Business 2.0

Although I’m reluctant to gobble up everything coming out of 37signals, I find it hard to resist their charm. Just this evening, I was riding the Brown Line home from work, checking out the latest drivel pouring out of Business 2.0, a magazine I subscribe to (shame!) in large part because I enjoy reveling in nonsensical marketing hype. An article called How to build a bulletproof startup caught my eye – not because it was on the cover, but (true story) because I couldn’t wait for 37signals to hate on it. Well, I’m not disappointed:

They’ll tell you that you need to burn between $1.6 and $4.5 million to get to launch. They’re wrong. They’ll tell you that working on a prototype is about drawings and photoshop abstractions, that you need advisory boards, big staffs, and a huge lawyer tab before you get to building something real. They’re wrong…People often ask us “what should I do to build a company like 37signals?”. I think we finally have a succinct answer now: Do exactly the opposite of what Business 2.0 tells you to.