Jason Fried — Founder, Author (and business philosopher)
Who hasn’t heard of Jason Fried?
Or Basecamp ? or 37signals? Or his seminal bestseller ReWork?
Jason Fried is the cofounder and president of Basecamp (formerly 37signals — and currently 37Signals! ) — a privately held Chicago-based company committed to building the best web-based tools possible with the least number of features necessary. With David Heinemeier Hansson, Fried is the coauthor of Getting Real: The Smarter, Faster, Easier Way to Build a Successful Web Application; Remote: Office Not Required; and the New York Times bestseller Rework.
5–1/2 Questions for Jason Fried
1 — If you were starting out today, what kind of company would you start?
Interestingly enough, I would not start another company, if I was starting a company today.
I started my company 24 years ago, and I think it will be the only company I will start.
I think sometimes entrepreneurs are seen as people who just love to start businesses. I actually don’t. I’m lucky that I’ve been able to build a business that’s lasted 24 years, and I hope it continues to last. But if it doesn’t, as most things don’t last forever, I just don’t think I would do it again. I don’t have the energy or the drive to start another business, and I think it would be something that I wouldn’t be very good at anymore. So I like staying in business, not starting businesses. We always wanna come up with new ideas in the company to make it seem like we’re starting. I like to start products, start new products. But I don’t like to start new businesses.
2 – Tell us about a time when you struggled in your career.
I struggle all the time — so it’s not even “a time.”
[The struggle] It’s all the time with all sorts of things. The primary thing I would say, and this has always been something I’ve had a hard time with is not being able to do almost everything I can imagine I want to do. That’s really hard.
I have ideas all the time for new things, new products, new ideas. Whatever you basically have to say no to almost everything in life, to be able to do anything that’s meaningful. So for me the struggle is having to say no to ideas, I think would be good, or to not be able to or to not see something come out the way.
Perhaps I want it to, but I don’t get to make all the decisions, nor do I wanna make all the decisions.
So that’s for me the struggle which is getting comfortable with understanding that even though you run your own business and you’re in charge, and the whole thing, most of the things you actually want to do, you just can’t do.
Does that concept get easier over time?
It does. It has gotten easier for me. I’ve just kind of, I think, slip into an acceptance of that. That truth. I mean it. Just it is true. And when you’re someone who likes to make new things, the only way you get to make anything and see it all the way through is by saying No to so many other things, and that just comes with a territory, so there’s a number of moments in my career where I probably started too many things. At the same time and I didn’t finish any of them. So it’s like, that’s worse. It’s worse to say yes to too many things that you, and then not see them through. I’d much rather say no to most things, but pick a couple things that are I really like, and get those done.
3 — What business skill do you wish you were better at?
I don’t know if I wish I was better at this, or I should be better at that… it’s like the difference between wishing, and should be.
I think I would tend to maybe give things one too many chances before we decide “no more”, and I wish I was a little bit sharper on ending things that are not worth doing anymore. But I’ve never been good at that. I’m not good at that in any area of my life, so I always just kind of think, “maybe , well, maybe one more shot at it, or maybe one more different angle will change things,” but often times the writing is on the wall, and you’re better off just seeing the writing, and I think I sometimes don’t [see the writing on the wall]. So that’s one area. I think I’d love to get a bit better at.
4 — When you really have to focus and get stuff done — how do you deal with distractions and competing tasks?
This has never been hard for me.
I don’t like multi-tasking, so like I have a like, for example, technically, I have a single laptop. I don’t have multiple screens. I have a single 13 inch laptop all everything I do is on a small 13 inch laptop.I run my apps full screen so I don’t have like this app. Next to this app, next to this thing, I I don’t allow myself to be taken over by that I don’t have notifications on anything when I wanna check my email, I’ll check my email. I don’t care if there’s email waiting for me, I will go check it when I’m ready versus it, telling me. Come, see me same thing with text messages, same thing with with any messaging app. So I just make sure that all the temptations are out of my face, because they’re all very tasty sugary treats like I you gotta keep those things away. So on the technical side that’s that’s the key for me.
But also I just find that I’m better at things when I have a full head of steam versus like being diverted down a bunch of different paths, and I’ve had to learn that so part of it is just is knowing myself, and knowing my own weaknesses and the other part is keeping technology away from me (that is out simply to get your attention.)
Does that come naturally to you like a Zen master, or this something that you that you learned over time, that you practice over time?
I’ve gotten better at it, but I’ve been pretty good at it. I’ve just paid attention to what helps me actually make progress. And it’s focus. It’s not distraction. Distraction doesn’t help me get anywhere at all, you know.
5 — What really motivates you continue your work? (You’ve been at it for 24 years.)
Yeah, the same thing that’s always motivated me, which is getting to work on interesting things with interesting people who I respect and who do great work and having the chance to make our own decisions about the work we do.
So we’re an independent company. We’ve chosen not to take outside money. We don’t have any pressure on us from the outside to do things we don’t want to do. So I’ve really leaned into independence and really made sure that we do things that nobody would give us permission to do. We chase the things that we think are interesting, and we get to do with interesting people. And that’s what keeps me motivated, I have realized.
So for a number of years we were focused just on one product. Just on Basecamp, our primary product, and the idea was just to focus on one thing for the rest of our business. But we realized about 5, 6 years in that, like, we like to make stuff. Even though we are making new features in Basecamp, we felt like we needed to make new products too. So I’ve realized that like, I need to be making new things and playing with new ideas that keeps motivated. I think if I was just stuck on one thing forever, I would lose my motivation. It’s that plus working with great people, plus being able to do it our own way, and plus in a sticking of a finger in the eye of the establishment, is always fun. We’ve always been really good at riling people up a bit, and and but primarily doing it because we think that we have a different point of view that needs to be shared.
.. and
5–1/2 — BONUS “Color” Question
In a parallel universe, you are a star, an entertainer — what field or what talent are you famous for?
I mean, I think, the most interesting entertainers are comedians. I’m not particularly funny, I don’t think I’d would have the the to get up in front of a live group of people with an open mic, but that would be something I would love to be good at. Actually, I I think comedians speak probably the most truth to power out of any class of entertainer, or even group of people so it’d be, I think, an honor to be part of that world and not be afraid to say what’s on your mind and get people. To laugh. I think that’s a pretty noble career, but I would love to do that that would that would be something I would love to be.
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“5–1/2 Questions” from CJ Cornell is a new series of mini-interviews with leaders in the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem around the world. In less than a half-dozen short questions, we’ll try to learn more about each leader, and what makes them successful and unique.
The questions are designed a little like a “Magic Eight Ball” (my GenX colleagues know what this is): A set of questions, posed at random. Plus, at least one question, or half-question, is designed to find out something about their personality that most people might never suspect (I mean expect).
For more 5–1/2 Questions Interviews, see:
CJ Cornell is a serial entrepreneur, investor, advisor, mentor, author, speaker, and educator. As an entrepreneur, CJ Cornell was a founder of more than a dozen successful startup ventures that collectively attracted over $250 million in private funding; created nearly a thousand new jobs; and launched dozens of innovative consumer, media, and communications products — that have exceeded $3 billion in revenues.
He is the author of the bestselling “The Age of Metapreneurship — A Journey into the Future of Entrepreneurship.”
And the upcoming “The Startup Brain Trust — A Guidebook for Startups, Entrepreneurs, and the Mentors that Help them Become Great.”
Follow him @cjcornell or visit: www.cjcornell.com