The Biography of 37signals, Whose Web Apps Are Used By 3 Million People – with Jason Fried

Jason Fried, 37signals, Bootstrapping, Hiring, SaaS (software as a service), Scaling, System

Instead of debating his contrarian business views, I asked Jason Fried about how 37signals used those ideas to bootstrap a company that’s been profitable since its first year in business and whose web apps are used by over 3 million people.

If you listen to us go through the biography of 37signals, I think you’ll understand Jason’s minimalist approach to business and see how it helps a company grow. Along the way, even diehard fans of 37signals will learn some things that I don’t think have been revealed before, like what the company does with all those profits they make.

Jason’s book, REWORK, recently became a bestseller for the same reasons that I think this interview will be one of my post popular, he takes bold stands and backs them up with his own experiences.

Jason Fried

37signals

Jason Fried is the co-founder and President of 37signals. Jason believes there’s real value and beauty in the basics. Jason co-wrote all of 37signals books, and is invited to speak around the world on entrepreneurship, design, management, and software.

 

Andrew: This interview is sponsored by Grasshopper, the virtual phone system that entrepreneurs love because you can use your own phones, and manage it on the web. Check out Grasshopper.com. It’s also sponsored by WuFoo, where you can go right now to get embeddable forms and surveys that you can add to your website for free. Go to WuFoo.com. And it’s sponsored by Shopify. When you go to Shopify.com, you can create a store within minutes, and have all the support and features that you need to make that store grow. Check out Shopify.com. Here’s the program.

Hey, everyone. It’s Andrew Warner, founder of Mixergy.com, Home of the Ambitious Upstart. Today I’ve got with me Jason Fried, co-founder of 37Signals, the bootstrapped company that has over three million users of their web based apps. And the co-founder of Rework. Jason, how’s the book doing, by the way, before we into the rest of the interview?

Interviewee: The book’s...

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