servers at my job. And then I was like, ⁓ I started to explore the larger side of hosters hosting companies.
Matt Telfer (21:19)
Okay.
Yeah.
Matt Medeiros (21:39)
So I got a reseller and of course it was the worst. You know, it one of those things like I'm paying as little as possible because I just started this business and I'm trying to put every customer on it. How has reseller hosting evolved and is that, ⁓ I mean you've said it, it's one of your primary customer avatars. The WP Minute, we have our course for hosting. We talk about picking great hosts and how to turn like that cost of hosting into profit for an agency. So just unpack like.
Matt Telfer (21:46)
Yeah.
Matt Medeiros (22:07)
For an agency owner, is the reseller route at 20i the best play for them to build a book of business of hosting, or do you look at it differently at 20i for the WordPress agency owner?
Matt Telfer (22:19)
no, think from my perspective, think that hosting your client's website just always feels like a no brainer to me. I think it's a chance to have recurring revenue. It's a chance to have recurring relationship. So rather than it being a one-off project that then maybe they'll come back in two or three years time and think of you rather than going off and doing the research again or that team changes and they've been forgotten who the original agency was. think keeping that connection if nothing else is so important for future work.
Just going back to your point though, that there are still plenty of examples of
a certain type of reseller hosting, which is still the same experience I think you had 20 years ago. So I think, I don't know if I've done too much on the web host, but I think single server based reseller hosting is really setting yourself for problems in the medium to long term, where you've got very, very specific and potentially very limiting resources available.
licensing costs are going to go up a lot ⁓ with that as well, but also you're to hit a brick wall very fast in terms of what your customers can and can't do. And the whole noisy neighbor, I think is a real thing on single server where one site becomes a raising success, which then takes down everybody else as well because the whole server can't cope with that one site. So I think that type of reseller hosting, yeah, I can see why people would be think twice about wanting to do that and the hassles that come with that. And then also just to kind of pitch 20 either that we do things differently.
we
have the whole kind of, ⁓ you're hosted across the entire platform rather than one single server and things like that. think without wanting to turn to sales pitch, think you just do the research on the kind of platform that the reseller has, not just how much it costs because cheap and good value are two completely different things.
Matt Medeiros (24:18)
Yeah. ⁓ Are these your own servers that you have in data centers? Are you building your own clusters or some of the technology, AWS, Google Cloud, et cetera? What's the mix, if at all, ⁓ with your services?
Matt Telfer (24:35)
Well, for the reseller hosting, that is exclusively ours. So everything is ours from the web platform, FTP, databases, ⁓ email platform, which we've completely built our own email platform as well, which the resellers can then sell as well. ⁓ We do have a product called Managed Cloud Servers, does have, so you can buy AWS and a Google Cloud and then our own 20i Cloud.
which has our software layer on top in terms of the control panel. But from the reseller hosting perspective, yes, it's all 20 I owned and operated and run.
Matt Medeiros (25:12)
Yeah, that's fantastic. How, if at all, do you think of the reseller versus ⁓ the agency owner? you, is your marketing different? Are they two different? Well, let me back it up. Are most resellers these days agency owners or are they folks that are trying to put up like a virtual landing page that makes them look like a hosting provider?
I'm trying to remember back in the day when I did that, there was a ton of people that I know who started off with reseller hostings and they were like, know, Matt's hosting dot com. And it's just like, no, you're not really a host. You're just doing resellers. Is the prime target the agency owner? Is that what you're seeing? Or do you actually see people rolling up, ⁓ you know, a brand that looks like a host, but they're actually reselling you?
Matt Telfer (26:04)
yeah, we have both. yes, have agencies and freelancers who are hosting client sites, but we also have people who use us to help start their own business, which is great to see, what we call white-label web hosts. So some are very open saying, we use 20 guys platform. Some want to white-label everything. And then,
sell their services but using us as the platform to power that which is great to see. We have a mix of some startups to small to medium to actually some quite large companies as well which use us essentially to power their business and we've got all the tools behind the scenes to help them do that so yeah quite a good mix actually it's great. In terms of the marketing yeah we do differentiate so
Matt Medeiros (26:52)
Yeah.
Matt Telfer (26:56)
From an agent's perspective, they want to know beyond the reliability and speed, but just how easy it is to manage multiple client sites without just that being a complete hassle. And then from the web host's perspective, just the white label features, the customer control panel that we provide for them to pass on to their clients is a key thing. yeah, I think beyond the kind of fundamentals, then the features, they definitely want to know the different things.
Matt Medeiros (27:22)
Yeah, you mentioned earlier that we have ⁓ the ⁓ caching plugin or technology that you build into WordPress sites. ⁓ I was in the control panel the other day looking around and testing things. We have all the stuff that an agency owner or freelancer needs to obviously install WordPress, manage WordPress, ⁓ staging and cloning, which is still to this day.
One of the things that I see some brands not doing right, it's just like, it's great to see that we have that and we're thinking about those types of technologies. I guess at the end of the day, what are the shining tools that you often either market or hear from customers where they're like, thankfully we have this in the control panel or is there anything new coming that's specific to WordPress or coming soon-ish that you can talk about?
that's coming to WordPress to make that experience better. What's the standout features for you?
Matt Telfer (28:16)
I think one of the big things that also helps differentiate us from some of the web hosts is that we have a fully featured and functional WordPress manager built into My20i. So it's an easy interface to manage multiple WordPress sites and the plugins, the themes, the users, to then log into every single one. We're currently in process of redesigning that based on customer feedback. So in the coming...
weeks, when this goes out. Just a complete overhauled UI on that, which we're really, excited about. Yeah, like you mentioned, staging the cloning. Blueprints. So if you, and this is a great thing for resellers or certain agencies, that if you find that you're constantly adding the same plugins to every single website, whether it's a Yoast or a, what am Contact Form 7, things like that.
the usual suspects, run them to do it manually every single time, just create it once and essentially the blueprint you can then just one click and it'll just install all those for you including any themes that you use regularly as well. So I think yeah, we're definitely really proud of our WordPress platform and the supporting features that come with it and we've always got an eye on again, what can we do more, what can we do next.
What can we add? ⁓ So I'd say that if any of our customers are listening to or watching this, that feedback for me in my 20i is so key to what we do as a business. would say nine out of 10 things that you see on 20i has come back from a customer asking for it or saying, I like this, but what more of it? I don't like this, can you do it differently? I want to see that you don't do it at the moment. They are all read by our directors and the owners and a lot then turn up in our development pipeline. ⁓
So yeah, just keep it coming, it's working really well.
Matt Medeiros (30:16)
Yeah,
yeah, no, that's fantastic to hear that because oftentimes, know, feedback forms go nowhere, number one. And even when they are read, it's like, OK, great feature, but we're never, you know, we're never going to launch that. So or great idea. We're never going to launch that. But it's great to hear that, you know, of a brand that is, you know, obviously paying attention to their customer. Again, one of the things that I think that we're all going to have to do in this new age of of AI and so much competition and so much, you know,
Matt Telfer (30:23)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Matt Medeiros (30:45)
speed to market. And I think your tooling ⁓ is a testament to that. Again, at the WP Minute, we have the ⁓ Hosting Decoded course, How to Choose the Right WordPress Host ⁓ for Your Agency. And all of my sponsors here at the WP Minute, I know them. I don't do sponsorship without having conversations and understanding the business. We only recommend the hosts that I think and my team thinks are doing things right. And I think 20i is doing things right.
⁓ And I think that one of the things if you're, you know, watching and listening to this, you're not a customer yet, you haven't tried them out. ⁓ You know, take the course, understand how we position ⁓ WordPress hosting and making those right decisions, and then check out what 20i does. And if it's a fit for your business, because not every host is a fit for everyone's business, if it's a fit for your business, check out the control panel, check out the tooling, and number one, check out the support. That's where we're all moving these days. We all need to be
Matt Telfer (31:15)
Good day.
Matt Medeiros (31:45)
more efficient ⁓ with our time, with our blueprints, checking off blueprints, launching this for the customer, okay, let's go, let's move on to the next step, let's get value into that customer's hands, and then you just rely on 20i for that support. If something goes wrong, you rely on 20i for that support, you rely for that uptime, et cetera. So, ⁓ yeah, just all around check out 20i. ⁓ As we wrap up here, Matt, we were talking the other day.
I was like, do you ever go down to ⁓ the WordPress meetup down in London? And as an American, were like, you were funny because it was like as an American, you look at it go, two, three hours, no big deal. But for us in the UK, it might feel like, you know, we're changing, you know, many, time zones here. ⁓ I still haven't gone to the UK. I work with a few folks who are in the UK at my day job at Gravity Forms.
Matt Telfer (32:27)
anything.
Matt Medeiros (32:39)
I want to go, I might go for a podcast event that's happening in May, ⁓ maybe. ⁓ But ⁓ what's it like? What's it like in the UK when you say it's like, two hours, we're not going to make that trek? Is that a cultural thing? What's that like in the UK?
Matt Telfer (32:56)
Well I'd say there's almost two UKs really. You've got London ⁓ and that feels almost like separate, almost an island. So I think when a lot of people come across something from America and go to London and say, I love the UK, I love the UK, you love London. And it is a fantastic city but it's a very different experience from scale. And I'm not saying it suddenly becomes something like Game of Thrones where it suddenly falls off a cliff and anything crazy like that.
Matt Medeiros (33:19)
Ha ha!
Matt Telfer (33:21)
So I'm from, just to clear any UK listeners, I'm from Yorkshire so I'm very proud Yorkshire man. So, but it's very different. ⁓ So I've been to America a few times and yeah, the distance between places, I think certainly the first time really blew my mind that...
The best example is we went a of a road trip and went to the Grand Canyon and then we got to the entrance of the Grand Canyon. So in the UK that means you're at most half a mile a mile away from your destination. We were still driving three hours later and we hadn't got to where we needed to go. And I think we're all just kind of looking at each other, we must have got lost, but no, it's just a big country. ⁓ So I think that's the difference. think, yeah, we're very, anything that's more than half an hour away feels like, okay, this requires effort.
Matt Medeiros (34:06)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's
hilarious. I wish everything was, but you guys have, you know, public transportation. You have trains that go everywhere. In the US, we don't. It's maddening. ⁓ I have a friend in the podcasting space who is also in England, and ⁓ Cookham England, Cookham England? I don't know how you would say it, but I guess it's a, as my colleagues say, it's a very posh part.
Matt Telfer (34:14)
Yes.
Matt Medeiros (34:33)
of the country and he used to own a radio station. ⁓ it's funny to hear him talk about where he lives and they all do, man, it's paddle. So I guess paddle is a very.
Matt Telfer (34:34)
Yeah.
Matt Medeiros (34:49)
And he always talks that his village has a whole paddle tournament that they do And I was like yes very very very Sam Sethy of you to you know it's of course to have a paddle tournament for your your village, so ⁓ Yeah, I can't wait to get over. I'm gonna get over there soon ⁓ and ⁓ Experience experience what I what I look at as the Hollywood of of UK I would love to just walk out of my house go to a little pub down the street
Matt Telfer (34:55)
Right.
Matt Medeiros (35:19)
Just feels like it would be great compared to here. It's to be exciting.
Matt Telfer (35:23)
It is nice, that's where
I grew up in a very small village and it's a tiny village but we had four pubs so it's definitely a thing out here. If you drive long enough you'll definitely find a village with ⁓ nice cosy pubs definitely.
Matt Medeiros (35:38)
Yeah.
Yeah. Then, of course, there's like the hot fuzz movie concept that I have in my head ⁓ of the UK, which is which is pretty funny. ⁓ Matt Telfer, 20i. Thanks for hanging out today. Thanks for sharing more about what 20i is up to, what you're up to ⁓ at 20i, what your day to day looks like ⁓ as marketing director. We really appreciate it here at the WP Minute.
Matt Telfer (35:45)
No.
Yeah.
Matt Medeiros (36:07)
Where can folks go to say thanks? Where do want them to visit? What do you want them to click on?
Matt Telfer (36:12)
I think yeah, just check us out. Just come to 20i.com, have a look at our hosting solutions, get in contact if you've got any questions. Yeah, we're really proud of our platform, really proud of our support team. Yeah, definitely have a look at G2 Trust Pilot and see what everyone says about us. And yeah, see if it's a good fit for you.
Matt Medeiros (36:37)
Awesome, thanks so much Matt. For the listeners, go to thewpminute.com, check out the hosting course. You can just click on courses up top. 20i is a fantastic sponsor of the hosting decoded course. If you're curious, turn your hosting costs into profits for your freelancer agency or you're just like, hey, I wanna show something to my customer. Here's how you pick a great web host. Have them take the course completely free, thanks to sponsors like 20i.
and then check out 20i for all of your hosting needs. We'll see you in the next episode.