The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 40 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 2 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
One-third of Basecamp employees quit within two weeks of political talk ban
“Ultimately about a third of the company quit in a matter of is it a week or two.”
Jason Fried would ban workplace political discussions again despite the employee backlash
“If I had to make it again today, I would make the same decision.”
Basecamp is in a significantly better place following its political discussion ban
“I can tell you the company's in a significantly better place.”
Basecamp does not beta test products or survey users before launch
“This is the thing I think that's so important, and this is why, like, when we build products, we don't beta test them, really, and we, sometimes we get a few people in, but we're not, like, asking people what they think.”
Basecamp will not pursue growth at the expense of profitability
“I don't want to be bigger and have much lower margins. I don't want to be bigger and lose money per customer. I don't want to be bigger and have to take a bunch of money to support that growth.”
37signals operates without financial goals or growth targets beyond remaining profitable
“We don't have financial targets. We don't have financial goals besides being profitable. I'm not aiming for a certain percentage of growth on a given year.”
Managers should evaluate first-year employees by asking if they would rehire them
“One of the things we do is the first year is kind of a real big, I would say, I mean, people are hired, but it's kind of a test. The main question we ask at the end of the first year is would I hire this person again?”
Fried reveals most of his personal wealth is in cash
“Frankly, like, most of my money is sitting in cash”
Fried was exceptionally bullish on Clubhouse in March 2021
“I am exceptionally bullish on Clubhouse, more so than I've been about any company I've seen in a long time”
Basecamp operates strictly on six-week planning cycles
“I think six weeks at a time. I think six weeks ahead of time, And that's it. We're pointed in a direction, but it's six weeks at a time. That's the only thing I think about. It's the only thing I plan.”
Long-term corporate planning causes leaders to stop thinking
“What I don't like about long-term planning is you kind of stop thinking. It's like you thought something and now you live it out.”
Founders make a mistake by comparing customer counts with competitors
“This is, I think something entrepreneurs get wrong all the time. They compare themselves to someone else and they go, how many customers do they have? How many customers do they have? All that matters is do we have enough customers to make our own business wor…”
Jason Fried ignores resumes, work history, and college education when hiring
“I don't really care about resumes. I don't really care about a lot of that people's history. I don't care where they went to school. If they went to school, I don't care about any of those things. Let's look at the work itself.”
Basecamp grew to its largest headcount ever following the 2021 staff walkout
“We, we've actually grown significantly bigger than we've ever been. So we rehired a bunch of people and then have hired more since. At the time that happened, we were about 60, now we're about 80, biggest we've ever been.”
Jason Fried believes everyone should try a high-dose psychedelic experience once
“I feel like everybody should do this once in their life is kind of how I felt after I came away from those experiences.”
Jeff Bezos bought Basecamp shares directly from founders, not as primary capital
“So Jeff Bezos bought a small piece of my shares and David shares. None of his money went into the business. The money went into my bank account and David's bank account.”
Jason Fried predicts he will leave Basecamp within ten years
“I'm certain I'm not here in 10 years but I don't know where I will be.”
Jason Fried vows to never start another company that has employees
“I'm certain actually not don't think I would never start another company with employees. I don't want to feel what I don't want to feel anymore is responsible for anybody else.”
Most CEOs no longer build products and focus on firefighting
“To me, it has to be about like the product and making stuff. And most CEOs aren't involved with that anymore. They're involved with other things. They're involved with complicated things. They're involved with conflict. They're putting out fires all the time. …”
Fried says being Meta CEO is the worst job on Earth
“I can't imagine anyone would want to trade places with Mark Zuckerberg right now. So, like, that must just be the worst job on the planet, actually. Even though he has so much power, it must be a terrible job.”
Wait weeks before responding to knee-jerk product change backlash
“So what I tend to do is, like, for any, like, immediate change-based feedback, I say, let's just sit on this for a while, and let's see what happens in a few weeks, because once the moment goes away and people start to get used to this thing, maybe they'll end…”
37signals operates without a board of directors or outside funding
“Not taking money, so I'm not beholden to anybody. We don't have a board of directors.”
Unprofitable SaaS companies face deep cuts as venture funding dries up
“If a company can't make its own money, they require outside money. Outside money dries up. Things have to change. I mean, there's gonna have to be late. There already is. It's not like this is news, but layoffs, deep cuts, some austerity measures. You know, th…”
37signals has been profitable every single year for 23 years
“We've been profitable for 23 years, every year.”
Basecamp evaluates candidates with paid, one-week contract projects before full-time hiring
“When we hire people, we actually hire them first for a week, ah, on a contract basis, one week, not in every position, but in some, to actually do a project for us.”
Most companies waste significant time solving problems they do not actually have
“And I think a lot of companies spend a lot of time solving problems they don't have. And then they solve them, they don't have them, and they think they did good work because they don't have the problem, but they wouldn't have had the problem in the first plac…”
Successful co-founders need shared core values but distinct functional skills
“So you need to have something core that's shared and in common. And I think the actual work itself, you need to have separate skills on. I think that's very important.”
Basecamp co-founders Jason Fried and DHH rarely socialize outside of work
“We're friends, but I don't think like, you know, we don't hang out as friends. Like we don't, you know, we'll, we'll occasionally grab a dinner or something, you know, with their families or whatever. Very rarely.”
Fried keeps all his financial risk tied up in Basecamp
“So, I'm very, very conservative when it comes to investing. All my risk is tied up in my own business, and my own business is a machine that makes me the money. When I invest in something, it's because I want to support the thing, and if there's a return in th…”
Fried pledges never to make bet-the-company decisions
“I don't do anything that could end me. I would never bet the company on something. I would never Bet the farm on something.”
Fried regrets saying yes far more than saying no
“I've also found that I regret far more things I say yes to than the things I say no to.”
Warren Buffett keeps an open schedule and books meetings one day ahead
“If you ever want to meet with Warren Buffett, what his secretary will tell you, call the day before and ask. So Warren Buffett's schedule is open. I mean, certainly there's a few things on his schedule that he has to plan, but for the most part, it's totally o…”
Fried works strict eight-hour days and wraps up by 5:30 PM
“I work eight hour a day. I'm done at five, five 30 roughly.”
Fried dislikes most CEO duties beyond product building
“It's not all the other CEO responsibilities. I don't like most of those, to be honest, but, like, I'll do them. I'll do them because I get to do the other stuff.”
Fried stays intentionally uninformed to avoid preconceived notions
“I've tried to stay as uninformed as possible about a lot of things, so I don't come in with preconceived notions.”
37Signals did not formally incorporate or consult lawyers initially
“You know, we didn't, like, incorporate it. We didn't, like, call a lawyer. We didn't do anything official. We just said, like, let's sit together and see if we can land some business and go from there.”
Fried holds index funds and Apple stock at a $2 cost basis
“My personal trading portfolio is like boring index funds, like S and P 500 in NASDAQ, the Dow, that kind of stuff. I've owned Apple for many years, split-adjusted down to, like, two dollars, so I've done quite well on Apple over the years.”