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They also claim that they don't want to grow. That every business has a 'natural' size. That somehow that's better than being massive - again challenging the co
by axod 16y ago
They also claim that they don't want to grow. That every business has a 'natural' size. That somehow that's better than being massive - again challenging the conventional wisdom that more profit = better. They are masters of PR to geeks. Their business model pretty much relies on them doing constant PR to pit themselves as the hip small but hugely knowledgeable 'startup'.
Even the back cover of Rework reads like a parody of 37signals other stuff.
- JanezStupar 16y agoWhy is that a problem? Handful of guys doing what they like. Earning enough to pay for a modest lifestyle and I bet they get to put something away for old age. Why does earning a living have to be an unpleasant and stressful experience? By writing and talking about how awesome cool their careers are, they get to boost their sales. Hell, I think I might start writing about how awesome my life is.
- jbarham 16y agoUnless your definition of a "modest lifestyle" includes driving a Lamborghini (http://www.google.com/search?q=dhh+lamborghini http://www.google.com/search?q=dhh+lamborghini), I'd say 37signals is doing very well financially. And that's probably because they're intentionally staying small, not in spite of it.
- axod 16y agoThey could probably just shut down making web products and live off the life coaching business.
- axod 16y agoThere's absolutely nothing wrong with it at all. There are millions of small businesses doing exactly that. There always have been. Most of them just quietly get on with it and make profit. For me, 37signals don't say anything new or very interesting. They just say it really loudly, and try to make out that they're doing something radically different - when in fact they're not.
- InclinedPlane 16y agoYes, but... 37signals is not doing anything new. Tons of small-businesses have been operating on the same principles for eons. However, there is so much hype and misinformation in the e-business arena that this sort of otherwise brain-dead obvious business advice is in the minority, and stands out all the more. There isn't one single way for businesses to find success, online or off, but if web entrepreneurs followed 37signals advice more often than they do today they would probably be better off. For that reason I think they're loudness if fully justified.
- axod 16y agoI don't think that's actually true though. Sure, maybe if you only hang out in SF and don't know anything about business and just believe what you hear about startups, then you might have issues. It's better to just think about it for a while, read a lot of different success stories, advice, etc and come to your own conclusions. But come on. Business isn't rocket science. You make something useful, work out a monetization strategy, and grow from there. That's easy enough for my kids to understand. The disservice 37signals does is that they firstly only believe that a certain business model is viable (eg selling stuff directly), and secondly they suggest that it's simple for the reader to emulate 37signals, when they know full well that to do that the reader would need to create ruby on rails, build up a big readership/following, etc etc. Any extremist view is dangerous when taken literally and in isolation.