If you are involved with developing websites or applications, you know about Basecamp. Basecamp is a web-based project management tool sold as a service that helped inspire droves of design and development shops to launch their own attempts at developing subscription products. We’ve used Basecamp to organize our client communication for the majority of those years.

Basecamp turned five last week. On that day, their storied and successful history was summarized wonderfully by the founder of the product on their company blog. A few months of development, a willingness to launch a basic - some might say incomplete - product and a plethora of domain knowledge (they primarily built the product for themselves) has led to over 3,000,000 users within five years. All that in the face of dozens of free competitive offerings.

We can learn much from the story of Basecamp and the decisions that 37 Signals has made to launch a half-dozen products. Just a few of which are listed here:

1) Have a clear position and maintain focus on it.
Basecamp was only conceived because the competitive landscape for project management software lacked an offering focused on communication. Basecamp filled this void and redefined the market. When they identified new opportunities for their customers that weren’t 100% related to project management, they created new products rather than tacking them onto Basecamp.

2) Get to market, get Feedback.
To quote the blog post: “The original version of Basecamp just had messages and milestones. We added to-dos lists later before launch. We didn’t add file sharing until a few months after launch, and it required you had your own FTP server. Those were the very early days.”

3) Never stop iterating.
I find new features within Basecamp all the time. I’ve never heard anything about versions or upgrades - I just find new bite-sized features and modifications on a regular basis.

4) Domain knowledge can’t be understated.
37 Signals built the product for firms just like their own. No focus groups needed. They’ve also been diligent in soliciting feedback from customers along the way and translating it into valuable new products for the company.

5) People will pay for smart design.
Ever used Basecamp? It’s simple, clever, useful and never gets in your way. There is no shortage of less expensive (or free) alternatives, but so many of us pay for Basecamp month after month.

6) Lead (even create) your customer community.
The 37 Signals blog has a massive following by Basecamp’s customers. The founder of the product, Jason Fried, is constantly delivering thought leadership on simple design, usability and ways to effectvely use the company’s products. The credibility that the company has is understandable, yet a bit unbelievable.

The Basecamp birthday post is a great read, and one I am sure many of us aspire to having the fortune to write one day. Understanding the cause of thier success is a key step to reproducing it.

Coincidentally, Facebook launched the same day (Feb 4, 2004) with a similarly pointed focus on connecting campus mates. Who could have guessed where either would end up just five years later.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 at 9:14 am and is filed under Opinions + Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.