Jason Fried and 37Signals: long-term thinking
flickr/Shane Adams
Fried says build your company slowly, don't burn out your employees, and is happy with 35 employees rather than hundreds.
Fast Company's interview, “37signals Earns Millions Each Year. Its CEO’s Model? His Cleaning Lady,” includes CEO speak rarely heard in the tech world today. Jason Fried tells how hard it was to get employees to accept four day work weeks in the summer; they kept using short-term thinking to “just get it done.” He prefers “to encourage quality work.”
Almost three years ago, Inc. printed “The Way I Work: Jason Fried of 37Signals.” At the time there were 16 employees, eight in the Chicago area. He didn't care how many hours employees worked, as long as the work got done. “I spend another good portion of my day thinking about how to make things less complicated.” At the time, he wrote every word on the 37Signals website. And hates meetings.
Long-term thinking
It is a slow grow but opportunities abound with the right approach and resources.
Rebecca on fastcompany.com
if you want job security, the answer is "customers". There is no other shortcut in business.
kevin_morrill on news.ycombinator.com
The blueprint of growing organically using real profits to drive your growth? Yeah, it works.
Matthew Case on fastcompany.com
Employee love
it's so cool after 12 hour burnout at work to read and see that there are REAL people who care of what they do and their employees!
ASKUSKUS on fastcompany.com
I think you can be very successful in business by being honest and treating employees with respect. If you let them know what the goal is and they are free to find ways to get there, you will be a long-term success.
JMH on inc.com
Jason has done a good job implementing a 4 days work. By giving employees time to enjoy, they come back fresher and better.
Amber King on fastcompany.com
Tech business
It's your life for crying out loud. Why waste it working like a Trojan to make some already rich investor slightly richer on the bollock ideas of some tech nerd. That model is for the birds guys.
JOE on fastcompany.com
I'm not sure I'd call any of 37 Signals' services all that great, however, if by "great" we mean innovative. There's nothing special about them except that they were there early and they're simple. But that's not what I'd call innovation, and I don't think it makes them great.
sabat on news.ycombinator.com
Also, painting the valley as "sick" and "disgusting", feels one sided.
wamatt on news.ycombinator.com
Does your company have four-day weeks in the summer? Would you get into that habit willingly?
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