11min chapter

Jason Fried challenges your thinking on fundraising, goals, growth, and more

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

notes

CHAPTER

Building Products with ShapeUp

This chapter discusses the unique approach to working at 37 Signals, highlighting their framework called ShapeUp for building products and emphasizing the concept of appetites and small teams.

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Transcript

Episode notes

Jason Fried is the co-founder and CEO of 37signals, the maker of Basecamp and HEY. 37signals is a very different kind of company. With fewer than 80 employees, they have over 100,000 customers, generate tens of millions of dollars in profit each year, and have no investors, board, or any plans to ever raise money or sell the company. In our conversation, we explore a path many tech founders never consider—bootstrapping. We discuss:

• Why he and his team prioritize profit above all else

• The unexpected challenges with raising venture capital

• The “Shape Up” framework for building products

• Why, and how, to foster a gut-driven culture

• Jason’s thoughts on why work should not feel like war

• Advice for starting a bootstrapped business

• The philosophy behind Once, 37signals’s new line of software products

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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/jason-fried-challenges-your-thinking

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Where to find Jason Fried:

• X: https://twitter.com/jasonfried

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-fried/

• Email: jason@hey.com

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/