6 ms·

I've seen a lot of articles from 37signals.com on HN but I have no idea who they are or what they do. They certainly seem quite innovative in terms of how they

I've seen a lot of articles from 37signals.com on HN but I have no idea who they are or what they do. They certainly seem quite innovative in terms of how they treat their employees, which is great. Are they profitable? I'm curious if their generosity to their employees translates to their bottom line in measurable ways.

ontoillogical 14y ago
37signals is a web products company, most famous for Basecamp. Ruby on Rails came out of there. I don't know if their generosity to their employees translates to their bottom line. I think it works the other way: they are profitable enough that they can afford to be generous to their employees. The 37signals model seems to be: 1) have amazing people working for you 2) treat them really well. It's highly effective, but you need to have cash in the bank to get to step 1.
- prezjordan 14y ago
  Where exactly does their money come from?
  - qq66 14y ago
    They charge money for their products like Basecamp, Campfire, etc.
  - codedivine 14y ago
    Most of their products are web-based with paid subscriptions.
  - dangrossman 14y ago
    "Millions of people in 150,000 companies..." "Pricing starts at $20/month." http://basecamp.com/ http://basecamp.com/
    - prezjordan 14y ago
      Oh wow I had no idea it was such a popular product.
  - prask7 14y ago
    Almost all their products are SAAS offerings in consumer internet. Flagship product being the project management and online collaboration software - basecamp (http://basecamp.com/ http://basecamp.com/ ) . They make money from subscriptions, and target the long tail.
ricardobeat 14y ago
They created Ruby on Rails. More at their wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/37signals http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/37signals
AVTizzle 14y ago
The other answers aren't wrong, but I think listening to 37Signals Partner DHH from Startup School would speak best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDXJ6bMkMY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDXJ6bMkMY Almost more than their products, they're known for their very vocal broadcasting against the standard startup focus of investments, valuations, exits, etc... Their books "Getting Real" and "Rework" represent their bootstrapping, sustainable-business values - they're not timid in speaking out against the nonsense of the modern startup conventional wisdom. Personally, I think it's a very refreshing and empowering voice for entrepreneurs. It's not without controversy though, so dig in to their content for yourself to make your own judgement. (FWIW - "Getting Real" is a free PDF out there somewhere. I recommend it, though others may or may not.)
- mmphosis 14y ago
  http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ http://gettingreal.37signals.com/
philip1209 14y ago
To add to the other responses, they've mastered selling to SMBs, which is is one of the most difficult-to-penetrate markets.
mkramlich 14y ago
You are unable to Google?
- Tomis02 14y ago
  No, he just wants the short version. Are you unable to empathize?
batista 14y ago
>I've seen a lot of articles from 37signals.com on HN but I have no idea who they are or what they do. If you also read the articles, how is that other stuff difficult to find out? It's like a google query away... The make a SaaS offering for groupware (coordination, scheduling, chat, etc). They also created the Ruby On Rails framework, related to which you'll see 2-3 articles per day on HN. They also wrote a few business books, two of which have been NYT best-sellers. The make several million dollars a year, and have tens of thousands of customers. Their business, a standard profitable, bootstrapped business if a ever saw one, is often sneered by startup kiddies on HN because they haven't sold their company for VC mega-bucks or had a huge IPO, VA Lin^H^H^H^H^H^H Google style. (Normal companies are apparently passe in the web 3.0 age -- a new Apple would be something to point and laugh at, a Ben & Jerry's even more so).
- roopeshv 14y ago
  wait. why is this being downvoted?
  - prawn 14y ago
    The last paragraph is pointed and snarky.
    - pcopley 14y ago
      And accurate.
      - prawn 14y ago
        Question was why was it being downvoted; being accurate wasn't one of those reasons. Easy to frame the original opinion without the snark, make the same point and avoid downvotes IMO.
        batista 14y ago
        Yes, but snark was part of the point --just as "sneer" seems to be part of the point on a lot of comments I read about 37 Signals or "lifestyle businesses". I wanter to counter than a little. I find the very term "lifestyle businesses" condescending. They are bona fide businesses, nothing "lifestyle" about them. Not every business has to be on the stock market or cash-out for big bucks --or even make "billions" You know what's cooler than a billion dollars? Doing what you like, making a living and employing as many people you can, without turning into a money making monster where what exactly you're making is not as important as ever increasing your revenues and finding new cash-cows. Pivot, for me, is another word for "my goal is to make money, not to build something specific".
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

ontoillogical 14y ago

37signals is a web products company, most famous for Basecamp. Ruby on Rails came out of there. I don't know if their generosity to their employees translates to their bottom line. I think it works the other way: they are profitable enough that they can afford to be generous to their employees. The 37signals model seems to be: 1) have amazing people working for you 2) treat them really well. It's highly effective, but you need to have cash in the bank to get to step 1.

prezjordan 14y ago
Where exactly does their money come from?
- qq66 14y ago
  They charge money for their products like Basecamp, Campfire, etc.
- codedivine 14y ago
  Most of their products are web-based with paid subscriptions.
- dangrossman 14y ago
  "Millions of people in 150,000 companies..." "Pricing starts at $20/month." http://basecamp.com/ http://basecamp.com/
  - prezjordan 14y ago
    Oh wow I had no idea it was such a popular product.
- prask7 14y ago
  Almost all their products are SAAS offerings in consumer internet. Flagship product being the project management and online collaboration software - basecamp (http://basecamp.com/ http://basecamp.com/ ) . They make money from subscriptions, and target the long tail.

ricardobeat 14y ago

They created Ruby on Rails. More at their wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/37signals http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/37signals

AVTizzle 14y ago

The other answers aren't wrong, but I think listening to 37Signals Partner DHH from Startup School would speak best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDXJ6bMkMY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDXJ6bMkMY Almost more than their products, they're known for their very vocal broadcasting against the standard startup focus of investments, valuations, exits, etc... Their books "Getting Real" and "Rework" represent their bootstrapping, sustainable-business values - they're not timid in speaking out against the nonsense of the modern startup conventional wisdom. Personally, I think it's a very refreshing and empowering voice for entrepreneurs. It's not without controversy though, so dig in to their content for yourself to make your own judgement. (FWIW - "Getting Real" is a free PDF out there somewhere. I recommend it, though others may or may not.)

mmphosis 14y ago
http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ http://gettingreal.37signals.com/

philip1209 14y ago

To add to the other responses, they've mastered selling to SMBs, which is is one of the most difficult-to-penetrate markets.

mkramlich 14y ago

You are unable to Google?

Tomis02 14y ago
No, he just wants the short version. Are you unable to empathize?

batista 14y ago

>I've seen a lot of articles from 37signals.com on HN but I have no idea who they are or what they do. If you also read the articles, how is that other stuff difficult to find out? It's like a google query away... The make a SaaS offering for groupware (coordination, scheduling, chat, etc). They also created the Ruby On Rails framework, related to which you'll see 2-3 articles per day on HN. They also wrote a few business books, two of which have been NYT best-sellers. The make several million dollars a year, and have tens of thousands of customers. Their business, a standard profitable, bootstrapped business if a ever saw one, is often sneered by startup kiddies on HN because they haven't sold their company for VC mega-bucks or had a huge IPO, VA Lin^H^H^H^H^H^H Google style. (Normal companies are apparently passe in the web 3.0 age -- a new Apple would be something to point and laugh at, a Ben & Jerry's even more so).

roopeshv 14y ago
wait. why is this being downvoted?
- prawn 14y ago
  The last paragraph is pointed and snarky.
  - pcopley 14y ago
    And accurate.
    - prawn 14y ago
      Question was why was it being downvoted; being accurate wasn't one of those reasons. Easy to frame the original opinion without the snark, make the same point and avoid downvotes IMO.
      - batista 14y ago
        Yes, but snark was part of the point --just as "sneer" seems to be part of the point on a lot of comments I read about 37 Signals or "lifestyle businesses". I wanter to counter than a little. I find the very term "lifestyle businesses" condescending. They are bona fide businesses, nothing "lifestyle" about them. Not every business has to be on the stock market or cash-out for big bucks --or even make "billions" You know what's cooler than a billion dollars? Doing what you like, making a living and employing as many people you can, without turning into a money making monster where what exactly you're making is not as important as ever increasing your revenues and finding new cash-cows. Pivot, for me, is another word for "my goal is to make money, not to build something specific".

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]