
The early days: How 37signals built buzz out of the gate  - pbnaidu
http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1125-the-early-days-how-37signals-built-buzz-out-of-the-gate
======
josefresco
With great anticipation did I click through to read this article ready to
gather evidence to blast 37signals once again for their tired "we did it, so
can you, it's simple" philosophy. Instead, what I found was a very useful blog
post outlining effective guerrilla techniques to get noticed. Nice post and it
shows you that it's not always about who you know.

~~~
run4yourlives
Just a question: How is 37Signals' _"we did it, so can you, it's simple"_ any
different than pg's _"we did it, so can you, it's simple"_ approach?

Is pg's approach tired as well? Actually curious because the only difference
in my mind between the two in this respect is that they have slightly
different definitions of "it".

~~~
hugh
They've always struck me as being pretty similar. Although I guess pg plays
down the "easy" bit more than 37signals does.

Another difference: YC's business model is actually based on persuading lots
of eager young folks to attempt "it", whereas 37signals ultimately doesn't
give a damn whether you do or not.

Not attempting to criticise anybody here, just making observations.

~~~
aneesh
Continuing that line of reasoning, that makes 37signals the more "credible"
source because they're unbiased. YC has a vested financial interest in lots of
young people attempting "it".

Now that doesn't have to mean it's not in your interests too ...

~~~
dhbradshaw
On the other hand, 37signals remains, for the most part, the story of one
success. YC has the chance to participate in and collect experience from many.

~~~
alabut
"the story of one success" - only if you consider the company succeeding as
their sole success. But another metric is to compare the number of successful
products 37signals has put out. They've made a bunch of apps and most (all?)
of them do very well in their respective areas (lots of paying customers!)
because of the common development philosophy they share.

In other words, when it comes to their ideas on how to build stuff well (a mix
of agile programming and user-centered design they call Getting Real) they put
their money where their mouths are.

<http://gettingreal.37signals.com/>

------
neovive
37 Signals is a great example of how it takes more than good technology to
succeed. Although, I doubt it's as simple as they make it seem. However, after
reading their articles, it's hard not to think, "I can do that to."

~~~
dhh
Success is never guaranteed. It'll always be hard. No matter what you do --
follow Getting Real or get $10M in VC -- you'll probably fail. That's a truth
of statistics.

But the risk of failure should hardly deter you, so if you're left with "I can
do that too", then that's mission accomplished for us.

~~~
neovive
Getting Real was definitely very motivating for me and changed my outlook on
web development for the better. Big thanks to the team at 37Signals for
putting it out there for all to learn from ... even though it cost me $20 to
get it early ;).

~~~
davidw
If you liked 'Getting Real', you might also like 'Growing a Business':

<http://www.squeezedbooks.com/book/show/4/growing-a-business>

He said many of the same things 20 years before 'Getting Real', and as an
added bonus, you get a _real_ paper book for nearly half of what Getting Real
cost you. Ask tptacek, he seems to have enjoyed the book:-)

