That's especially true in the case of 37signals. It was novel the first time someone built a website just to get hired. The 2nd time it was probably still coo

That's especially true in the case of 37signals. It was novel the first time someone built a website just to get hired. The 2nd time it was probably still cool. By 5th, 6th or 10th time, the gesture likely lost its novelty. There isn't a playbook for doing something worthy of a company's attention (sans warm intro). But there's something to be said for non-traditional, creative outreach.