This is a great shutter letter, but I'll play devil's advocate: When someone starts something from scratch, there is a clear message of "We're trying to make t

This is a great shutter letter, but I'll play devil's advocate: When someone starts something from scratch, there is a clear message of "We're trying to make this work, join us in the experiment." Anyone with half a brain understands the possibility that the idea could fail and either languish or die. Thoughtful users assess how they will participate on that basis. 37signals is not a startup. When they announce they are launching something, people are less likely to think that it could fail, and more likely to jump in. 37signals benefits from that good will, and has presumably a better chance of success, or at least a higher rate of guaranteed sampling, than some random startup. As such, 37signals is potentially in a position where they should be more committed than the average startup, and more graceful in their handling of failure. In short, they should be held to a higher standard. It's still a good letter.