Founders at Work.pdf

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David Heinemeier Hansson 315 Livingston: So, much of your innovation was driven by your own needs, rather than your clients’ requests? Heinemeier Hansson: Very much so. It’s good to be market-driven in the sense that you should know what’s going on, but you can’t let your customers drive your product development. You need to be able to innovate on behalf of your customers, but they often don’t know what they want. And it’s the same thing for programmers. If you went around and asked them what they wanted in a framework, you wouldn’t get a good product out of that. You need to be able to source input from a lot of sources, and then have your vision of what it’s going to be and then drive that. You need to drive both framework development and product development with a strong vision, where you’re not afraid to turn somebody off. We’re not afraid to say to a customer, “Maybe Basecamp is not for you. If you want those five things, maybe you should go look for something else.” Livingston: Now that you have received a lot of publicity, have you been wooed by investors? Heinemeier Hansson: Yeah. We’ve gotten quite a lot of VC calls. But one of the things we’re seeing that we really don’t care too much for is that way too many companies are taking money when they don’t need it. And the whole idea we had was that having too little money is a great way of getting great product, because it’s a way to get focused. So we have definitely said to ourselves, “We don’t want any outside money. We actually don’t even want to grow our team.” We’re trying to design our products in a way that they can scale with more users without us having to scale as a company. So, through Signal vs. Noise, we’re trying to deliver a pushback to companies that feel like they have to hire a bunch of people as early as possible and to take money to realize their vision by saying, “If your vision of your product costs a million bucks to make, try rescoping that idea in your head so it fits in $100K and get it out there earlier. Instead of having a 1-year product cycle, what could you do in 1 month?” And sure, that doesn’t work for every company, but in the web age, it works for way more companies than are trying to. Livingston: Might you ever get acquired? Heinemeier Hansson: We’re not that focused on that at all, but we’re not ignorant to the world that we’re living in. There’s no urgency though, because we’re a profitable company just doing what we do. If somebody comes tomorrow and offers us $100 million, I’d be pretty foolish to say, “No, never.” Livingston: What’s been the most surprising thing? Heinemeier Hansson: I think I’m fairly surprised that we’ve been able to stay true to our initial values. Since we launched Basecamp, we’ve added only one more person, even though the product has grown like crazy. I’m definitely surprised that we’ve been able to grow and not write a whole lot of software, and still make a difference.
316 Founders at Work Livingston: Was it challenging having several of the 37signals team in different places? Heinemeier Hansson: We view it as advantageous actually, because the 7-hour time difference leads to “alone” time. In a company where everyone is in the same place, it’s very easy to walk down the hall and interrupt somebody. If you’re part of a distributed team that’s 7 hours off, you’re bound to have a good portion of the day where you just get work done. There are no interruptions. Another thing is that we communicate mainly through IM, which is a fairly low-bandwidth way of communicating, so you’re not going to disrupt somebody unless you’re going to say something that matters. If you meet in person, it’s very easy to just talk for 30 minutes, and what was the information exchange actually about?
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FOUNDERS AT WORK STORIES OF STARTUP
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For Da and PG
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vi Contents CHAPTER 11 ARTHUR VAN H
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Foreword Sprinters apparently reach
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Preface It’s been more than a yea
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About the Author Jessica Livingston
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xvi Acknowledgments Steve Papa, Tom
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xviii Introduction In addition to h
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2 Founders at Work on the floor of
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4 Founders at Work By then we had b
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6 Founders at Work impressive than
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8 Founders at Work said, “Yes, it
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10 Founders at Work Livingston: Wer
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12 Founders at Work The default of
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14 Founders at Work Livingston: Did
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16 Founders at Work pack up and bei
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18 Founders at Work look at other t
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20 Founders at Work management expe
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22 Founders at Work Livingston: You
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24 Founders at Work And then of cou
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26 Founders at Work Livingston: The
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28 Founders at Work Livingston: Web
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C H A P T E R 3 Steve Wozniak Cofou
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Steve Wozniak 33 I couldn’t reall
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Steve Wozniak 35 The dynamic RAMs w
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Steve Wozniak 37 Livingston: Do you
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Steve Wozniak 39 Wozniak: I got thi
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Steve Wozniak 41 living and life an
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Steve Wozniak 43 Man, when I actual
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Steve Wozniak 45 would drive the bo
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Livingston: What about Ron Wayne? W
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Steve Wozniak 49 We got the compute
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Steve Wozniak 51 anyone could look
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Steve Wozniak 53 thought, “That c
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Steve Wozniak 55 data and I said
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Livingston: On the East Coast? Stev
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Steve Wozniak 59 Steve Jobs (left)
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62 Founders at Work forward that my
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64 Founders at Work We bought two S
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66 Founders at Work Kraus: They adj
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68 Founders at Work Kraus: First, b
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70 Founders at Work unannounced.”
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C H A P T E R 5 Dan Bricklin Cofoun
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Dan Bricklin 75 Bob already had equ
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Dan Bricklin 77 actually felt good
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Livingston: Did it drive sales for
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Dan Bricklin 81 and how wide are th
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Dan Bricklin 83 Bricklin: We worked
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Dan Bricklin 85 available, with any
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Dan Bricklin 87 Bricklin: Oh, we ha
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C H A P T E R 6 Mitchell Kapor Cofo
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Mitchell Kapor 91 that I needed to
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Mitchell Kapor 93 The non-compete w
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Mitchell Kapor 95 second-generation
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Mitchell Kapor 97 I did not set out
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Mitchell Kapor 99 transitioning out
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Livingston: You weren’t bluffing?
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C H A P T E R 7 Ray Ozzie Founder,
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Ray Ozzie 105 to work in a highly m
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Ray Ozzie 107 You cannot early-bind
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Ray Ozzie 109 We were pitching Groo
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C H A P T E R 8 Evan Williams Cofou
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Evan Williams 113 The first year wa
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Evan Williams 115 turned out to tak
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Evan Williams 117 is a native form
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Evan Williams 119 Livingston: And y
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Evan Williams 121 Trellix licensed
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Evan Williams 123 search company. S
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Evan Williams 125 Williams: One thi
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128 Founders at Work So Jerry gives
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130 Founders at Work there; it was
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132 Founders at Work Livingston: Di
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134 Founders at Work Livingston: We
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136 Founders at Work company, can
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138 Founders at Work and that was a
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C H A P T E R 10 Mike Lazaridis Cof
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Mike Lazaridis 143 At the same time
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Mike Lazaridis 145 your shell and g
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Mike Lazaridis 147 they had just bo
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Mike Lazaridis 149 invested in to a
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Mike Lazaridis 151 where the buildi
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154 Founders at Work We spent about
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158 Founders at Work Livingston: Wa
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160 Founders at Work might have bee
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162 Founders at Work generation of
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164 Founders at Work in web search
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166 Founders at Work Livingston: Ho
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168 Founders at Work That took us a
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170 Founders at Work been there for
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172 Founders at Work Livingston: Wh
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174 Founders at Work the screen, im
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176 Founders at Work I had figured
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178 Founders at Work The other thin
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180 Founders at Work Then we went t
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182 Founders at Work Then we found
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184 Founders at Work Perlman: I did
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186 Founders at Work I was very imp
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188 Founders at Work adopt other te
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190 Founders at Work freedom. But t
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192 Founders at Work HP and kind of
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194 Founders at Work the model for
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196 Founders at Work Ramsay: While
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198 Founders at Work of information
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200 Founders at Work I can’t tell
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202 Founders at Work More recently,
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C H A P T E R 15 Paul Graham Cofoun
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Paul Graham 207 we didn’t want to
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Livingston: So what did happen? Pau
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Paul Graham 211 argument with “/e
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Paul Graham 213 right, that would h
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Paul Graham 215 Graham: We started
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Paul Graham 217 Livingston: So a fe
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Paul Graham 219 the truth. Our stra
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Paul Graham 221 between 1995 and 19
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C H A P T E R 16 Joshua Schachter F
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Joshua Schachter 225 time, I did, b
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Joshua Schachter 227 But you need t
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Joshua Schachter 229 Schachter: I c
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Livingston: Who did you learn thing
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C H A P T E R 17 Mark Fletcher Foun
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Mark Fletcher 235 Livingston: Tell
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Mark Fletcher 237 initially. If you
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Livingston: You worked at Sun befor
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Mark Fletcher 241 Livingston: What
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Mark Fletcher 243 been 2 weeks sinc
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Mark Fletcher 245 next morning, too
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C H A P T E R 18 Craig Newmark Foun
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Craig Newmark 249 in the UNIX/Linux
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Craig Newmark 251 Livingston: Going
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Livingston: Did you work with them?
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Craig Newmark 255 Newmark: Yes. Liv
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258 Founders at Work When we came u
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260 Founders at Work wasn’t seen
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262 Founders at Work near the embas
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Page 274 and 275: 266 Founders at Work Another lesson
Page 276 and 277: 268 Founders at Work them locally w
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Page 282 and 283: 274 Founders at Work Another, I tho
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Page 286 and 287: 278 Founders at Work Kahle: I’ve
Page 288 and 289: 280 Founders at Work AOL took our i
Page 290 and 291: 282 Founders at Work them as possib
Page 292 and 293: 284 Founders at Work We said, “Fi
Page 294 and 295: 286 Founders at Work which quintupl
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Page 298 and 299: 290 Founders at Work But there was
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Page 302 and 303: 294 Founders at Work Livingston: PA
Page 304 and 305: 296 Founders at Work you hope they
Page 306 and 307: 298 Founders at Work major. So I wa
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Page 310 and 311: 302 Founders at Work I think this i
Page 312 and 313: 304 Founders at Work plywood, but l
Page 314 and 315: 306 Founders at Work Winblad: Oh ye
Page 316 and 317: David Heinemeier Hansson Partner, 3
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Page 326 and 327: Philip Greenspun 319 manage, and I
Page 328 and 329: Philip Greenspun 321 We pushed the
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Page 334 and 335: Philip Greenspun 327 Greenspun: Yea
Page 336 and 337: Philip Greenspun 329 But due to a c
Page 338 and 339: Philip Greenspun 331 bad company, a
Page 340 and 341: Philip Greenspun 333 That was an ep
Page 342 and 343: Philip Greenspun 335 for two board
Page 344 and 345: Philip Greenspun 337 the fact that
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Page 352 and 353: C H A P T E R 25 Joel Spolsky Cofou
Page 354 and 355: Joel Spolsky 347 The consulting mar
Page 356 and 357: Joel Spolsky 349 Although it was my
Page 358 and 359: Joel Spolsky 351 Things that to us
Page 360 and 361: Joel Spolsky 353 I later talked to
Page 362 and 363: Joel Spolsky 355 had an idea of som
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Page 366 and 367: Joel Spolsky 359 For example, Ruby
Page 368 and 369: C H A P T E R 26 Stephen Kaufer Cof
Page 370 and 371: Stephen Kaufer 363 Kaufer: We tried
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Stephen Kaufer 365 a typical dot-co
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Stephen Kaufer 367 Livingston: Did
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Stephen Kaufer 369 from being succe
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Stephen Kaufer 371 we’re going to
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Stephen Kaufer 373 It’s perfectly
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Stephen Kaufer 375 Kaufer: I couldn
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378 Founders at Work Hong: Jim was
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380 Founders at Work But the Salon.
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382 Founders at Work and we would h
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384 Founders at Work Hong: I think
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C H A P T E R 28 James Currier Foun
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James Currier 389 results. It was j
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James Currier 391 Currier: You migh
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James Currier 393 At an HBS reunion
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396 Founders at Work had gotten muc
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400 Founders at Work Livingston: So
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402 Founders at Work Livingston: So
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404 Founders at Work Livingston: Is
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406 Founders at Work (we’ve been
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408 Founders at Work Trott: No. We
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410 Founders at Work 20 offices, an
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412 Founders at Work that we didn
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414 Founders at Work Trott: It’s
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416 Founders at Work Livingston: Wh
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C H A P T E R 31 Bob Davis Founder,
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Bob Davis 421 Livingston: Was this
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Bob Davis 423 that way. So we weren
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Bob Davis 425 Livingston: Did you e
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C H A P T E R 32 Ron Gruner Cofound
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Ron Gruner 429 Gruner: They said
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Ron Gruner 431 board was saying,
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Ron Gruner 433 to investors. We had
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Ron Gruner 435 Of course, we had so
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Ron Gruner 437 we were, and invited
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Livingston: Did you have any compet
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Ron Gruner 441 So we did that and e
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Ron Gruner 443 We realized that we
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Ron Gruner 445 Because de Castro wa
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C H A P T E R 33 Jessica Livingston
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Do you remember anyone else in that
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What happened after that first batc
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Jessica Livingston 453 Have you got
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456 Index arcade games, 32 Architex
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458 Index Database Backed Web Sites
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460 Index I IBM, 89, 93-94, 289 IBM
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462 Index Mundie, Craig, 428 Muxway
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464 Index scalability, 12 Schachter
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466 Index W WAIS (Wide Area Informa
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