[larrys]

"Why are you spinning off the business if it's profitable?"

I think it makes a lot of sense and is a smart move.

Gives an incentive to the person running it to "do their own thing" and by creating a separate entity they can also sell it more easily (if they want to). Or give an equity stake to Claire. And empower her to take chances she might not take if she is just "joining 37 signals" and is all distracted with general company goals.

More importantly it even creates a template to start other similar businesses and do the same. And not to get dragged into the day to day of each and every business or product line or decision.

[anon808]

Why not just keep the product in 37Signals if it's a profitable product?

"not to get dragged into the day to day of each and every business or product"; 37S has a successful history of getting into the day to day of every business and product, that's what they do exceptionally well. Why change that?