Year In Review: Growing As a Company
With the year ending, it's a good time to reflect on how far you've come in the past year as a company.
Today, the cofounders of 37signals, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, discuss the growth of the company in 2022 and some of the significant changes they made this year.
They'll walk us through some of the new positions they’ve added, the challenges they faced along the way, and how they work to preserve a culture at 37signals that aligns with who they are.
Show Notes:
[00:42] - Jason shares how their two hits, Basecamp and HEY, were the primary motivators to change the way they operate (and grow).
[02:44] - How a bigger team is helping 37signals stay on track with their goals.
[03:44] -David shares that after 20 years, the extra team members are helping to ensure everything gets done without over-scheduling and a little more downtime.
[06:40] - The importance of expanding the team to be more available for their customers to help them better use the 37signals products.
[08:13] - How they are creating educational tools to help their customers get more out of their products.
[09:26] - Making the experience of buying Basecamp feel more luxurious.
[11:13] - David discusses their painful experiences with not expanding their team to mitigate business risk.
[13:04] - Jason shares what's tricky about new roles from the book, Rework.
[14:01] - How to stop replaying your greatest hits and embrace the growth experience.
[15:12] - How new blood and fresh perspectives help you test your old ideas to see if they've improved.
[17:44] - The joys and challenges of letting go and leaning into growth.
[19:01] - The frustrating and rewarding process of putting things on someone else's plate—even if YOU are good at them.
[21:49] - The challenge of seeing beyond HOW the work is done to focus on the outcome.
[22:54] - Why the culture at an 80-person company cannot be the same as the culture of a 40-person company, and what David and Jason are doing to ensure it remains true to who they are and what they stand for.
[26:16] - If you have a specific question for Jason and David about a better way to work and run your business, leave us a voicemail at 708-628-7850, and we might answer it on an upcoming show.
Links and Resources:
Do you have a question for Jason and David? Leave us a voicemail at 708-628-7850
Basecamp
Dev.37signals
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