4 February Featured by San Carlos Life: Feeling the Upendo February 4, 2026By Will Strohl | 2 MIN READ Every now and then, something happens that makes you pause and genuinely reflect. Feel the Upendo with us... Featured by San Carlos Life: Feeling the Upendo Being featured by San Carlos Life was one of those moments for me. San Carlos Life is one of the primary ways our community stays connected. It highlights the people, businesses, and organizations that make this city what it is. When they reached out, I was surprised and excited at the same time. Being featured by a publication that so many of our neighbors read and trust felt like a real honor, especially given how lucky I feel to live and work in San Carlos. What stood out most to me about the article was the care they put into it. This wasn’t a surface-level feature. They took the time to go deep, to understand not just what we do at Upendo Ventures, but why we do it. That meant a lot. One part that really resonated with me was the focus on giving back. Through my time on the Community Foundation of San Carlos, I’ve learned just how many people in our community quietly need support. Not everyone experiences San Carlos the same way, and being aware of that changes how you show up as a business owner, neighbor, and human. Supporting the nonprofits that help people locally isn’t something separate from our work. It’s part of who we are. There’s also something important about third-party recognition. We talk about ourselves a lot, because that’s part of running a business. This time, you get to hear our story from someone else’s perspective. In a world full of noise, especially in tech, that matters. It helps show that we’re not a churn-and-burn agency that just delivers a “pretty website” and disappears. We care deeply about building business assets that actually help companies grow and thrive, because when local businesses succeed, the community benefits too. Truly, Feeling the Upendo February is often thought of as the month of love, thanks to Valentine’s Day. It feels especially fitting that this article came out now. “Upendo” means love, but for us it’s not just a word. It’s the foundation of how we think, how we work, and how we support both our Clients and our community. If you haven’t read the article yet, I encourage you to take a few minutes to do so. And to the San Carlos Life team, thank you for telling our story so thoughtfully, and for helping shine a light on the Community Foundation of San Carlos along the way. Read the Feature Read the San Carlos Life feature Let's Chat! We'd love to work with you. Let's talk about how. Contact Us February 4, 2026By Will Strohl Business, General, Leadership, Marketing Bay Area, Business Growth, Community Foundation of San Carlos, Integrity, Lead Generation, Local Business, San Carlos, San Carlos Life, Small Business Websites, Upendo Ventures, Web Design, Website Strategy About the Author Will Strohl Founder & CEO Upendo Ventures Overall, Will has nearly 20 years of experience helping website owners become more successful in all areas, including mentoring, website development, marketing, strategy, e-commerce, and more. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. blog comments powered by Disqus Related Posts Content Personalization on Squarespace Squarespace has been gaining traction ever since it was first released, and for good reason. It's hands-down one of the best options for any new company to launch their first website. You don't need to be technical to create and manage your website. Anyone with any level of proficiency with a web browser can be a web hero. Upendo Ventures Joins the DNN Corp Partner Program Upendo Ventures, a U.S. leader in e-commerce and CMS development and expert in DNN and Hotcakes Commerce, has announced that it’s DNN services have expanded after joining the DNN partner program. This is great news for companies looking for built-in integrations, social communities, and advanced content management features found in the line of Evoq DNN products. Announcing Upendo WIN: Website Improvements & Next-Level Support for Small Businesses Small business success starts with a WIN online. But for most business owners, the problem isn’t knowing that—it’s knowing how. Upendo Ventures Expands Its Portfolio with Glanton Modules Intellectual Property Upendo Ventures Is Excited to Welcome Hotcakes Commerce Customers When I founded Upendo Ventures, it was in my heart to build a business that mirrors my values and how I believe we should all treat each other as human beings. For anyone that knows me, you’ll know that this train of thought has been at the core of everything I’ve ever done – including those menial tasks that none of us love to do. This was also reflected in my hard work with Hotcakes Commerce, where I loved helping to make e-commerce easier for everyone. With Hotcakes going open source, it begs the question, “Where and how will I get support now?” For anyone that’s enjoyed or been interested in the Hotcakes Cloud, you’ll have this and other similar questions. Save Hundreds of Hours Building DNN Modules and Other Types of Extensions Over the years, I’ve followed, learned, and tried many different ways to build extensions in DNN. Of course, the primary extension I’ve built has always been a module. If you’re new to DNN, a module is simply an app that you can install for visitors to interact with on your website. After working on DNN solutions since 2003, I’ve settled on a very specific development pattern that we implemented here at Upendo Ventures. Using our development pattern was time-consuming to get started with a new project, but it had too many benefits to avoid. We’ve found and publicly released this development pattern to all of you. Now you can use our development pattern too, but without any of the effort that we used to put into it