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

it’s quite ironic that spinfree wasn’t exactly ‘spin free’ :-)

In retrospect I agree that it’s silly and counter productive to pretend to be bigger or more experienced than you are.. but it requires an amount of self-confidence that almost by definition one does not have when starting their first business.

“Don’t Exaggerate Your Size?” “Being small is nothing to be insecure or shamed about?”

This whole column is one big “that’s what she said” joke. ;)

If your company is incorporated, then referring to it as ‘we’ is not being insecure or ashamed or bluffing. In fact, it is technically accurate regardless of the number of employees and is the correct terminology. On the other hand, if you keep referring to your ‘London Affiliates’ because your sister’s boyfriend’s neice is spending her summer there and she did some photoshop work for you once then you are definitely being insecure and exaggerating. In the above case, Spinfree’s ‘dirty little secret’ isn’t that dirty.

Highlight that you are small and also approachable. I encourage trial users to call me. Those conversations, on the phone, do a lot to help someone trying out my service become a subscriber.

I see the point but I think that for some people it’s natural to be part of a team. Jason would only be satisfied with an employee or co-founder, and his language reflected his desire. I think that if he referred to himself as “I” he would have felt better because he was honest but he would still have wanted a co-worker.

You have hit the nail on the head with my struggle. However, I think that people want to be a part of something. And so they are so much more likely to do so if they aren’t the first ones. “We” prevents it from just being me.

Right on your home page you say, “Millions of entrepreneurs, freelancers, small businesses, and departments inside big organizations rely on our web apps.” Just like that statement, saying “We” instead of “I” takes a lot of the risk out of the investment for customers.

This very same choice battered my confidence and almost got me sued on my third or fourth freelance project. I used “we” and “us” on my web site, and when my client learned of a new, local competitor he asked me whether my employees were available for overtime so that we could move up the launch date.

I never lied about my size during our previous conversations, but when I told him I was working alone he got very upset and it escalated from there. It cost me the job, and nearly a friendship because an old college friend – the man’s son – referred me.

Great article. Thanks for your honesty and humility to admit you past mistakes. Jason, you are a great example to young business people (me too) of someone who stays focused on what’s true about business, products, human nature, etc.

Thanks for taking the time to write! We all benefit from your wisdom and are grateful for your voice in the marketplace.

I don’t think referring to you as ‘we’ is being insecure about the size of your company.

It’s a marketing strategy to inspire confidence on your clients or potential clients. Because they will trust more a ‘we’ than an ‘I’ and that is reasonable.

You can be small and independent and refer to your company as ‘we’

I dont do use “we” instead of “me”. But i totally agree with ernesto… its not insecurity, its to comfort the other person. However explaining why small is better would be the preferred option.

Brandon: saying “We” instead of “I” takes a lot of the risk out of the investment for customers

No, it may reduce the perceived risk for your customers, but the actual risk is no different and you’ve essentially lied to them by omission in order to make them feel better.

It will probably not hurt you, but as Mark mentioned it can backfire badly to start a relationship less than honestly.

You absolutely must be honest about what resources you are bringing to a project but saying we instead of me or I is standard practice and noone should call a company dishonest for doing it. Its just like writing a research paper in school.

I’ve always struggled with this. I love that I work alone, yet I felt that I may not be successful if potential customers were to find out that it is ‘just me’.

It’s hard from a support side of things. I can’t be around a computer or my 24hrs a day 7 days a week.

After ready this, I’m going to start a support time-frame. Mon – Fri 9am – 5pm. Hopefully, this will establish trust with my customers and they may understand that I’m riding solo.

great advice!

Very interesting, I’ve struggled with this countless times with various types of businesses and have never seen any discussion regarding it. Not sure I agree there is a strict answer. I’ve found it can be useful or just easier to refer to your company as ‘we’ in some cases, but as ‘me’ in others.