3 ms·

A big part of the 37signals play book is awareness through blogs and magazines. Their business model can't be "hey, we're going to sit here for 70 hours a week

by johnnyg 14y ago

A big part of the 37signals play book is awareness through blogs and magazines. Their business model can't be "hey, we're going to sit here for 70 hours a week and crank out code" because then there is nothing to write about. In one sense, they built a business that allows them to do crazy/fun/oddball things. Great. In another, their model is not the model of a typical HN style start up, and following their advice without tempering it to your own set of realities is likely a bad idea.

batista 14y ago
>A big part of the 37signals play book is awareness through blogs and magazines. Their business model can't be "hey, we're going to sit here for 70 hours a week and crank out code" because then there is nothing to write about. I'd say that the majority of their customers could not care less what they write about on blogs and magazines. They just use their services because they work for them. That is, their business model is not "promotion through doing various stunts and writing/having others write about it" as you maybe imply. It's mostly to use, fellow developers, HN/Rails crowd etc that this writing gets known, and we constitute a tiny minority of their customer base, judging from the customer stories they post.
- johnnyg 14y ago
  Hrm. You're right about software quality. Either their software works extremely well or the publicity is not signifiant. However, I don't think their next 10,000 customers will be made up of majority rails/ruby/coder people. I think it'll be from the "Fortune 5,000,000" they are always writing about. To reach them, they must get ink in inc. Oh yeah...pun intended. :)
- dasil003 14y ago
  Sure, 37s products are good enough to spread by word of mouth, and they have an awesome customer base, so stricly speaking they don't need any press. They could shutter their blog and stop all interviews and continue on as a successful business indefinitely. However if you're a young company learning the ropes and looking to emulate 37s' success, you have to first understand that 37s is a company that is built on PR. They were around for years doing consulting work before they ever built a single product. They were one of the early noteworthy web design blogs, and they built a significant audience right around the time people were figuring out how to go beyond brochure websites. So when Basecamp launched in 2004 they had the most valuable possible audience in the palm of their hands. It didn't hurt that true web applications were in their infancy, and they were essentially competing with bloated desktop software like MS Project, but it's important not dismiss their reach in the web design blogosphere. Without that, there's no telling if the product would have had the uptake to become their sole focus or whether they would have gone back to more consulting work.

by johnnyg 14y ago

batista 14y ago

>A big part of the 37signals play book is awareness through blogs and magazines. Their business model can't be "hey, we're going to sit here for 70 hours a week and crank out code" because then there is nothing to write about. I'd say that the majority of their customers could not care less what they write about on blogs and magazines. They just use their services because they work for them. That is, their business model is not "promotion through doing various stunts and writing/having others write about it" as you maybe imply. It's mostly to use, fellow developers, HN/Rails crowd etc that this writing gets known, and we constitute a tiny minority of their customer base, judging from the customer stories they post.

johnnyg 14y ago
Hrm. You're right about software quality. Either their software works extremely well or the publicity is not signifiant. However, I don't think their next 10,000 customers will be made up of majority rails/ruby/coder people. I think it'll be from the "Fortune 5,000,000" they are always writing about. To reach them, they must get ink in inc. Oh yeah...pun intended. :)
dasil003 14y ago
Sure, 37s products are good enough to spread by word of mouth, and they have an awesome customer base, so stricly speaking they don't need any press. They could shutter their blog and stop all interviews and continue on as a successful business indefinitely. However if you're a young company learning the ropes and looking to emulate 37s' success, you have to first understand that 37s is a company that is built on PR. They were around for years doing consulting work before they ever built a single product. They were one of the early noteworthy web design blogs, and they built a significant audience right around the time people were figuring out how to go beyond brochure websites. So when Basecamp launched in 2004 they had the most valuable possible audience in the palm of their hands. It didn't hurt that true web applications were in their infancy, and they were essentially competing with bloated desktop software like MS Project, but it's important not dismiss their reach in the web design blogosphere. Without that, there's no telling if the product would have had the uptake to become their sole focus or whether they would have gone back to more consulting work.