Disqus - Latest Comments for Jason Fried

Re: The Way I Work: Jason Fried of 37Signals

Jason Fried — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:47:32 -0000

Totally agree. We have a wonderful team. We're very careful about the people we hire. There are lots of people with great skills out there, but we make sure the folks we hire are great *people* first.

Basically, if there was a "company fantasy league" I wouldn't trade my team.

Re: The Way I Work: Jason Fried of 37Signals

Jason Fried — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:41:21 -0000

Thanks Vicky. Great to hear from you again. Maybe we can set up another talk at MATC spring 2010. We'll be in touch.

Re: Hitting the reset button: My thoughts on BIG Omaha

Jason Fried — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:54:05 -0000

Wait... is this Jason Fried just pushing himself?

Re: The Way I Work: Jason Fried of 37Signals

Jason Fried — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:19:53 -0000

We never billed hourly when we used to do client work (from 1999-2005). We always billed by the project. I've never believed in billing by the hour because it's a penalty for efficiency. The client is paying for the overall project - the end deliverable - not the amount of hours you put in or didn't put in. Why should you be penalized for working twice as fast or twice as smart as the next guy? More hours doesn't equal better value for a customer- it just equals more hours.

Re: The Way I Work: Jason Fried of 37Signals

Jason Fried — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:56:21 -0000

I had an electronic kit a few years ago, but it just didn't feel right. I should check them out again. Good reminder.

Re: The Way I Work: Jason Fried of 37Signals

Jason Fried — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:32:49 -0000

Yup, I watch fiction. I just don't read it.

I have limited time to read so I choose to read non-fiction. Not dismissing fiction for anyone else - I just prefer to spend my reading time learning things that are real. So many amazing real/true stories out there. The world is an incredible place.

Re: Wesabe Raises $4M in Series A Funding

Jason Fried — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 16:28:55 -0000

"Raising money is a necessity for all start-ups and the process is often such a roller coaster and can really impact the morale of the team when it drags on."

Raising money is not a necessity for all start-ups. Some start-ups may be able to benefit from it (hopefully Wesabe is one of them), but it is not a necessity.

Re: Andy Grove comes to visit

Jason Fried — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:59:57 -0000

"Jackie Mason" -- holy shit was that funny.

Re: Catching up Friday, before long weekend…

Jason Fried — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 10:21:23 -0000

Thanks for the Campfire mention.

We're a distributed team in that there's 5 of us in Chicago, 1 of us in NYC, and 1 of us in Utah, but our central office is in Chicago.

Re: Wherefor art thou, Basecamp?

Jason Fried — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 11:58:25 -0000

Have a look at this forum post. We've also linked it up on your Basecamp Dashboard:

http://basecamphq.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2329

Re: Good Customer Service … Where did it go?

Jason Fried — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 11:58:33 -0000

Actually, all we said was that these emails raised eyebrows. We appreciate everyone's feedback -- good or bad, normalized or sensationalized -- we just wanted to share a few of the sensationalized ones.

90% of everything we add to our products originate as customer requests. We listen, learn, and act as we always have.

Re: 37 Willy Wonkas

Jason Fried — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 12:12:35 -0000

Beta hype cycle? There is no beta. We don't release betas. We release 1.0 release versions.

We're just previewing the app while we put the finishing touches on it. It's not ready to release otherwise we would have released it.

Re: Highrise - Update

Jason Fried — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:25:27 -0000

Thanks for the kind words! We definitely appreciate it.

Re: http://gary.tumblr.com/post/78889405

Jason Fried — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:24:45 -0000

I'm not kidding when I tell you that totally made my day. Completely unexpected. Gary, you rock. Thanks a million buddy. Looking forward to getting some hang time when you're in Chicago for SEED and TechCoctail.

Re: Your Backpack just got a lot bigger

Jason Fried — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:07:00 -0000

Basecamp and Backpack are entirely different products for different purposes.

Basecamp is a web-based project management tool. You can use it to collaborate with clients on projects. Set deadlines, assign tasks, share project files, discuss project details, and manage multiple projects at the same time. You can think of Basecamp as a huge filing cabinet with different folders for each project you're working on. Each folder contains messages, tasks, files, and milestones for that specific project.

Backpack is an intranet and group calendar tool. It takes just 30 seconds to get started. Use Backpack to share information, knowledge, files, schedules, to-do lists and more inside your organization. Post company-wide announcements too. You can think of Backpack as a cork bulletin board where you'd share stuff with your team. Tack up notes, a calendar, internal forms, announcements, etc.

Re: Congrats to 37 Signals

Jason Fried — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 18:41:59 -0000

Thanks Scoble! We hope you'll be using some of our *new* products shortly ;)

Re: 37 Signals’ new CRM software gets noticed

Jason Fried — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 16:59:19 -0000

Chris I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but you don't need us to cancel your account for you. Cancellation is self service. You can log into your account anytime, click the Account tab, then click the cancel link. Once you cancel you'll never be charged again. No questions asked, no forms to fill out, no numbers to call. Just log in, click account, and click cancel.

Re: 37 Signals’ new CRM software gets noticed

Jason Fried — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 17:10:34 -0000

I'll also add that we include cancellation instructions at the top of every invoice we send you. We go out of our way to make cancellation obvious and easy should you want to move on.

Re: 37 Signals’ new CRM software gets noticed

Jason Fried — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 20:34:56 -0000

Thanks Mike, we appreciate that.

Re: I Canceled My Basecamp Account Today

Jason Fried — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 11:34:19 -0000

For the record we've never said "we’re right, everyone else is wrong" and we don't believe "we’re right, everyone else is wrong"

We simply share what's worked for us. If all of it works for you, great. If some of it works for you, great. If none of it works for you, great. Take whatever value you find and leave the rest behind.

You may want to review this chapter from our book:
http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch01_Caveats_d...

Specifically:

"You take too much of a black and white view."
If our tone seems too know-it-allish, bear with us. We think it's better to present ideas in bold strokes than to be wishy-washy about it. If that comes off as cocky or arrogant, so be it. We'd rather be provocative than water everything down with "it depends..." Of course there will be times when these rules need to be stretched or broken. And some of these tactics may not apply to your situation. Use your judgement and imagination.

Re: I Canceled My Basecamp Account Today

Jason Fried — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 13:21:10 -0000

Douglas, our blog has been the same since 1999. Our blog carries the same voice that we use to talk amongst ourselves. We don’t invent a tie-wearing persona for our public communications. We are who we are -- both on and off stage. We don't make excuses. We're very proud of that. I wish more people and companies were like that.

We share our ideas without a filter. That's how we've always done things and will continue to do things. We believe it's better to be yourself than to be someone else -- no matter the circumstance. Sometimes we swear. Big deal. Sometimes you call us "ignorant." Big deal. Both are equally offensive if you're looking for an opportunity to be offended.

We've never tried to make everyone happy. We understand some people don't like how we talk or how we think or how we act. That's fine. There are plenty of people who don't like you either. That's fine. That's life.

Since you have feedback for us, I have feedback for you. You said: "A couple days ago, their blog introduced another chunk of ignorance." Regarding: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/357-people-d...

Are the people who agree with us in the comments ignorant too? Are you comfortable calling all these people ignorant as well? Is Richard Bird ignorant? Is Steven Bao ignorant? Is Ben Richardson ignorant? Is Amie Gillingham ignorant? Is Dave Rosen ignorant? Is Scott Meade from Concept Share ignorant? Is Anthony Casalena from SquareSpace ignorant too? Is Josh Williams from BlinkSale ignorant? Would you post a comment on your blog or ours saying all these folks are ignorant too? Or will you not stand behind your words? Do you mean what you say?

Is Ryan ignorant for posting this?
http://notrocketsurgery.com/articles/2007/04/02...

You may want to reserve "ignorant" for comments that deserve it like racism, bigotry, xenophobia -- not someone's opinion on the length of an email.

Re: 10 Take-Aways From the O’Reilly TOC Conference

Jason Fried — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:32:31 -0000

Thanks for including me on the list, Debbie. It's always fun to shake things up a little. I'm not sure how most of the audience absorbed the talk, but I'n glad you enjoyed it.

Re: Running a Studio Business – Free Tools

Jason Fried — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:43:34 -0000

Thanks for listing both Basecamp and Highrise! Glad they've been useful. Let us know how we can make them even better.

Re: Rework: Getting Real 2.0. The New Book From 37Signals Will Be Available March 2010. - 6ix Passions

Jason Fried — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:31:40 -0000

We can't wait to get it to you! Hurry up March, 2010!