37signals

10 Mar 2009

Next up in my digital reading list:

http://www.37signals.com/svn/

I’ll skip the normal, ‘Why you should be reading their blog’ and start with a couple of videos.  Why not let the guys who run the company tell you in their own words what they are up to?

::Plus have you ever tried to type with a band-aid on your index finger? I’m all over the keyboard tonight, and not in a good way::

http://www.businessinnovationfactory.com/iss/video/bif3-jason-fried

I’ll let Jason continue on with how he markets his company and his decision to out teach the competition:

http://www.businessinnovationfactory.com/iss/video/bif4-jason-fried

and lastly:

http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1329-my-talk-at-the-business-of-software-conference-september-2008

37signals has provided me a wealth of information on how one might manage, market, and sell software in the day an age when most companies are giving their software away for free.  How do they do it?

They are assholes.

I’m not the first person to associate 37signals with the term ‘assholes’.  I’m more of a ‘hop on the bandwagon’ type person with this association, but its true…for the most part these guys are assholes.

And it works for them.

They have very strong opinions on how to run a business and they are not afraid to tell you exactly what they are thinking.  The guys at 37signals will likely insult you and your life’s work if you work for a large corporation.  Are you not doing things the way they would prescribe?  They will likely call you a dummy, and then they will move right along without a care in the world.

This style, this arrogance, this ‘assholeness’ works for them.  They have created a strong following of people coming to them for insight and advice on how to manage, market, and sell software.

I have taken away several ideas from their blog over the past couple of years that has shaped how I would market, design products, and build software that I would like to share here:

1. It’s ok to swear in a presentation, given its done tastefully and not abused: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1214-profanity-works

2. Out teach your competition, show that you are the thought leaders in your area of expertise.

This is my favorite message I keep hearing from 37signals, it is a very subtle yet very clever message.  For example, I need to paint my house this summer, the paint is beginning to peel, and it will turn very unsightly come mid August if I do not take action this spring.  I could certainly paint the house myself…there is an abundance of material online to show me the proper way to paint a house.  All the knowledge I would ever desire on the topic of house painting is available for free online.

Am I going to do it myself?

No.

Two reasons: painting my house is not my passion, and my wife does not want me up on a ladder for the better part of the spring attempting to paint the second floor.  To my first point, my passion, who wants to spend every weekend for month and nights after work painting?  I could do it and have done it in the past, and I learned that some things are better left to the experts.

With all the knowledge in the world on how to paint my house, I realize I am not in the best position to do it, and I will gladly pay someone to do the job in a week where it would likely take me three.

I believe this concept translates over to software and product design.  Sure, most competent developers could develop your software or product, but do they possess the passion to see the process through to the end?  Why not go out and buy the product instead of re-inventing the wheel, and in the process why not buy it from the ‘thought leader’ in the industry?

3.Create Fans

Jason states in one of his videos they have over 100k visitors to their blog on a daily basis.  These are people who are motivated to learn from 37signals and they seek out 37signals daily.  In all likelihood these are also the people willing to buy their software.  They’ve created people who are passionate about who they are, and what they sell.  37signals has likely turned peoples’ passion into sales.

1. Just say ‘No’

‘There are no software editors in an industry that desperately needs them…’  Pick a piece of software you are using right now…can you name all of its features?  Microsoft Excel has about 90 features I’m never ever going to use, ::have you tried to use pivot tables?:: yet there they are, all 90 of them taking up real-estate space, using resources, vying for my attention.  It’s not just Microsoft, I’m typing this post on a MacBook using ‘Pages’, Apple’s answer to Word.  Guess what?  Pages still too many features.  Apple has done a better job of hiding their features, yet they are still there, lurking, one mouse click away, ready to confuse and irritate you into having to learn or figure something else out when all I want to do is write a simple blog post.

37signals does more by doing less.  They say ‘No’ to most of their requests for new features or new ideas for their product.  They take a bold stance, ‘if you don’t like what we are doing there are several other software companies out there doing things like us, go try them out.’  37signals is telling people if you don’t agree with us check out our competition.  It seems perverse, sending customers to your competition, however this strategy allows 37signals to make very simple, easy to use products that are directed at people who believe in the way 37signals sees the world…products directed to their fans.

I’ll end this post with the best video I have seen out of 37signals:

http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/981-the-secret-to-making-money-online

It’s simple, charge money.  Period.