Described as passionate architects of the web who bring the best in WordPress themes and templates, our latest interview features the talented team at SemiColonWeb based in Kolkata, India. 

Tell us a bit about yourself

SemiColonWeb was founded in 2011 from a University Lab of Kolkata, India. Originally, we were just 2 team members, Shanky and Rohit (our Founders) and now it has grown larger with a few remote team members helping us with Support and new demos. 

We primarily make themes and templates for ThemeForest at the moment but we are planning to launch a Design & Media Agency in the future. Our first template was a landing page which was a success in its category. We developed several HTML templates and WordPress themes across the years and enjoyed a fair share of success and failures. 

It’s quite an achievement to enter the coveted community of Power Elite Authors. We might be the only Authors to achieve Power Elite status by selling only one HTML Template: Canvas!

Canvas | The Multi-Purpose HTML5 Template

To what do you attribute your success – how is your business unique?

We attribute our success to people who never believed in us. This made us more focused and vigilant. 

In regards to our success on ThemeForest, we focus on functional and relatable designs, which can bring value to the users. Our prime focus is customer satisfaction and listening to feedback to better support our ideas and designs.

At what moment did you decide to pursue your business?

When we first started on ThemeForest, we were just like every new Author who wanted to achieve success with every theme/template we released but that never happened on a large scale and we were not able to build a user base for the first 2 years. 

But when we released the CoWorker HTML template, which was the best selling template in its category, we sensed that we were somehow hitting the right spot in terms of design and functionality. This made us seriously look into this more and we started working on these designs full-time.

CoWorker – Responsive Multipurpose Template

We started working on templates for ThemeForest as a way to generate extra income to support ourselves while we were deciding to either continue with our studies or search for a job. When we first started planning our designs, we discussed them in transit to our university and in between lecture breaks. Oh, those were exciting times!

What do you love about your work and why?

• Freedom. We love the freedom to decide what we want to design and develop. Playing with new ideas and bringing them into reality. Blending ideas together and creating something useful for everyone.
• Traveling. As this field gives the flexibility to work from anywhere, we travel quite often and work remotely.
• Collaborating. Meeting new people by working at CoWorking spaces or cafes and exchanging different views and learning something new.
• Responsibility. While it is amazing to achieve what we have achieved, it is also a huge responsibility when we think that there are more than 60K users using our templates for their websites and running their businesses.

What’s the most challenging thing about your work?

Always staying ahead of the curve and keeping up with the design trends. It’s important to be alert, or else someone else will run away with your customers. Also, to bring in new features and complex functionalities for customers that provide value and allows them to easily create their websites.

Is where you live a good place to be a creative professional and why?

Absolutely! India is the IT capital of the world and has a growing market but it needs more awareness in terms of better design and the small details.

What or who inspires you and why?

The amount of recognition and exposure you can get in this field inspires us. Then the ability to express ourselves with design and bring useful functionality to so many users gives us motivation.

Travel is a big part of our inspiration! Working in CoWorking spaces, meeting new people and listening to their ideas is something we love in a big way. We have worked remotely a lot, staying in different parts of the world and learning from very intelligent people.

Also, we inspire and motivate each other as a team. When sales are affected or there are bad reviews, we stand with each other and work on fixing the things that are within our control.

What are some of the biggest lessons that have impacted your work?

Customer support and satisfaction is something which we never intend to compromise on. We got a big lesson on this when one of our WordPress themes (which was once in the top 10) got out of the race pretty quickly due to inconsistent customer support and improper theme updates. So, we have never let this happen again. 

Also, we believe in quality more than quantity, which is why we have diverted and invested all our focus only towards making our customers satisfied.

What is your advice to other authors regarding how to create a successful portfolio?

Never give up on your ideas and beliefs. Keep working on refining your designs and stay motivated. This works best. Canvas, our best-selling template, also got rejected several times before it was approved.

Apart from yourself, who is your favorite marketplace author, and why do you like them?

There are many amazing Authors on the Marketplace. We love the design features of Salient by ThemeNectar and Uncode by undsgn. Marketing and presentation of Avada by ThemeFusion and functionality of the Slider Revolution by ThemePunch. There is something to learn from everyone.

How do you balance work and family life?

We love spending time with our families, so we always make sure that we take out enough time for them, while ensuring that our work is not affected. Our families are very supportive of us when we work long hours. We make sure that weekends are spent productively with family and friends, and we don’t mix our professional and private lives.

What are your hobbies and interests outside of work?

Traveling, cooking, fitness and adventure sports. We love attending WordCamps or any design/development events in general to meet like-minded people.

What are your plans for the future?

It keeps changing! Our immediate plans are about making it big in WordPress. We have been working on some interesting things for a long long time and we are excited to show our work soon. Stay tuned!

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This is just a snapshot. You can view SemiColonWeb’s full portfolio here. If you have any questions or want to continue the conversation, jump over to the forums and say hello!