Hi, I’m Michael, a web developer (and EV enthusiast). I have been building and hosting websites and web apps for over a decade now. I reside and work in the beautiful Napa Valley. If you are interested in my services, check out my company, Wag Websites.

My Story

I’ve been interested in computers, technology, and fixing stuff since I was just a little boy. Sometime in high school, I wanted to try combining my passion for technology with another thing i enjoy – writing. So, in 2011, I started a site reviewing computer hardware. That’s when I touched WordPress for the first time!

Fun fact: WordPress 3.1, released in February 2011, was the first version to feature the “admin bar” that every WordPress user today takes for granted!

And, of course, websites need hosting, so for my little WordPress site, I purchased some cheap web hosting. Eventually, the traffic to my website increased, and I outgrew that hosting plan. I learned the difference between shared hosting, virtual servers, and dedicated servers.

I found managing such servers fun, so I took it a step further, and around 2012, I started reselling hosting services. This grew from just reselling web hosting to more complex things like Minecraft server hosting and more. But, I had no business experience and was trying to juggle high school and this business, so I ended up selling the company.

For a while, I pursued a different career: retail management, at one of the largest auto parts chains in the US. While it had no relation to web development or web hosting, I learned a lot. I learned about profit and loss, running a business, and most important of all – how to resolve customers issues in a mutually beneficial way.

But, I never truly felt at home there, and in my time off, I kept an eye on the website world. I had retained a few local clients, and in the process of maintaining their sites as well as some projects of my own, I stayed up to date with the world of websites and hosting.

Web hosting used to be a fun industry full of small and medium sized companies innovating to make the internet a better place. Now? A few large companies and their private equity backers control the entire hosting industry.

Not so fun fact: As of November 2025, The biggest shared hosting provider has about 35% of the market and the second biggest has about 25%. That’s crazy.

In 2023, a friend and I were lamenting about how horrible small business customers had it at some of these big brands. Issues like overloaded servers, incompetent outsourced support, and misleading pricing practices basically rule the industry, and so we decided to do something about it.

We launched a company focused on the customer, with local values, straightforward pricing, and a friendly helping hand from someone who actually knew what they were talking about when you needed guidance.

As lead web developer for that company, I built and launched the company website, integrated the billing system, and handled almost all the website client work, from consultation to completion. I got the opportunity to work with some awesome local clients. But, some life changes later, I made the decision that it was time to go back into business for myself, and do things my own way.

And so, in 2025, Wag Websites was born. It’s a combination of everything I’ve learned, and my many years of experience, with one goal: to deliver affordable, quality website solutions to the small businesses that need it the most.