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The "we did it and we do just fine" argument to me is really what's overrated here. How do you know you are doing just fine? How much of the market have you ca

The "we did it and we do just fine" argument to me is really what's overrated here. How do you know you are doing just fine? How much of the market have you captured? How big is that market? What if you had created your business plan 5 years ago and today you did triple your sales? Would that extra 2-3 weeks of work be worth it?

run4yourlives 18y ago
How do you know you are doing just fine? I'm pretty sure they just look at their bank accounts. In all seriousness, there's doing fine and being greedy. There will always be a step to climb, a market to reach or revenue to grow. The goal is to do enough to enjoy life and be comfortable, not to be the richest man in the world. At some point, you can do "well enough" and not worry about what "could have been".
- mauricio 18y ago
  I'm sure their investors would disagree.
  - run4yourlives 18y ago
    They are their investors. :-)
    - johns 18y ago
      They're not the only investors. They've taken outside funding (only because they wanted to, not because they had to). Either way, I doubt their investors care much because 37s wouldn't have taken them on if they didn't have compatible values.
    - mauricio 18y ago
      http://www.37signals.com/svn/archives2/bezos_expeditions_invests_in_37signals.php http://www.37signals.com/svn/archives2/bezos_expeditions_inv... My point is this: Though they may have taken Jeff Bezos on for his expertise, Bezos made his investment to earn a return. You don't invest in private or public stocks in a capitalist world to do just fine. You don't start a business for that reason either. That's not greed, that's entrepreneurship.
davidw 18y ago
From everything I've gathered, they are doing just fine. However I still agree with the doubts about "we did it and we do just fine", because they're outliers in some ways, rather than just a couple of average guys working on an average software product.

run4yourlives 18y ago

How do you know you are doing just fine? I'm pretty sure they just look at their bank accounts. In all seriousness, there's doing fine and being greedy. There will always be a step to climb, a market to reach or revenue to grow. The goal is to do enough to enjoy life and be comfortable, not to be the richest man in the world. At some point, you can do "well enough" and not worry about what "could have been".

mauricio 18y ago
I'm sure their investors would disagree.
- run4yourlives 18y ago
  They are their investors. :-)
  - johns 18y ago
    They're not the only investors. They've taken outside funding (only because they wanted to, not because they had to). Either way, I doubt their investors care much because 37s wouldn't have taken them on if they didn't have compatible values.
  - mauricio 18y ago
    http://www.37signals.com/svn/archives2/bezos_expeditions_invests_in_37signals.php http://www.37signals.com/svn/archives2/bezos_expeditions_inv... My point is this: Though they may have taken Jeff Bezos on for his expertise, Bezos made his investment to earn a return. You don't invest in private or public stocks in a capitalist world to do just fine. You don't start a business for that reason either. That's not greed, that's entrepreneurship.

davidw 18y ago

From everything I've gathered, they are doing just fine. However I still agree with the doubts about "we did it and we do just fine", because they're outliers in some ways, rather than just a couple of average guys working on an average software product.