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title = "100.000 plugin downloads in under 6 months - Mailchimp for WordPress"
date = 2013-12-06 10:46:58

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<img src="/media/2013/danny-in-hospital-saigon.jpg" alt="Me in FV Hospital, Saigon." width="300" height="300" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-3916" />
<em>Mailchimp for WordPress just broke through the 100.000 downloads mark. Less than 6 months ago, I wrote the first lines of code for it from a hospital bed in Vietnam..</em>

<h3>It started with "a cute appendicitis"</h3>
6 months ago I was in Vietnam and not feeling well. I went to see a (Vietnamese) doctor who ran some tests and then told me I had acute appendicitis, which I repeatedly mistook for "a cute appendicitis" due to his funny accent. :)

A few hours later my appendix was removed in surgery - I have a photo but I will spare you the details.

The next week I was on a lot of painkillers, bored and sleeping the days away in my hospital bed. The room was better than the hostels I had been staying in and a team of nurses was taking great care of me (and asking me to marry them, but that's another story). I was actually enjoying my time in the hospital.

<h3>First lines of code</h3>
A Dutch friend brought me flowers and my laptop - gold. I couldn't be more excited, after all I would have plenty of time to work on that idea I had for a new plugin.

I started playing around (coding) and a few days later, the first version of <a href="https://www.mc4wp.com/">Mailchimp for WordPress</a> was available for download from the WordPress.org plugin repository. It didn't do much besides adding a sign-up checkbox to your registration and comment forms but it was enough to have users provide me with valuable feedback. :)

From there, I iterated on a weekly basis, continuously improving the plugin, adding new features and smashing bugs. I built a premium version as well, which allowed me to spend more time on this and several other plugins.

<a href="https://www.mc4wp.com/"><img src="/media/2013/100k-downloads.png" alt="100discount" width="400" height="225" class="alignright size-full wp-image-3923" /></a>

<h3>100.000 plugin downloads!</h3>
Today, barely 6 months later the plugin <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/Mailchimp-for-wp/stats/">has been downloaded</a> over <strong>100.000 times</strong>, I can't be more happy about that. It was well received by the WordPress community and the <a href="https://wordpress.org/support/view/plugin-reviews/Mailchimp-for-wp">plugin reviews</a> reflect that - thanks everyone.

<a href="https://wordpress.org/support/view/plugin-reviews/Mailchimp-for-wp"><img src="/media/2013/75-plugin-reviews.png" alt="reviews" width="300" height="116" class="size-medium wp-image-3917" /></a>

I learned a ton and really enjoyed every minute I spent on the plugin.

My mind is buzzing with ideas so I'll definitely be focusing on developing more and better plugins in 2014. If you like to stay in touch: <a href="https://twitter.com/dannyvankooten">follow me on Twitter</a> or <a href="#mc4wp-form-1">subscribe to the newsletter</a> I send out occasionally.

<em>PS. Starting in February I will be doing my graduation internship at a company most (if not all) of you know, more about that later. :D </em>
