I'm going to be that guy and say that this is a bad idea. When you're jumping through hoops to get attention, people get used to it. And they start expecting it by default. Especially when it's for a job.
That's especially true in the case of 37signals. It was novel the first time someone built a website just to get hired. The 2nd time it was probably still cool. By 5th, 6th or 10th time, the gesture likely lost its novelty.
There isn't a playbook for doing something worthy of a company's attention (sans warm intro). But there's something to be said for non-traditional, creative outreach.
However, I am ready to go above and beyond at any position I am at for my own personal reasons, so it won't be much of a stretch, just a taste of what's to come.
There isn't a playbook for doing something worthy of a company's attention (sans warm intro). But there's something to be said for non-traditional, creative outreach.