wikiHow is a web-based and wiki-based community, consisting of an extensive database of how-to guides. wikiHow's mission is to build the world's largest and highest quality how-to manual. The site started as an extension of the already existing eHow website, and has evolved to host over 135,000 how-to articles. In January 2012, "wikiHow had 35.5 million unique readers from over 200 countries or territories. These 35.5 million different people visited it a total of over 44 million times in the month."

All of the site's content is licensed under Creative Commons (by-nc-sa); and the site uses a modified version of MediaWiki 1.12, which is open source.

On January 15, 2005, the two owners of eHow, Jack Herrick and Josh Hannah, started wikiHow—a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest how-to manual. While eHow already contained instructions on how to do thousands of things, wikiHow allowed a community of volunteer contributors to build something even bigger and better. On April 28, 2006, eHow was sold to Demand Media and wikiHow was launched as an independent site on its own www.wikihow.com domain.

Jack Herrick (born June 2, 1969) is an American entrepreneur and wiki enthusiast. His entrepreneurial projects include wikiHow, eHow, Luminescent Technologies, and BigTray.

In January 2005, Herrick started wikiHow with the goal of creating "the how-to guide for everything" because "providing people with a practical education is one of the most empowering things you can offer a person." As of December 2009, wikiHow was read by 20 million visitors per month. At wikiHow, Herrick was noted for introducing opt-out advertising, co-developing the Universal Edit Button, building a collaborative online environment, and combining business with social good.

Prior to starting wikiHow, Herrick ran eHow, a popular how-to website now owned by Demand Media. Herrick sold eHow after concluding the wiki method of content creation would ultimately produce higher quality work. He described the difference between eHow and wikiHow as "eating a McDonald's burger vs. a wonderful, home cooked meal"

Herrick is also on the Board of Directors for StatusNet, an open source microblogging company and the Board of Advisors for Mixer Labs, a startup acquired by Twitter. Prior to focusing on building how-to manuals, Herrick was a co-founder of Luminescent Technologies, a computational semiconductor lithography company and BigTray an online marketplace for restaurant supplies. Herrick received a degree in history from Stanford University and a degree from Dartmouth College.