3 ms·

I think it helps if you build a product that sells itself, through word of mouth, like 37 signals. I also think that is why PG says: "Make something people want

by dawie 18y ago

I think it helps if you build a product that sells itself, through word of mouth, like 37 signals. I also think that is why PG says: "Make something people want". If people want it, it won't be a hard sell.

prateekdayal 18y ago
If 37 signals had not written SVN blog and released rails, do you think as many people would have come? I would put that also into the "marketing" category
- dasil003 18y ago
  37s was a very well known usability consulting group for years before hiring DHH and building Basecamp. Not only is SvN good marketing, but 37s had the kind of powerhouse targeted niche brand that is nearly impossible to obtain.
  - petercooper 18y ago
    If anyone cares for ancient history, one of the biggest attention getters for 37signals was their manifesto which made up the entirety of 37signals.com before they revealed what they actually did. I still remember seeing it for the first time and it went huge (yet I can't remember HTF things went viral online back then... :)).
  - symptic 18y ago
    I disagree with the "nearly impossible to obtain" concept. That's suggesting they're something special or inhuman that your average person can't obtain, while it's quite the contrary. 37S is a great example f what busting your ass can accomplish; which I've found is the key to most cases of success. A good idea helps, but until you really take it to heart and live with the devotion it takes to succeed, you won't get very far with any product, no matter how revolutionary.
    - dasil003 18y ago
      Statistically speaking, hiring a good marketing person is going to be much more effective than a long term strategy of becoming a thought leader in your target market (how many target markets have thought leaders anyway?) and then exploiting your massive popularity for an instant word-of-mouth network effect when you launch your first product. Even 37s themselves did not engineer this success. Instead they focused on doing what they do well. They did not get where they are by picking some outlier to emulate.
speby 18y ago
Selling itself is a misnomer. Nothing "sells itself." Selling just means a combination of things you need to do communicate well to other people about what your service/product does, why it does it better than anything else, and how you're helping people solve a problem or gain some kind of entertainment or value. So selling could be in the form of a very well defined sales funnel (a la 37signals), writing/publishing content as a loss leader (a la 37signals), releasing open source content (a la 37signals), and ultimately building up a base of users/customers because you were able to get good at communicating with them. Or, even as Jason Fried has said (and I do agree) selling is almost like teaching others something. If you can teach well, you've got a shot at selling (and communicating well). But yes, being able to "press the flesh" and meet face-to-face, do deals with large customers, sell custom contracts or whatever is also selling. It might be that kind of selling that the geeks often struggle with.

by dawie 18y ago

prateekdayal 18y ago

If 37 signals had not written SVN blog and released rails, do you think as many people would have come? I would put that also into the "marketing" category

dasil003 18y ago
37s was a very well known usability consulting group for years before hiring DHH and building Basecamp. Not only is SvN good marketing, but 37s had the kind of powerhouse targeted niche brand that is nearly impossible to obtain.
- petercooper 18y ago
  If anyone cares for ancient history, one of the biggest attention getters for 37signals was their manifesto which made up the entirety of 37signals.com before they revealed what they actually did. I still remember seeing it for the first time and it went huge (yet I can't remember HTF things went viral online back then... :)).
- symptic 18y ago
  I disagree with the "nearly impossible to obtain" concept. That's suggesting they're something special or inhuman that your average person can't obtain, while it's quite the contrary. 37S is a great example f what busting your ass can accomplish; which I've found is the key to most cases of success. A good idea helps, but until you really take it to heart and live with the devotion it takes to succeed, you won't get very far with any product, no matter how revolutionary.
  - dasil003 18y ago
    Statistically speaking, hiring a good marketing person is going to be much more effective than a long term strategy of becoming a thought leader in your target market (how many target markets have thought leaders anyway?) and then exploiting your massive popularity for an instant word-of-mouth network effect when you launch your first product. Even 37s themselves did not engineer this success. Instead they focused on doing what they do well. They did not get where they are by picking some outlier to emulate.

speby 18y ago

Selling itself is a misnomer. Nothing "sells itself." Selling just means a combination of things you need to do communicate well to other people about what your service/product does, why it does it better than anything else, and how you're helping people solve a problem or gain some kind of entertainment or value. So selling could be in the form of a very well defined sales funnel (a la 37signals), writing/publishing content as a loss leader (a la 37signals), releasing open source content (a la 37signals), and ultimately building up a base of users/customers because you were able to get good at communicating with them. Or, even as Jason Fried has said (and I do agree) selling is almost like teaching others something. If you can teach well, you've got a shot at selling (and communicating well). But yes, being able to "press the flesh" and meet face-to-face, do deals with large customers, sell custom contracts or whatever is also selling. It might be that kind of selling that the geeks often struggle with.