Lex Thomas's Blog, page 2

Squarespace Launches Courses: A New Way to Easily Create and Sell Content Online

Today, we are thrilled to announce Courses, a new way for entrepreneurs to turn their knowledge and expertise into income. With Squarespace Courses, anyone can easily create and sell a professional online course, from chefs selling cooking lessons to wellness instructors creating meditation videos and photographers teaching the basics of photography. 

“We are always striving to create new ways for entrepreneurs to build a business and succeed online, and the launch of Courses is no exception,” said Paul Gubbay, Chief Product Officer. “We are excited to offer an effortless way to create and sell courses with Squarespace’s premium look and feel, to further support entrepreneurs looking to connect with and monetize their audience.”

Courses include beautifully designed layouts that can be fully customized to fit your brand. They offer an easy way to organize content into lessons and chapters, in addition to supplementary lesson content such as text, images, and downloadable resources. Powered by Fluid Engine, the Courses templates are fully customizable, and integrated into our all-in-one platform. They come with a best-in-class editing experience, built-in commerce functionality, marketing tools, robust analytics, and more. Squarespace offers course creators:

A new way to turn knowledge into income: Design, promote, and sell professional, multimedia courses with beautiful layouts and capabilities for uploading and hosting video and supplementary content

A great student experience: Engage audiences with rich lessons and chapters, as well as a progress tracker to follow along with sequential content. Students can enroll at any time, or can be signed up in cohorts that take the course at the same time.

Flexible fee structure: Sell courses individually, bundled together, or as part of a package with other content like memberships or video. Choose the right fee structure for your business, whether that’s one-time charges, installments, or recurring subscriptions.

Access to Squarespace’s all-in-one platform: Create content, accept payments, monitor analytics, and leverage marketing tools to grow your business all in one place.

Courses joins our growing toolkit for entrepreneurs to monetize their content, including tools for selling other types of digital products, like memberships and video. We’re also launching additional improvements to the ways our customers can set up paywalls and pricing plans on their websites, making it easier than ever to sell access to content. 

Starting today, customers can sell courses and other digital products with a Business or Commerce plan. Or, customers on any plan can purchase the all-new Digital Products add-on to unlock lower transaction fees and additional video storage space, starting at $9/month. You can learn more about Courses and pricing here.

Squarespace can also help customers match with and hire a trusted, independent expert to produce courses and get started selling faster. Visit Squarespace Marketplace to learn more.

Squarespace Launches Courses: A New Way to Easily Create & Sell Content Online

Today, we are thrilled to announce Courses, a new way for entrepreneurs to turn their knowledge and expertise into income. With Squarespace Courses, anyone can easily create and sell a professional online course, from chefs selling cooking lessons to wellness instructors creating meditation videos and photographers teaching the basics of photography. 

“We are always striving to create new ways for entrepreneurs to build a business and succeed online, and the launch of Courses is no exception,” said Paul Gubbay, Chief Product Officer. “We are excited to offer an effortless way to create and sell courses with Squarespace’s premium look and feel, to further support entrepreneurs looking to connect with and monetize their audience.”

Courses include beautifully designed layouts that can be fully customized to fit your brand. They offer an easy way to organize content into lessons and chapters, in addition to supplementary lesson content such as text, images, and downloadable resources. Powered by Fluid Engine, the Courses templates are fully customizable, and integrated into our all-in-one platform. They come with a best-in-class editing experience, built-in commerce functionality, marketing tools, robust analytics, and more. Squarespace offers course creators:

A new way to turn knowledge into income: Design, promote, and sell professional, multimedia courses with beautiful layouts and capabilities for uploading and hosting video and supplementary content

A great student experience: Engage audiences with rich lessons and chapters, as well as a progress tracker to follow along with sequential content. Students can enroll at any time, or can be signed up in cohorts that take the course at the same time.

Flexible fee structure: Sell courses individually, bundled together, or as part of a package with other content like memberships or video. Choose the right fee structure for your business, whether that’s one-time charges, installments, or recurring subscriptions.

Access to Squarespace’s all-in-one platform: Create content, accept payments, monitor analytics, and leverage marketing tools to grow your business all in one place.

Courses joins our growing toolkit for entrepreneurs to monetize their content, including tools for selling other types of digital products, like memberships and video. We’re also launching additional improvements to the ways our customers can set up paywalls and pricing plans on their websites, making it easier than ever to sell access to content. 

Starting today, customers can sell courses and other digital products with a Business or Commerce plan. Or, customers on any plan can purchase the all-new Digital Products add-on to unlock lower transaction fees and additional video storage space, starting at $9/month. You can learn more about Courses and pricing here.

Squarespace can also help customers match with and hire a trusted, independent expert to produce courses and get started selling faster. Visit Squarespace Marketplace to learn more.

Squarespace Enters Definitive Agreement to Acquire Google Domains Assets

We are excited to announce that Squarespace has entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement with Google, whereby Squarespace will acquire the assets associated with the Google Domains business, which will be winding down following a transition period. This purchase includes approximately 10 million domains hosted on Google Domains spread across millions of customers.

“We are exceptionally proud to be chosen to serve the customers of the Google Domains business,” said Anthony Casalena, Founder & CEO of Squarespace. “Domains are a critical part of web infrastructure and an essential piece of every business’s online presence. We look forward to serving these new customers as we have served millions using our domain products and are committed to ensuring a seamless transition.” 

“In keeping with our efforts to sharpen our focus, we have entered into a definitive agreement with Squarespace for the acquisition of customer accounts of the Google Domains registrar business,” said Matt Madrigal, Vice President and General Manager, Merchant Shopping of Google. “Supporting a smooth transition for customers over the coming months, with the help of the Google Domains team, is our top priority. Squarespace can provide an integrated experience of purchasing and managing domains along with offering other tools that these customers may need to build their online presence.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Squarespace will honor all existing Google Domains customers' renewal prices for at least 12 months following the closing of the transaction, as well as provide additional incentives to encourage Google Domains customers to build a website with Squarespace and adopt other Squarespace offerings. Further, Squarespace will be leveraging Google’s infrastructure powering the Google Domains product during the migration period in order to ensure the seamless transfer of domains.

Upon closing, Squarespace, a long- time reseller of Google Workspace, will become the exclusive domains provider for any customer purchasing a domain along with their Workspace subscription from Google directly for a minimum of three years. Squarespace will also provide billing and support services to Google Workspace customers that signed up for the service through Google Domains. Customers will continue to have the option to make changes to their domains account at any time.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023, and is subject to certain regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. While the majority of the benefits of this deal will be realized in 2024 and beyond, Squarespace believes this deal will be meaningfully accretive to its business from both a revenue and free cash flow perspective over time.

For additional information on the agreement, please click here. 

20 Years

I’m proud to announce that this year marks Squarespace’s 20th anniversary since founding. That is an eternity in technology, and it’s incredible what we have done over these two decades.

Squarespace was started in 2003 as a way for me to create a personal website and experiment with blogging (believe it or not, a new idea at the time). Little did I know that those original ideas would give rise to a global company that would eventually help millions of people get online, establish brands, and do business on the web.

Of the many things to be proud of at Squarespace, our culture around constant innovation and protecting great design continues to stand strong. When Squarespace was started, the web was a very different place. Internet Explorer was the dominant browser (there was no Google Chrome), web pages had no large images or animation, and the iPhone wouldn’t be released for another 5 years – so the mobile web essentially didn’t exist. Our product sensibilities have allowed us to evolve along with, and even help shape, the technology around us – and it is incredible the pace we continue to operate at and the relevance our products enjoy. Squarespace Refresh stands as a testament to that, where we announced over 100 releases and improvements to our products last year alone – more releases than any other time in our history.

To take a trip with us through these past 2 decades and look at some of our many milestones, we’ve put together this timeline. It’s an incredible body of work and I’m proud of everything we have been able to do for our customers.

I’d like to extend a huge thank you to our team, our customers, and all of our supporters over the years. We could not have gotten here without you all, and it is humbling and a pleasure to be part of this story.

Thank you again!

Introducing Squarespace Blueprint

Today, we are thrilled to officially announce the launch of Squarespace Blueprint, a guided website design system providing professionally-curated layout and styling options to help customers build a unique online presence from the ground up. By answering a few simple questions, customers can easily construct the foundations of a well-designed website and personalize it more quickly. Squarespace has a long track record of providing best-in-class templates, and Squarespace Blueprint extends that legacy by combining multiple template elements together to provide a unique starting point for every customer. 

We believe that design is the ultimate competitive advantage for anyone looking to build a successful brand or business. Squarespace Blueprint unlocks more than a billion design combinations, allowing anyone to express a creative vision or brand identity more easily than ever before. Customers select from a menu of design-forward layouts, fonts, and colors before further customizing website content in the Squarespace platform and publishing online. Key elements of Squarespace Blueprint include: 

Interactive Design Experience: a five-step online experience allowing anyone to make real-time design choices for a truly custom website.

Expert Guidance: clear design direction at every step that's easy for beginners and pros alike. 

Handpicked Layout & Styling Options: upfront access to professional layouts, color palettes, and font options, balancing a mix of modern and traditional styles.

Live Preview & Progress Bar: a live preview of the website as it's being built, plus progress tracking.

Fully Functional Website: a real, operational website with access to our Website Builder toolkit and Fluid Engine editor.

Any new or existing Squarespace customer can access Squarespace Blueprint via desktop in English, with other languages coming soon. To try it yourself, click here.

Squarespace Releases its Inaugural Environmental, Social and Governance Report

Squarespace, the all-in-one website building and ecommerce platform, announced the release of its 2022 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report.

Squarespace’s mission is to build products that help entrepreneurs standout and succeed. Since its founding, the company has been steadfast in its commitment to make its products continually easier to use and able to address more customer use cases. This translates to removing barriers to entry and making it possible for anyone to turn their entrepreneurial dream into a reality. 

“We are proud to launch our 2022 ESG report and showcase how our mission and ways of operating align to support our ESG priorities,” said Anthony Casalena, Founder & CEO of Squarespace. “We are in the early days of what we can accomplish as a company and we believe that our ESG strategy will benefit our overall performance in service of all of our stakeholders.”  

Highlights of the ESG report include:  

Employee Engagement: We believe in the power of the individual to make great things and are focused on employee engagement and development opportunities to encourage employees to meet their potential and contribute to the mission we collectively serve. 

Environmental Sustainability: We believe responsible energy use is important to our long-term success, and are working to reduce our impact, including maintaining eco-conscious workplaces across offices.  

Data Privacy & Security: Our “Be the Customer” company value guides our data privacy and security practices, including the privacy requirements our customers must meet to compliantly interact with their own customers.

Squarespace’s 2022 ESG Report follows the guidance of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Boards (SASB) standards and the recommended disclosure topics for the Internet & Media Services industry under those standards as promulgated by the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation and the International Sustainability Standards Board. 

Squarespace's ESG report can be found here.

Squarespace Named to Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative Companies List

Squarespace is proud to announce it has been recognized in Fast Company’s prestigious ranking of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2023.  

As a leader in web design for almost two decades, we are proud to empower millions of entrepreneurs to build brands and bring their businesses to life online. This year’s rankings highlight the businesses at the forefront of their respective industries, paving the way for the innovations of tomorrow. Squarespace is named one of the top 10 most innovative companies in Retail for expanding our commerce tools to support the myriad of ways entrepreneurs, including digital-first Creators, can monetize their audience and content, and scale their businesses online. 

“We’re proud to be recognized as a Most Innovative Company for our commitment in helping entrepreneurs succeed worldwide,” said Anthony Casalena, Founder & CEO of Squarespace. “2022 was an incredible year for our company as we brought to market more than 100 new features and solutions. Our platform of products is more powerful and intuitive than ever before, empowering millions to bring their ideas and businesses to life.”

For 20 years, Squarespace has been innovating in design and technology, advancing its platform alongside digital trends, to help entrepreneurs standout and succeed online. In 2022, we launched Squarespace Refresh, highlighting the largest set of new product features and innovations we have deployed to help anyone thrive online. We introduced video monetization, content automation, custom merchandise, digital collectibles, asset library, and link-in-bio offering Bio Sites, among many others. We also launched Fluid Engine, a next generation website design system for truly customizable, fast and easy web design experience. With an intuitive and agile editing experience, anyone—whether beginner or pro—can achieve the unique and professional design results that allow them to stand out and succeed online.

Squarespace’s 2023 Super Bowl Campaign ‘The Singularity’ Stars Adam Driver

Squarespace today revealed its ninth Super Bowl campaign, ‘The Singularity’ starring Adam Driver. The in-game spot, directed by award-winning filmmaker Aoife McArdle, recognizes Squarespace’s founding history as a pioneer in website building. In the campaign, Adam Driver, playing multiple versions of himself, is struck by the idea that Squarespace is a website that makes websites. As he follows that line of thinking down the rabbit hole, reality itself begins to unravel, triggering a singularity event. 

The spot provides a moment of levity during the big game, and is true to form for Squarespace in its willingness to stand out with quirky humor and high quality cinematic execution.

"I couldn’t be happier to do this commercial with Squarespace and for the Super Bowl,” said Adam Driver. “The cast ALONE was reason to do this.”

2023 marks the 20th anniversary of Squarespace, and this campaign reflects on the brand’s  roots by comedically exploring its earliest goal of creating a seamless platform where anyone can easily create a premium website. Today, Squarespace’s all-in-one platform has evolved to provide entrepreneurs with everything they need to succeed online, including tools to start and grow a presence and business, connect with and monetize their audience, and manage and scale their business online. 

“We are thrilled to be back at the big game for our ninth year,” said Anthony Casalena, Founder & CEO of Squarespace. “Partnering with Adam Driver to satirize our origin is a fun way to honor where we've been as a company. While we started off as a website that builds websites, Squarespace has evolved into a powerful platform that provides all of the tools entrepreneurs need to turn an idea into reality and start a thriving business online.”

Squarespace’s latest platform innovation, Fluid Engine, a next generation website design system for truly customizable, fast and easy web design experience, ensures that anyone can create an online presence that stands out and is truly reflective of their brand or vision. As part of the campaign, Squarespace has launched a limited-edition Singularity template on Fluid Engine that is now available and can be accessed here. 

The 30-second spot will air between the first and second quarters of Super Bowl LVII on Sunday, February 12th. The campaign includes a supporting behind-the-scenes teaser also starring Driver, directed by Squarespace's in-house creative team. To learn more about the campaign or get started with The Singularity template, visit thesingularity.squarespace.com. 

Squarespace expands Domains offering and professional email capabilities with Google Workspace

The right domain can strengthen your brand and add credibility to your business. With over 350 million domains registered worldwide and roughly 10 million new domain registrations every quarter, it has never been more important for entrepreneurs to secure a domain and professional email address for their new idea. As a trusted ICANN-accredited Registrar, Squarespace makes it easy for anyone to claim a domain and professional email address, get started building an online presence, and transacting with your customers in one seamless experience.

“Securing a domain is often the first step of the entrepreneurial journey that makes your idea feel real,” said Paul Gubbay, Chief Product Officer at Squarespace “At Squarespace, we aim to make it as easy as possible for anyone to choose their ideal domain that reflects their brand and leverage the many tools available to engage with their customers, including sending emails to customers from the domain address."

Squarespace is evolving our domain and email offerings to provide our customers with even more powerful tools, including:

Expanded Email Offerings Through Google Workspace: The ability to send emails from your domain is crucial for businesses. Squarespace partners with Google Workspace to offer our customers the best tools for sending emails with your domain address, including Google Calendar, Google Drive, Google Meet and more. Along with the Business Starter  email plan, Squarespace is offering a new higher tier Business Standard email plan that provides more robust capabilities for growing businesses. With the Business Standard email plan, customers now have an additional 2 TB of storage, video recording capabilities, and Paid Enhanced Support by Google. 

Tailored Domain Recommendations: When you’re ready to publish your website, Squarespace recommends appropriate available domains based on components of your web design.

Domain Connect with NameServers: New tools that make it easier than ever to connect an existing third-party domain to any Squarespace site in just a few steps. 

Beyond these updates, Squarespace’s core Domains product offers the most comprehensive domain registration tools, all within our powerful all-in-one platform. Squarespace Domains offers:

Easy access to a large selection of domains, including top-level domains (TLD), like .com, .net, .co for the search string. Squarespace offers over 330 TLDs, including international country code TLDs like .uk, .ca, and .au.

Domain management tools that allow you to do everything from editing DNS records to forwarding URLs. 

Competitive pricing without annual increases. Domain subscriptions also come with free Whois Privacy protection for your domain contact information. 

Simple transfers of domains so you can manage all of your websites and domains in one unified Squarespace platform.

Squarespace’s best-in-class 24/7 customer support.

All annual Squarespace website plans offer a free domain name and professional email for the first year. To get started with your domain search and secure your URL, visit . 

Squarespace Expands Leadership Team, Names New Head of Tock

Squarespace, the all-in-one website building and ecommerce platform, today announced the appointment of Matthew Tucker as Senior Vice President, Head of Tock, reporting to CEO & Founder Anthony Casalena. 

“We have a tremendous opportunity ahead of us as we continue to deepen and expand our portfolio of products for entrepreneurs,” said Anthony Casalena. “We are excited today to welcome Matt Tucker, who has a proven track record in leading product development and go-to-market strategies for tech companies. We believe his deep industry expertise and leadership will undoubtedly help fuel the future growth of Tock.” 

Mr. Tucker will oversee the commercial success and growth of Tock, a leading hospitality platform that powers reservations, table management, carryout operations, events, and more for thousands of operators across 33 countries. Mr. Tucker brings more than two decades of experience leading hospitality technology and other SaaS companies, most recently serving as President and Chief Operating Officer of Olo for almost nine years. Matt helped build Olo from a team of 10 to over 700 and through its eventual public listing in 2021. With Matt joining Tock, the Company also announced that Nick Kokonas, Tock’s Founder and CEO, plans to step down effective January 2, 2023. Mr. Kokonas will support the transition in his current leadership role through January 2, 2023. 

Squarespace is committed to creating and innovating on products that support entrepreneurs of all types, and we are looking forward to investing further in Tock during its next phase of growth.

About Tock

Tock, a Squarespace company, powers reservations, table management, carryout operations, and events for more than 7,000 hospitality operators ranging from neighborhood pizzerias to Michelin-starred destinations, wineries, and pop-ups in 30 countries. Tock's cloud-based platform provides businesses with sophisticated CRM and dynamic pricing tools to increase sales and deliver world-class hospitality. Tock has processed over $2.5 billion prepaid experiences in addition to millions of standard reservations across 200 cities around the world. Recently named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in 2021, Tock launched Tock to Go in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to allow restaurants to schedule takeout orders themselves instead of linking out to delivery services.