By earning enough revenue to cover their costs, 37signals is automatically more successful than 98% of other software startups that have ever existed. If the au

By earning enough revenue to cover their costs, 37signals is automatically more successful than 98% of other software startups that have ever existed. If the author believes his philosophy is better, then I suggest he buy them out and have them work his way. But honestly, I think he is blogging just to see himself type. Both 37signals and the author aim to "make something people want", but they approach that problem with different philosophies. The author acknowledges that the 37signals philosophy is successful at making simple things for people with simple needs, a valid market niche. The 37signals attitude is not "a symbol of eventual failure" as long as they can continue to make things people want. By focusing on his customer feedback, I'm assuming Don Norman can also be successful. There is no One Right Answer, and it riles me to no end when people insist that there is. In fact, these approaches aren't even mutually exclusive. Does Don Norman honestly believe that 37signals NEVER reads customer feedback and NEVER does any usability studies? Paul Graham insists that a startup should not focus on revenues, but Viaweb did in fact sell a service and was profitable. Should he then write angry blogposts condemning his past self for "doing it wrong"? Should he yell that young Paul Graham is "bound to fail"? The only thing that I learned from this article is that I never want to work for Don Norman. He should have a nice cup of tea, reflect, and then delete this blog post.