Fueled

AI is changing how developers work, and that can create real uncertainty about craft, contribution, and long-term growth. In LeadDev’s article, Managing the AI-driven developer identity crisis, Christian Chung, Senior Director of AI Enablement at Fueled, shares how he is helping teams navigate that shift by treating AI as a collaborator, not a replacement. His perspective is clear: what matters most is not who typed the code, but how well the solution is architected, how robust and secure it is, and whether it solves the right problem. He also shares how individualized roadmaps can help developers build confidence with AI through practical, incremental progress. https://lnkd.in/g2tPpssn

90% of North Star Metrics are just vanity metrics wearing better branding. Not because teams don’t care. Not because running the NSM workshop is not valuable. But because they pick something that sounds important… instead of something that actually drives behavior. I see this all the time. A team says their North Star is: “Monthly active users” “App downloads” “Traffic” Those aren’t North Stars. Those are scoreboards. They tell you what happened. They don’t tell you what to do next. A real North Star should help your team answer: What actions actually lead to growth? What should we be improving every week? The way we break this down is simple (and an often skipped over part of the defining process): 1. Breadth: How many people are you reaching? (traffic, downloads, new users) 2. Frequency: Are they coming back? (weekly usage, repeat visits) 3. Depth: Are they actually getting value? (key actions: quoting, saving, reading, completing something meaningful) 4. Efficiency: How hard/expensive is it to get them there? (CAC, conversion rate, drop-off) Your North Star should sit on top of this. Not replace it. For example (from an insurance app we’ve worked on): You could say the North Star is: App downloads But that tells you nothing about whether the business is working. A better version is: Completed quotes Because it reflects: real intent real value and a step toward revenue The shift is subtle, but it changes everything: From “How do we get more users?” To  “How do we get more valuable actions from the right users?” If your North Star isn’t helping your team make decisions week-to-week… …it’s probably just a vanity metric with a better name. Curious how others are defining theirs; what’s actually been useful vs. just reported? #northstarmetric #definesuccess Fueled

⚡ The latest release of ClassifAI, our WordPress plug-in that focuses on practical AI applications for larger organizations, added two new enterprise-focused features sparked by real world client use cases. 🪫 A new Usage Monitoring feature was inspired by a request from one of the largest hotel chains in the world. It helps teams keep a close watch on OpenAI usage from within the WordPress dashboard, set limits, and alert site managers if AI usage budgets are at risk. 🔑 One of the most respected nonpartisan healthcare policy organizations in the United States motivated us to add API Key Credential Filtering. This feature makes it easier for developers to manage provider credentials using environment variables or other secret management systems like Azure Key Vault. Read more about the new features in ClassifAI 3.8, as well as a new plugin that lets site owners connect WordPress 7.0 to Meta’s open source Ollama model 🦙, in our latest blog post. https://lnkd.in/g9DwAGR6

Fueled Partner and 10up founder Jake Goldman spoke with Christian Makoa about AI, WordPress, and what this moment asks of digital agencies. A key point: AI is not just making teams faster. It is weakening one of the industry’s old moats. The advantage that comes from mastering a platform’s quirks, syntax, and implementation details is less defensible when strong teams can close those gaps faster than before. That raises the bar. Differentiation increasingly comes from strategy, product thinking, and knowing what a platform is good at, where it fits, and how to apply it well.

🔌 WordPress 7.0 is set to introduce a new AI Connectors feature, giving site owners and developers an easier, standardized way to connect WordPress to AI models and services. 🤖🦙 Our team has released AI Provider for Ollama, a new Connector plugin that connects WordPress to Meta’s Ollama model. For teams interested in open source AI models, it offers a new path to bring AI into WordPress, with more control over infrastructure, privacy, and cost. Our latest blog post unpacks the new plugin and Connectors feature, and the latest real world applications it brings to life with the official WordPress AI plugin, which our team continues to lead the way in developing. The story also touches on our latest enterprise-focused updates to ClassifAI. https://lnkd.in/g9DwAGR6

We set criteria and moved fast. We worked collaboratively and built the site to house multiple shareable content types with brand-centric design and flexibility to update easily as our construction project comes to life and our capital campaign grows. Our team Fueled was excellent to work with.

📱🎨 Some mobile products differentiate through the interface itself. Custom motion, distinctive transitions, and a visual system that needs to stay consistent across iOS and Android. This is where Flutter can really shine for cross-platform products. Because it controls its own rendering layer, teams can build a design-forward interface once and ship it consistently across platforms instead of recreating the same system in two native toolkits. Our VP of Engineering & Technology, Sage Y., explains how we evaluate that trade-off in practice, with examples like Meow Wolf and Fennel where the experience and storytelling are central to the product. https://lnkd.in/gedxPAqs

Online media and news publishers are navigating big shifts across monetization, distribution, AI, and platform complexity. Our white paper, From Pageviews to Products, presented strategies for success and growth in light of these trends. As a follow up, we’re joining WordPress VIP and The Independent for a webinar digging into some practical next steps across content operations, workflows, and platforms. Phil Crumm, Managing Partner for Content Solutions at Fueled, will join Peter B., CTO at The Independent, and Alan Smodic, Customer Success Director for Media at WordPress VIP, for the conversation. Register now to join the discussion on April 14 at 10am ET: https://lnkd.in/gipsFc4S Download our white paper, From Pageviews to Product: How Digital Publishers and News Media Thrive as Traffic, Trust, and Revenue Rewire in 2026: https://lnkd.in/gxUY5Hf9

Fueled is heading to Mumbai for WordCamp Asia, April 9-11! Senior Front End Engineer Ajay Maurya will be competing in the WordPress Speed Build Challenge on April 11 at 12:15 pm. The session features a live 30-minute build using only the Full Site Editor. Ajay will be going head-to-head with Craig Gomes of Pixelvise. For anyone attending #WCAsia2026, this will be a fun one to catch live. https://lnkd.in/gCW6dZNa

We recently partnered with Vero Beach Museum of Art to design and build a campaign microsite spotlighting its campus transformation project. We brought a visually stunning, motion-heavy site to life through early and disciplined scope alignment, smart platform selection, and close, iterative collaboration across strategy, design, and development. In this post, Project Manager Hayley Belanger and Designer Laura Martinez explain how we shaped the story before design, developed a visual language inspired by the museum’s coastal setting, and leveraged Webflow to support a highly expressive, motion-driven experience without adding unnecessary engineering complexity. https://lnkd.in/gM9ejB9z