[epo]

It used to be a golden rule for investors that they should see signs of needless ostentation (e.g. a fountain in reception, limos for all executives) as a danger signal. Excuse the pun but making a film about yourself does not send out a good, signal about 37signals.

[hfthrowaway]

Have you seen the production quality of Apple's manufacturing videos? The ones that include Jony Ive and Bob Mansfield?

People like working with human-centered companies. Showcasing what goes on behind the scenes is yet another marketing/"brand management" opportunity. Actually, its a definitive advantage because most software companies are run by socially awkward people.

Lastly, sighting investor's "golden rules" is ridiculous. Remember, most investors, especially in the venture business, are wrong more than half the time in aggregate.

[epo]

"citing". Some general principles, especially about human behaviour are ignored at your peril.

[jbarham]

Given that 37signals don't have investors, why should they care?

(I know that Bezos has tossed some money their way, but the terms were apparently in exchange for his advice, rather than for an eventual exit.)

[shareme]

It does in fact have investors

[jmonegro]

Not in the traditional startup way. They took some money from Jeff Bezos (in exchange for a little equity) a while back but it was so they could cash out. They didn't need it, and I'm pretty sure Bezos doesn't give a single fuck that they're doing this.

They aren't going to sell out, so Bezos wasn't looking at an exit as a return on his investment (and he doesn't need it either).

[skrebbel]

These guys sell 1.000.000-ish licenses of, say, $40 on average every month, with 25 employees (or something like that). Do the math on how much profit they're making. Now that they got bored of buying exclusive cars that match the Italy villa, they hired a filmmaker.

Why would they care what an investor thinks about that? The message to customers is, and will be, "so many people chose these products, they must be good". It'll take years for that trend to reverse, and by then they can just fire the filmmaker, hire one extra interaction designer and make another nice product that they can make everybody want.

[pdelgallego]

This will reinforce the 37signal brand, just like Getting real, or Rework did before.

They are going to release 25 videos, and they can count me in to see them. I had recently seen the peepcode double episode with Ryan Singer (UX at 37signals) and was worth the time.

[antonp]

I would think that hiring a film maker falls under the PR umbrella. PR adds value. Needless ostentation doesn't.

Time will tell.

[epo]

The PR industry say that PR adds value, but then they would, wouldn't they?

[maximusprime]

37Signals is mainly a company that engages in self promotion. Very little of what they do seems to be about products, it's mostly to do with PR.

Making a movie about themselves seems like exactly the sort of thing they would do, and I'm sure it'll be lapped up by their followers.