[Jd]

I believe today what I've always believed - net profits rule, bootstrapping is the way to start a business, and spending less than you earn is the only way to have a healthy relationship with money.

Don't you also have a rule about not growing beyond a certain number of employees?

[jasonfried]

No we don't have a rule about not growing beyond a certain number of employees. We believe in keeping things as small as possible. Currently for us that's a bit under 30, but if as small as possible means 40, then we'll be at 40. We are opposed to hiring more people than we need.

[Jd]

Need to do what? I've never quite understood 37sig's vision besides being comfortable and profitable (and I assume I'm not the only one).

[jasonfried]

Need to run the business, design and develop our existing and future products, maintain and improve our infrastructure, and serve our customers at the highest standards we're capable of.

Plus balance all that with maintaining the type of culture and environment we all want to work in, for, and towards.

For us it's about balance. Rapid growth is not balance. Not having enough people to serve our customers is not balance. Not improving our products frequently enough is not balance.

Balance is a moving target. Sometimes we're in better balance than other times. But the goal there is to try to strike the right balance as often as possible.

I hope that helps shed a bit more light on what we need to do. Have a nice weekend.

[tptacek]

What does this have to do with Groupon's valuation? It seems like Jason got baited into setting the record straight on his involvement with Groupon and is now being chased around the thread about 37signals. 37signals and Groupon are, obviously, very different businesses.

[Jd]

Jason is a pop icon in the tech world and was obviously asked to be on the Groupon board because of his work w/ 37sig and Rework, etc. I think asking questions on whether his corporate philosophy is consistent with his recent actions is totally on point, although certainly there is no obligation on his part to answer them.

Also, from the back of Jason's book, "Pick a fight." That's actually what this whole thread is about. DHH has been on a campaign to pick a fight with what he considers overvalued companies.

[tptacek]

If you're interested in how Fried contributed to Groupon's operational management strategy, you should ask questions about Groupon. Unfortunately, the answers to those questions will probably be boring, because he just said that was never his role.

If you're interested in how 37signals is operated, you should start a separate thread about 37signals.

Groupon and 37signals are very interesting contrasting Chicago tech companies and would make an excellent comparative study, but Fried's involvement with both companies doesn't really set up the "consistency" narrative you're (maybe inadvertently) creating.

[Jd]

I'm not asking him questions about how he manages, I'm asking him what his philosophy is. Very different. 37signals has often been seen as being on the anti-large company bandwagon, and obviously Jason and DHH co-wrote a book together called Rework in which they share all of their wisdom, including things like "You don’t need to staff up."

Jason responded that his philosophy is "balance." That's all well and good, but is that consistent with his involvement in Groupon? That's how this originally came up.

Certainly he has been very gracious to respond at all, and I think he's convinced me (and hopefully others) that there is no necessary inconsistency in preferring balance for one's own company and rapid growth for another -- or simply acknowledging that even if one doesn't gel with another philosophy on rapid growth that one can still provide valuable advice on design, etc.

Is that consistent with his philosophy as stated in Rework? I'm still not sure...