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"merely a successful small business."

Really? That small business is financially more successful than most crazy ass VC backed startups with the latest photo sharing solution will ever be.

</rant>



In fairness, that still doesn't make it a startup.


I think after being in business for over a decade, 37signals is way past being called a startup.


No, it doesn't.

But who the hell cares?


Pray tell, what would make it a startup?


I know this'll be a controversial stance but IMHO.. needing to work 5 or 6 days a week to prove the business case, make the business stick, and to scale the business to a point where you have multiple employees and processes that allow you to only work 4 day weeks if you want.

Of course, some businesses can run on fewer hours from the start, but many require a lot of sweat and long hours to get the engine running.


They were a startup early on. I think it's safe to say they've transitioned out of that at this point, just as Google, Amazon, etc. have.


losing money


That small business is financially more successful

Sure. But they're not trying to build the same thing. I think it's mainly a midwestern attitude vs. Californian. Fried just wanted to build a business. Startup founders want to build companies.


Startup founders want to sell companies.




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