This is Signal vs. Noise, a weblog by 37signals about design, business, experience, simplicity, the web, culture, and more. Established 1999 in Chicago. Visit the Product Blog for more information on our products.

Define your own success
“The best way to be successful is to define your own success. Success can be tiered too. If you want to eventually run a public company you can still be successful on your way there. If you want to stay small you can fight growth and remain successful too. It’s up to you, not up to someone else.”

3 ways to make money with your software
“There are three primary ways to generate revenue from web-based software. Let’s take a look.”

Buzzwords say all the wrong things
“These buzzwords are often a mask. People who use them are covering up their ideas — or the lack thereof. They are overcompensating. They don’t have anything substantial to say so they try to use impressive sounding words instead. But people who abuse buzzwords don’t sound smart. They sound like they are trying to sound smart. Big difference.”

“The man behind Apple’s design magic”
“This push for innovation in manufacturing is a big reason why Apple changes the rules of what’s possible. Most companies buy off the shelf stuff which means things look and feel the same (i.e. usually like crap). Apple’s efforts to discover new materials and production processes enables them to build things no one else can build.”

Confidence in people, process, and purpose
“If you trust the people, the process, and the goal, you don’t need all the bullshit trust-builders like specs, documents, and promises to make you feel secure. You can just make something good.”

The false fight between fun and business
“You don’t have to work hard to work well. You don’t need sinister eyebrows or only 4-hour sleeps or a booked calendar to be serious. But somehow that image sticks so bad that we tend to view fun as the opposite of Serious Business Stuff™.”

In-store good or at-home good?
“Every company/product has to choose priorities: In-store good or at-home good? First-minute good or lifetime good?”