Creativity Central [Marty Baker]

Jason Fried.  37 Signals and one message. Smart simplicity. 

I may be a biased about Jason Fried. I’ve been using two of his company’s products, Basecamp®, project management software and Backpack® an intranet and scheduling software.  They are so intuitive, the learning curve is about 15 minutes or less.

Jason is the founder and CEO of 37 signals and a passionate innovator in the field of simple, clear, and elegant web-based user interface design. Fried's unconventional thinking is gaining momentum. With a staff of under 10 employees, 37 signals has created a string of well-received applications.

Fried's guiding philosophy: stay small and keep it simple. "There are too many options out there, too many features, and too many products that try to do too many things," he says. "Software has become complex and bloated. It grows for the benefit of the upgrade sales cycle, not the customer."

He isn’t a poster boy of the " bigger" is better mentality, Fried purposefully constrains his company with limited resources and fewer people. In return, 37 signals "executes on the basics brilliantly." His company's software is barebones. Its features and functions consist only of those that meet 37signals' needs. "

Through a subscription-based model, thousands of paying users are providing the company with a steady stream of revenue. In the  years since his company's inception, Fried has declined more than 30 offers of venture capital. His minimalist philosophy extends through everything he touches. The firm's design methodology, dubbed 'Getting Real,' removes all traces of the usual design process (Fried call it the abstract stuff) and replaces it with "actual real stuff."

Fried says, “I advocate building a small team of gurus. It's more about having a few good generalists. They need to be passionate, motivated, curious and willing to learn. We're all good at what we do, and we work well together. That's a good team."

"The great thing about BIF," Fried wrote on his blog following the Summit, "is that they bring people from different industries together to share their stories. This is not a technology conference, it's a conference about ideas that can come from anywhere."

Fried is an idea man himself—one who does not lack for opinions. He's a merchant of simplicity who believes that businesses should do less than the competition—they should also spend less money, hire fewer people, work fewer hours and offer fewer features.

His independent spirit and willingness to share his advice have given the man and his company a cult-like status among his growing group of fans.   Fried will talk again at BIF conference tomorrow.

Provocative yes.   Boring, no.