CultivateWP
CultivateWP is a bootstrapped WordPress design and development studio that builds custom, Gutenberg-native themes and a suite of supporting plugins for high-traffic food bloggers and content creators, with $18,000-$25,000 project pricing and a portfolio of hundreds of clients.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersRichmond, VA, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What CultivateWP does
CultivateWP is a specialized WordPress design and development studio that builds custom websites for high-traffic, ad-supported content creators, with deep concentration in the food blogging vertical. The company's core offering is bespoke WordPress theme design and development priced at $18,000-$25,000 per project, with 6-10 week design-to-launch timelines. All work is built on a proprietary starter theme (Cultivate Pro) using a fully tokenized design system implemented through WordPress's theme.json configuration file, which creates a 1:1 mapping between design tokens and code. Themes are mobile-first, accessibility-compliant, SEO-optimized, designed to pass Core Web Vitals, and built natively on the Gutenberg block editor with backend-to-frontend WYSIWYG fidelity across pages, category archives, sidebars, after-post areas, and before-footer block areas.
The company monetizes through three primary streams: one-time custom theme projects ($18K-$25K), tiered branding services ($1K-$10K), and secondary site deployments to additional client websites ($5K each). Revenue is augmented by a Proactive Improvements service and on-demand Creative Support, both introducing recurring engagement beyond pure project work. CultivateWP also distributes a suite of free WordPress plugins (Cultivate Category Pages, Cultivate Video Pages, Cultivate RSS Builder, Cultivate Manual RSS, BE Media from Production, and the widely-installed Display Posts plugin with 100,000+ active installs) that support its ecosystem and serve as top-of-funnel marketing. The company is founder-led by Bill Erickson, headquartered in the Georgetown/Richmond area, bootstrapped with no external funding, operates with approximately 6 employees as a distributed team, and serves a client base of hundreds of food, lifestyle, travel, and other content creator blogs plus select institutional clients.
CultivateWP firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- CultivateWP
- Legal name
- CultivateWP
- Website
- https://cultivatewp.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- CultivateWP is a bootstrapped WordPress design and development studio that builds custom, Gutenberg-native themes and a suite of supporting plugins for high-traffic food bloggers and content creators, with $18,000-$25,000 project pricing and a portfolio of hundreds of clients.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
CultivateWP industry classification
Industry- Product category
- WordPress Web Design and Development Services
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming Services (7371), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Fan Communities & Subscription Content Platforms (Membership/Patronage) (BPAMAJAO)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Subscription Fan Membership Platforms (Paid Communities) (MPACAFAA)
Keywords
Where CultivateWP is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Richmond, VA
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
CultivateWP business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Custom WordPress Theme Development: Primary revenue stream. Custom themes for food bloggers and content creators. Most custom themes range from $18,000 to $25,000. Includes design, development, and launch support.
- Branding Services: Logo refinement ($1,000), Standard Brand Package ($4,000), and Full Brand Package ($10,000) offered alongside website redesigns.
- Secondary Site Launch: Deploy custom theme to additional websites owned by clients for $5,000 per site.
- WordPress Plugins: Free plugins available to support their ecosystem including Cultivate Category Pages, Cultivate Video Pages, Display Posts, and integration plugins for email services.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Multi-year contract | Custom WordPress Theme Development |
| One time/ perpetual license | Multi-year contract | Logo Refinement Package |
| One time/ perpetual license | Multi-year contract | Standard Brand Package |
| One time/ perpetual license | Multi-year contract | Full Brand Package |
| One time/ perpetual license | Multi-year contract | Secondary Site Launch |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels4 records
CultivateWP product offering
Product offeringCore offering
CultivateWP is a WordPress design and development studio that builds custom, mobile-first, accessible, SEO-optimized WordPress themes for high-traffic food bloggers and content creators, priced at $18,000–$25,000 per project. The company pairs these custom builds with tiered branding services, secondary site deployments, ongoing support plans, and a free ecosystem of proprietary WordPress plugins that extend Gutenberg and category-page functionality.
Product overview
CultivateWP is a specialized WordPress design and development studio focused on high-traffic, ad-supported content creators, primarily food bloggers. The core offering is custom WordPress theme design and development (priced at $18,000–$25,000), built on proprietary starter themes such as Cultivate Pro. All themes are fully tokenized through a theme.json design system, Gutenberg block editor-native, mobile-first, accessible, SEO-optimized, and designed to pass Core Web Vitals. The product ecosystem includes a suite of proprietary WordPress plugins: Cultivate Category Pages (category landing page curation), Cultivate Video Pages (video SEO, built with Raptive), Cultivate RSS Builder and Cultivate Manual RSS (custom curated feeds for MailChimp/ConvertKit email campaigns), Integrate Flodesk & WPForms, Integrate ConvertKit & WPForms, and BE Media from Production. Additional features are delivered as Gutenberg blocks: Post Listing Block, Save Recipe Block, Quick Links Block, As Seen In Block, Top Hat, Social Links Block, Seasonal Content Block, and Block Areas for global content management. The company also offers tiered branding services ($1,000–$10,000), ongoing Proactive Improvements and Creative Support, and Secondary Site Launch services ($5,000/site). The company recommends NerdPress, iMark Interactive, and SiteCare as third-party technical support partners.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Cultivate Category Pages: A WordPress plugin that allows users to convert standard WordPress categories into curated category landing pages with post-listing blocks, SEO-friendly text content, and calls to action.
- Cultivate Video Pages
- Display Posts
- BE Media from Production
- Cultivate RSS Builder
- Cultivate Manual RSS
Products and services
- Custom WordPress Theme Development Bespoke WordPress theme design and development for high-traffic, ad-supported content creators, primarily food bloggers. Custom themes are priced at $18,000–$25,000 with a 6–10 week design-to-launch timeline. Themes are mobile-first, accessible, SEO-friendly, fully Gutenberg block editor-native, and optimized for Core Web Vitals.
- Branding Services Logo and brand identity design services offered as add-ons alongside website redesigns. Three tiers: Logo Refinement ($1,000), Standard Brand Package ($4,000), and Full Brand Package ($10,000). Each tier includes a Style Guide with brand colors and typography, and the higher tiers include multiple wordmarks, illustrative logo concepts, graphical elements, and revision rounds.
- Secondary Site Launch
Quantifiable outcome
- Higher RPMs and increased email signups reported after redesign
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use CultivateWP
Customer profileNamed customers31 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
CultivateWP technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration13 records
Feature7 records
CultivateWP partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- BigScootscorePreferred WordPress managed hosting partner. Site launches work best with BigScoots which provides one-click deployments from staging to live, SSH access, and WP CLI access. BigScoots has built CultivateWP's BE Media from Production plugin directly into their staging environment creation process. BigScoots CEO Scott and team are personally endorsed by CultivateWP founder Bill Erickson.
- RocketcorePreferred WordPress managed hosting partner alongside BigScoots. Provides one-click deployments from staging to live, SSH access, and WP CLI access for seamless site launches.
- NerdPressminorRecommended technical support partner for ongoing site maintenance. Clients continue to use NerdPress for regular tech support, which escalates theme-related issues to CultivateWP if needed.
- iMark InteractiveminorRecommended technical support partner for ongoing site maintenance alongside NerdPress and SiteCare.
- SiteCareminorRecommended technical support partner. SiteCare states they are proud to partner with CultivateWP to provide best-in-class ongoing support for websites. SiteCare explicitly lists CultivateWP as a referring partner in their contact form.
- RaptivecoreWorked with Raptive (formerly AdThrive/Mediavine competitor) to build Cultivate Video Pages plugin that increases video discoverability and SEO value for recipe videos.
- WPFormscoreForm plugin used for Save Recipe block functionality. Default email solution for sending saved recipe links to users. Integrated with ConvertKit and Flodesk through CultivateWP plugins.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
CultivateWP competitors and assessment
Company assessmentOthers
- WPForms: WPForms is CultivateWP's default form solution and integrated email-marketing partner (with ConvertKit and Flodesk via Cultivate-built plugins). It is a complementary ecosystem partner rather than a competitor.
- BigScoots: BigScoots is CultivateWP's preferred managed WordPress hosting partner, with the BE Media from Production plugin integrated into its staging environment. It is an ecosystem/enabling partner rather than a direct competitor.
- Raptive (formerly Mediavine): Raptive is the ad-management partner CultivateWP co-built the Cultivate Video Pages plugin with and is a strategic ecosystem partner rather than a competitor. Its publisher base overlaps CultivateWP's customer base, making it a key channel and ecosystem player.
Direct peers
- Kadence WP: Kadence WP offers a Gutenberg-native WordPress theme and starter templates aimed at content creators and bloggers, with performance and design-system features that overlap CultivateWP's value proposition at a much lower price point.
- WP Tasty: WP Tasty (which absorbed the Foodie Pro / Feast Design Co product line) sells WordPress themes and plugins specifically targeted at food bloggers — the same primary vertical CultivateWP serves. It is the most directly comparable competitor in the food-blogger WordPress niche.
- Feast Design Co: Feast Design Co creates food-blogger-focused WordPress themes and design assets (originating from the Foodie Pro / Pinch of Yum line). It competes head-on with CultivateWP for the same food-blogger design and theme-build budget.
- GeneratePress: GeneratePress is a popular performance-oriented WordPress theme and plugin suite used widely by bloggers and content creators. It is a direct substitute at the lower-priced end of CultivateWP's market.
Broad incumbents
- Elementor: Elementor is a leading WordPress page builder used broadly across content sites, including food blogs. It overlaps with CultivateWP's Gutenberg-block-based editing value proposition as a broader, cheaper alternative for non-technical bloggers.
- WP Engine (StudioPress): WP Engine is a large, well-capitalized managed WordPress hosting platform that owns StudioPress and the Genesis theme framework. While it serves a broader WordPress market, it competes with CultivateWP for premium WordPress site-build budgets through its own theme and design ecosystem.
Emerging players
- ThemeIsle: ThemeIsle sells WordPress themes and plugins (including starter sites) targeted at bloggers and small businesses. It is a comparable mid-market competitor for bloggers seeking off-the-shelf themes rather than custom builds.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
CultivateWP social profiles
Digital presenceCultivateWP financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
CultivateWP leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
CultivateWP funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
CultivateWP M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about CultivateWP
What does CultivateWP do?
CultivateWP is a WordPress design and development studio that builds custom, mobile-first, accessible, SEO-optimized WordPress themes for high-traffic food bloggers and content creators, priced at $18,000–$25,000 per project. The company pairs these custom builds with tiered branding services, secondary site deployments, ongoing support plans, and a free ecosystem of proprietary WordPress plugins that extend Gutenberg and category-page functionality.
Is CultivateWP a public or private company?
CultivateWP is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was CultivateWP founded?
CultivateWP was founded in 2010. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is CultivateWP based?
CultivateWP is headquartered in Richmond, VA, United States, in the North America region.
How does CultivateWP make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Custom WordPress Theme Development is the primary driver. The others are branding Services, secondary Site Launch and wordPress Plugins.
Who are CultivateWP's main competitors?
Others on record are WPForms, BigScoots and Raptive (formerly Mediavine). Direct peers are Kadence WP, WP Tasty, Feast Design Co and GeneratePress. Broad incumbents are Elementor and WP Engine (StudioPress). ThemeIsle is listed as an emerging player.
Does CultivateWP have an API?
No public API is recorded for CultivateWP.
What industry is CultivateWP in?
CultivateWP's product category is WordPress Web Design and Development Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAJAO, Fan Communities & Subscription Content Platforms (Membership/Patronage), with a secondary code of MPACAFAA, Subscription Fan Membership Platforms (Paid Communities). Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7371.