This Week in Startups E1099: Basecamp Co-Founder Jason Fried on building Hey, making email exciting again, Hey vs. Apple & more
5 snips
Aug 21, 2020 
In this engaging conversation, Jason Fried, co-founder of Basecamp and Hey.com, shares his journey in revolutionizing email. He discusses the challenges of launching Hey, emphasizing user frustrations with traditional email and the importance of interoperability. Fried reveals the two-year quest for the domain hey.com and reflects on the strict App Store policies affecting small developers. The talk dives into the dynamic landscape of email services and stresses transparency and user privacy, while addressing remote work's emotional toll during the pandemic.
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Email's Interoperability
- Email's wide reach and interoperability make it a valuable communication medium.
- Building an email service allows for deeper innovation than building an email client.
Vertical Integration
- Consider vertical integration to gain control and enable innovation when improving existing products.
- If you build on top of someone else's platform you sacrifice potential improvements due to underlying limitations.
Acquiring Hey.com
- Jason Fried acquired hey.com after 18 months of negotiation with the original owner.
- The domain was registered in 1995 by a video marketing professional.