Okupter's History
From a Blog to an Agency: The Journey
By Justin Ahinon, Founding Engineer at Okupter
Okupter began as a humble blog in early 2022. Initially, my intention was to share technical insights on frontend and full stack web development, emphasizing web performance and accessibility.
The Discovery of Svelte
A few years back, I delved into the world of static site generators. I experimented with tools like Astro, 11ty, Jekyll, among others. That journey led me to discover Svelte.
Despite not being a static site generator, Svelte shifted my focus. Coming from a React background, I was instantly captivated by the simplicity of Svelte . Its ability to enable writing highly interactive code, combined with a declarative syntax and features like stores and fine-grained reactivity, was exhilarating.
Building with Svelte
I immersed myself in learning Svelte, creating hobby apps along the way. My advocacy for Svelte at the agency I worked for resulted in the implementation of Svelte components in various NBA and WNBA websites .
Parallel to this, I continued writing technical content on my blog, now focused on Svelte and SvelteKit. The blog, initially a passion project, started gaining significant traffic after a few months.
Transitioning into Services
With increased dedication, the blog grew, and reader inquiries for help with their Svelte and SvelteKit projects began to flow in. To address these requests, I introduced structured services on the website, such as:
Hour-based mentoring sessions on Svelte and SvelteKit
Svelte and SvelteKit development services
Support services for Svelte and SvelteKit
And more...
Simultaneously, I worked as a freelance contractor on projects centered around the Svelte (Kit) stack.
A Turning Point
Balancing my role as a Senior Frontend Engineer at a leading WordPress agency, where I worked on projects for the NBA, WNBA, and G League, became challenging.
The high expectations in both roles led to my departure from the full-time job due to performance issues.
Embracing Opportunity
Though a tough setback, I viewed it as a chance to fully commit to Okupter as an agency.
My initial plan was to devote four months to this endeavor, after which I would decide whether to continue or return to full-time employment based on my experience and the revenue generated.
Those four months have now extended to over a year, with Okupter thriving. I’ve had the privilege with an amazing team, on significant, niche, and impactful projects.
Today's Okupter
Currently, Okupter comprises a small yet highly skilled team of two, specializing in Svelte and SvelteKit development. Our focus has narrowed to providing a unique, efficient, sprint-based development service in Svelte and SvelteKit.
Our Core Values
The values that guide us today remain unchanged from those I held when I started the blog: building and teaching others to create highly efficient, performant, and accessible web experiences using Svelte and SvelteKit.