Come Small, Come All

There's a lot of talk in the tech world about getting bigger, growing as fast as you can, and getting investor money so you can scale quickly. 

 

But that's not the only path. And recently, we've seen that being bigger only sometimes works well for companies. 

 

Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, the Co-founders of 37signals, discuss the bigger is better culture in tech and why the human connection inherently built into small businesses can actually be an advantage. Plus, their invitation to small businesses to think differently through their open letter called, Come small, come all. 

 

Show Notes: 

 

[00:44] - Jason shares why it's important to note that Basecamp is interested in helping the Fortune 5 million and the small shop down the street. 

[01:49] - David shares why it's important to him to be honest about the company's target audience. 

[03:29] - The key to finding the right dance partner that's your bread and butter. 

[05:30] - David shares the funny anecdote about when Twitter was a customer of Campfire and how they tried to "scare them away." 

[08:50] - "We found our space. Can we just stay here?"

[09:59] - Jason shares why leaning into the space you are uniquely suited for and being closer to the work is an advantage. 

[12:08] - Why it's essential to cultivate confidence in the human connection built into small businesses.

[13:36] - The unsustainable quest for a big market share.  

[15:10] - How starting out during the original .com boom and bust cycle taught Jason and David to make sure the company has margin times three.

[18:28] - How to look like both an idiot and an oracle without changing a thing about the way you do business. 

[21:10] - Where business breakthroughs come from. 

[23:45] - How large companies devour innovation.

[24:16] - A special offer to help make Basecamp affordable for new customers that sign up by December 31st. 

 

Links and Resources:

Basecamp Open Letter to Small Businesses

On Company Size

New Customer Offer: $11 per user/per month with the first three users entirely on us for the first 12 months

37signals on YouTube
The REWORK podcast

The 37signals Dev Blog

@reworkpodcast on Twitter

@37signals on Twitter