Harvard Business Publishing

I've been a 37signals fan for some time. I love the updated spin on less is more as Jason points out, "less is less". In my business I regularly realize how bloated our software has become and ironically our corporate approach is not much different. Grow organically (stay the 37signals coarse for a few years). Get some critical mass. Raise venture financing. Hire like crazy. Play in the "arms race" for features and functionality. Get bloated and then wonder why things are not growing. The one thing I can say is that we've maintained our willingness and ability to recognize change opportunities and capitalize, even if that means taking a bit of a step backwards. Thanks for reminding me about some pretty fundamental components to what got us here.

37Signals has always been cool. They have style no doubt about it. They're also smart, IMHO. But they seem to emphasize a key underlining characteristic in how the world functions. When everybody goes right because it's "a proven and time tested concept", often, the best idea is to go left. If something has been around long enough to be totally proven and tested against time, chances are it's been around for too long. Methods, like markets, can become over saturated. It doesn't take long for this to happen. So when somebody decides to go with the proven trustworthy solution, they're guaranteeing they'll be okay. But that's all they're guaranteeing, that they'll be okay. If they want to be great, they'll go for the untested, the still unqualified, the still inexperienced or even better yet, something nobody has ever touched before. With great risk comes great reward. And even if you lose everything, it'll always be better than being okay.

"There’s no question that 37Singals is succeeding."

Hmmm, "Singals" would be a great name for girls-only punk band ;-)

Nice article though.

Nice catch, Jan. The typo has been corrected.

37S is the dope right there!
There is an interesting "sub-rosa" network under construction (not very different from the Apple-Google-Cingular" relationship). Only this time its "The Deck-37S-18 other Deck Companies-Blinksale-other `less software`type companies". Maybe this is the true legacy of Web 2.0. But...what do I know ...

Do one thing, do it right, and you cannot fail. Bill is correct in that the more you try to be everything to everyone the greater chance of disappointing your customers and the greater chance of failure. I wrote on a similar topic for my FastCompany blog Mindless Elsewhere.

Great piece Bill.

Love the concept....I've fought for years with a managment team that wants to do 'everything' instead of getting really good at what you are good at.

Couldn't agree more. In fact, I think you will find there are others doing the same thing. They are on the small side and happy to be below the radar and under-estimated. At a recent national event, mentioned to the lead speaker that I've got two associations sharing a publication. He had never heard of such an animal. And the animal is even profitable. The key is not doing all the fancy promos but keeping "the guts" clean and direct and not worrying about winning awards. Glad it's recognized as a real process. For me, below the radar works just fine.

Maybe the real problem is that companies don't know what they are great at. True, some companies have a defined purpose and drive, but other seem to fall into different areas in the name of profit. When you get so involved in chasing profit, you can easily lose sight of what you are good at.

Or even worse yet, some companies are truly not great at anything at all. They can manage several different avenues at a mediocre level, but when challenged, cannot perform one task to excellence - even their primary task.

Same concept - different industry. We're selling specialized print media through distribution. We have rejected all temptations to go "direct" or add unrelated products to our product offering, even thought there are literally thousands of products used in our industry and sold by our Distributors. Pick your cliche': we know our core competency - we do indeed do one thing, and do it right - resulting in 16 straight years of success.

I agree 100% but caution readers into thinking this is a simple thing for any company to pull off. This isn't merely a business or marketing strategy for this company - it appears to drip from the virtual mortar that surrounds them.

A culture that could foster less is less is pretty tough for most people to pull off because so many people tell you it's so wrong.

10 years ago I was in the staffing industry. Looking around at the successful companies you could see that they were focusing on a small niche, designing and improving their operating system to deliver just what's needed in a quality manner. I realized then and carried the principle forward into my Real Estate Investment business that "the most important decision you make; is the customers you decide to take."

Bill: Thanks for coming out to Chicago to visit with us. It was a real pleasure chatting with you. And thanks to everyone who's taken the time to post a comment -- it's great to hear from you too.

A super concept. I am so tired of extras and options on products or services, where the base product fails!
Make a plain bagel that tastes superb and stays fresh for more than one day, rather than 28 kinds that all taste mediocre...

As a business owner of a fairly young company, it is very rewarding coming across an article like this. We founded our business on providing a fairly simple service (to us anyway)in a convoluted marketplace. We have dabbled in offering other products and services as a means to generate more profit for us with mixed results. The one constant we have seen is that what we set our to do is really what we are best at, and profit the greatest from. Hats off to 37Signals, thanks for sharing the story which truly mirrors our beliefs.

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