That is understandable, but you are still not answering the point. A large part of the success of companies like 37s and fogbugz is due to their online followin

That is understandable, but you are still not answering the point. A large part of the success of companies like 37s and fogbugz is due to their online following, which is based on a blog and in your case the Rails framework. Companies that write a blog with 5 subscribers are simply not playing in the same league. Yes, of course, you have to start with 5, and I'm sure you did at some point, but to suggest that you can apply X ideas to achieve Y without discussing these enormous 'external' conditions that are directly attributable to this achievement is not telling the whole story.