The story of Lightning Sites began in 2013, when Kody Thompson joined Business Blueprint. At the time, he was working as a graphic designer and doing a bit of everything for everyone. Under Dale Beaumont’s mentorship, Kody realised that this made the business difficult to grow because there was no clear niche, no repeatable offer and no real way to scale.
In 2014, Kody changed direction and focused on building websites for CrossFit gyms. The niche worked almost immediately. He developed a strong reputation for creating modern, effective websites, and before long businesses outside the fitness industry were asking him to build their sites too.
That momentum led to the creation of Lightning Sites in 2015. The idea was simple: give small business owners access to beautiful, professional websites without the huge price tag that often came with traditional web development. Built on the open-source WordPress platform, the sites were designed to be modern, responsive, mobile-friendly and structured with SEO in mind.
The model quickly struck a chord. Lightning Sites offered high-quality websites with ongoing support at an affordable monthly price, removing much of the complexity and upfront cost that stopped small business owners from upgrading their online presence. With the support of Business Blueprint, Kody grew the company to more than 300 websites in just a few years.
In 2018, Dale became an investor in Lightning Sites, acquiring a 40% stake in the business. Together, Dale and Kody focused on scaling the model, strengthening the systems and building a larger team capable of delivering the same quality at much greater volume.
Over the years that followed, Lightning Sites grew dramatically. The business expanded from a few hundred sites to around 1,200 websites, while the team grew to more than 80 staff in the Philippines. What had started as Kody’s small design business had become a substantial web development company serving small businesses at scale.
A major part of that success came from keeping the offer focused. Lightning Sites was built to solve a very real problem for small business owners: they wanted a website that looked great, worked properly on every device, could be found online and did not cost a fortune to build or maintain.
In 2023, Dale and Kody sold Lightning Sites to a U.S. company. Under its new ownership, the business has continued to grow and in 2026 was rebranded as Sites at Scale, expanding beyond websites into a broader suite of digital marketing services. Today, Sites at Scale says it supports more than 1,500 entrepreneurs across services including web development, branding, SEO, CRM and marketing.
For Dale, Lightning Sites remains a great example of what can happen when a business gets clear about who it serves, solves one important problem well and then builds the systems and team to scale it.
What began as Kody narrowing his focus to one niche grew into a business that created more than a thousand websites, built a large offshore team and ultimately became valuable enough to be acquired and taken into its next chapter.
