EPISODE 0032 - DEC 18, 2018

Happy Pacifists

with David Wood, Joshua Guble, and Elizabeth Gramm

Business rhetoric is rife with the language of war—there’s constant talk of conquering markets and dominating the competition. These tropes indicate a dangerous way of thinking that can have real consequences, intended or not, on human behavior. In this episode, two professors share their research...

Running a Calm Company
EPISODE 0030 - NOV 20, 2018

The Worst Performance Review

with Rachel Ernst and Conor Muirhead

Annual, semi-annual, quarterly, 360…no matter what form they take, performance reviews can be anxiety-inducing workplace rituals. In today’s episode, we talk to the head of HR at an HR software company (meta!) and a Basecamp designer about why helpful feedback is so difficult to give and receive—and...

EPISODE 0029 - NOV 6, 2018

REWORK Mailbag 3

with Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

It’s time for another episode where Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson answer your questions! In this one, they discuss how to apply calm company principles to client work and classrooms, and talk about healthy ways for business partners to disagree.

Mailbags
EPISODE 0028 - OCT 23, 2018

The Myth of the Overnight Sensation

with Bobby Edwards

Before the viral unicorn poop video, before the appearances on Shark Tank and Dr. Oz and Howard Stern—Bobby Edwards was showing his invention at conventions and sending it to alternative health bloggers in hopes of getting coverage. The invention? Squatty Potty, a plastic stool that puts you in a...

Small Business
EPISODE 0026 - SEPT 25, 2018

Farewell, Noah

with Noah Lorang

A lot of businesses start as side ventures or hobbies that grow into full-time pursuits. The trick is often in knowing when to quit a comfortable day job to start a new business. We sit down with one of our own at this crossroads. Noah Lorang headed Basecamp’s data team for the last eight years, and...

EPISODE 0025 - SEPT 11, 2018

The Bean Machine

with Erika Hildner

taps mic Is this thing on? We’re back from sabbatical! In our first post-hiatus episode, Shaun heads to Denver to visit his sister, who left a catering job at a big restaurant chain to run a coffee shop out of a Volkswagen Bus that she bought on impulse off Craigslist. Erika Hildner shares what...

Small Business
EPISODE 0024 - JUL 24, 2018

Take a Break

with Jason Fried, Adeline Koh, and Rachel Winard

Smell ya later! Shaun and Wailin are taking off the month of August. Before they left, they interviewed three business owners about sabbaticals. In this episode: Adeline Koh of Sabbatical Beauty shares the story of how she ended up starting a business while on leave from a different job; Jason Fried...

Running a Calm Company
BONUS EPISODE - JUL 17, 2018

Out in the Open

with Sarah Park

In a bonus conversation with Sarah Park of MeetEdgar, she talks about making the company handbook public and why they have a policy of opening up meetings and conversations to everyone.

EPISODE 0023 - JUL 10, 2018

Temperature Check

with Jayne Ogilvie, Sarah Park, Patrick Filler, and Anitra St. Hillaire

One of our colleagues on the Basecamp customer support team, Jayne Ogilvie, wanted to find out how other tech companies with remote staffs handle issues like communication, career development, and hiring. Jayne sent out a survey and got back a wealth of information and ideas about how other teams...

EPISODE 0022 - JUN 26, 2018

Go Behind the Scenes

with Jason Fried, Shannon McCann, Amy Emberling, and Frank Carollo

A famous guy once said, “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!” But he was a grifter. In fact, going behind the scenes—whether it’s a factory tour or cooking show—can be a valuable experience for both visitors and guides. In this episode, we crash a middle school field trip to the Method...

Small Business
EPISODE 0021 - JUN 12, 2018

You Need Less Than You Think

with Athina Wang, Florence Shin, Luke Saunders, and Adam Huber

Who needs a fancy office when you can work out of a dingy food court? Who needs fancy equipment when you can buy what you need at Walmart? Who needs to hire an SEO specialist? What does an SEO specialist do, anyway? (A question for another episode, or maybe another podcast altogether.) On this...

Small Business
EPISODE 0020 - MAY 29, 2018

But Wait, There's More

with Peter Bieler, Andrew LaRowe, Carrie Jeske, and Rachel Tipograph

Do you struggle with finding the right podcast? Are you tired of true crime shows and hosts trying to sell you a mattress? Introducing REWORK, a podcast that’s free of both murder and midroll ads. When you listen to this episode of REWORK, you’ll learn the fascinating history of infomercials and...

Just For Fun
EPISODE 0019 - MAY 15, 2018

REWORK Mailbag 2

with Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson, and Alison Green

Basecamp co-founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson answer listener questions about workplace communication and remote working. Alison Green of Ask A Manager, whom we featured in our previous episode, gives her advice on a couple of questions too. If you’d like to submit a question for...

Mailbags
EPISODE 0018 - MAY 1, 2018

Ask A Manager

with Alison Green

Wailin interviews Alison Green, the advice columnist whose Ask A Manager column offers friendly and practical guidance for all kinds of workplace dilemmas, from “How do I ask for a raise?” to “How can I get out of eating lunch with coworkers?” Alison talks about memorable letters, her community of...

BONUS EPISODE - APR 17, 2018

Culturati Summit 2018

with Dean Carter and David Simas

In January, Wailin Wong interviewed Dean Carter, vice president of human resources and shared services at Patagonia, and David Simas, CEO of the Obama Foundation, at the Culturati Summit in Austin, Texas. They discussed the nature of citizenship, corporate activism, fostering inclusive workplaces,...

BONUS EPISODE - APR 10, 2018

When Chris Met Mark

with Chris Ruder

Chris Ruder, the CEO of Spikeball, shares a story about meeting Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban at a bar and committing a photo faux pas (a faux-to pas?), a year before he taped his Shark Tank appearance.

EPISODE 0017 - APR 3, 2018

Life After Shark Tank

with Melissa Butler, Joe Moore, and Chris Ruder

The ABC show Shark Tank is irresistible reality programming: Entrepreneurs pitch their businesses to a panel of famous investors and have the potential to make a life-changing deal. But as with any reality show, there’s much more to the Shark Tank experience than what gets shown on TV. We talk to...

Small Business
EPISODE 0016 - MAR 20, 2018

How to Say You're Sorry

with David Heinemeier Hansson, Susan McCarthy, Robin Geall, and Robert Rawlins

“You know I try, but I don’t do too well with apologies,” Justin Bieber once sang. You’re not the only one with this problem, Justin! Why is saying sorry so difficult, especially for businesses? In this episode: A veteran tracker of apologies looks at what’s changed (and what hasn’t) in public...

Running a Calm Company
BONUS EPISODE - MAR 13, 2018

Update: Please Don't Like This

with Jason Fried

Jason Fried talks about designing an alternative to Basecamp’s Applause feature that is subtle yet expressive, and distinct from the kinds of reactions and feedback mechanisms used on social media platforms. (If you missed our previous episode on the debate over the Applause feature, go back and...

Basecamp Behind the Scenes
EPISODE 0015 - MAR 6, 2018

Please Don't Like This

with David Heinemeier Hansson, Kevin Bazzana, and Tara Mann

At Basecamp, we’re in the midst of a debate over an Applause feature that was designed to improve communication but might be stoking unwanted anxiety. In this episode, CTO David Heinemeier Hansson and iOS designer Tara Mann present different sides of the Applause debate and explore the ways behavior...

Basecamp Behind the Scenes, Greatest Hits
BONUS EPISODE - FEB 21, 2018

Dan Miller on Outsourcing

with Dan Miller

Dan Miller of Mulberrys Garment Care talks outsourcing, bootstrapping, and growing slowly in some leftover bits we couldn’t quite fit into episode 14.

EPISODE 0014 - FEB 20, 2018

Meetings Are Toxic

with Dan Kim and Dan Miller

You’ll laugh; you’ll cry; you’ll gnash your teeth in recognition as you hear the stories of horrible meetings we collected for this episode. Meetings are one of the worst kinds of workplace interruptions. They’re held too frequently, run too long, and involve more people than necessary. Also in this...

Running a Calm Company
EPISODE 0013 - FEB 6, 2018

Interruption is Not Collaboration

with Thomas Fritz, Dave Shepherd, Noah Lorang, and Bryan Miles

Hey, are you busy? Can you listen to this real quick? It’s an episode about interruptions in the workplace. You’ll hear from academic researchers, Basecamp’s head data wrangler, and the CEO of a remote company about how they’ve tackled not just the disruptions themselves, but also the workplace...

Running a Calm Company
BONUS EPISODE - JAN 26, 2018

Jason Fried On To-Do Notifications

with Jason Fried

Special bonus episode where Jason Fried discusses some of the thinking that goes into making a very small change to the to-do feature in Basecamp.

EPISODE 0012 - JAN 23, 2018

Don't Be Fake

with Elizabeth Gramm, Jenifer Daniels, Jess Lybeck, and Erin Hopmann Keck

Hey, are you crushing it? It seems like everyone is constantly crushing it in the business world. But maybe it would be better if we were honest about our flaws, talked like ourselves, and aimed to be genuine instead of super polished. In this episode: A Basecamp customer support representative...

BONUS EPISODE - JAN 16, 2018

The Million Dollar Mistake

with Fred Perotta

A conversation with Fred Perrotta, co-founder and CEO of Tortuga Backpacks, about something he calls his “million dollar mistake.” For more details, read his blog post about it: https://www.fredperrotta.com/i-fucked-up/

EPISODE 0011 - JAN 9, 2018

Start Making Something

with Grant Rodiek, Chel Cortes, and Fred Perotta

New year, new you! If you started 2018 with an idea for a product, business, or creative pursuit, now is the time to start making something. In this episode: A tabletop game designer finds that sometimes, all you need to get going is a pack of index cards and a marker; a skincare blogger tries her...

Small Business
EPISODE 0010 - DEC 19, 2017

REWORK Mailbag 1 — Part 1

with Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

This is the first of two episodes where Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson answer questions from our listeners. In this episode, they talk about the role of luck and timing in starting Basecamp; ass pricing (yes, you read that correctly); hiring in the early stages of a business; and more. If...

Mailbags
EPISODE 0009 - DEC 5, 2017

Planning is Guessing

with Jason Fried, Mark Michaels, and Ann Kienzle

Basecamp’s founders never wrote a business plan when they started the company. Even today, they don’t like to look too far ahead. Too much long-term planning can hamper your ability to react to the present. Did you have plans to listen to this episode later? Be spontaneous and listen now! You’ll...

EPISODE 0008 - NOV 21, 2017

Can You Sell Water? Part 2

with Tim Krepp, Beth Kregor, Maria Mendez, and Abraham Celio

Some of the tech industry’s most vaunted companies revel in their origins as mavericks or rule-breakers, having flouted regulations in the name of disruption. That kind of risk-taking is celebrated in Silicon Valley but punished in other places, most notably minority communities. In this episode: A...

Small Business
EPISODE 0007 - NOV 7, 2017

Can You Sell Water? Part 1

with Jason Fried

Selling is a core skill. You have to know how to sell, whether it’s a product, an idea, or yourself. In 2012, Basecamp CEO Jason Fried saw the results of a bottled water-selling challenge at Techstars Chicago, a bootcamp program for startups. That one-day competition is the starting point for a...

DHH and Jason Fried
EPISODE 0006 - OCT 24, 2017

The Moral ABC

with Michael Bronner

Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, which bills itself as the top-selling natural soapmaker in North America, wasn’t founded to sell soap. The company was started to promote a religious philosophy developed by Emanuel Bronner, a third-generation German Jewish soapmaker, who printed his message on the labels...

Just For Fun
EPISODE 0005 - OCT 10, 2017

Take A Stand

with David Heinemeier Hansson, Steven Dyme, Robyn Lytle, and Michelle Lytle

Business and politics tend to make uneasy bedfellows, but in these divisive times, even businesses that have historically stayed out of hot-button issues are coming off the sidelines. In this episode: An online florist tells racists to shop elsewhere; Basecamp stops reimbursing employees for Uber...

EPISODE 0004 - SEPT 26, 2017

Say No

with Amy Trager, Jeremy Daer, Abigail Hopkins, and Christopher Hopkins

It’s easy to say yes, whether it’s to a customer request or a deadline from your boss. But saying yes too many times can result in an unmanageable workload or distract you from the stuff you really want to be doing. It’s good to practice saying no and setting boundaries. In this episode: A personal...

EPISODE 0003 - SEPT 12, 2017

Pick A Fight (on Twitter)

with David Heinemeier Hansson

Basecamp CTO David Heinemeier Hansson is known for many things, including creating Ruby on Rails and writing business books. He also has a knack for arguing with people on the Internet. This cheerfully profane conversation explores how Twitter is like a virtual pillow to scream into and the role...

EPISODE 0002 - AUG 29, 2017

Workaholics Aren’t Heroes

with Josh Tsui, Chase Clemons, and Sylvia Maldonado

Being tired isn’t a badge of honor. There, we said it. We’ve been saying this for a while now, because our culture loves to glorify toiling long hours for its own sake and we think that leads to subpar work and general misery. In this episode, we talk to a veteran of the video game industry and a...

Running a Calm Company
EPISODE 0001 - AUG 15, 2017

Sell Your By-products

with Jason Fried and Richard Keeso

Welcome to the first episode of REWORK! This podcast is based on Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson’s 2010 best-selling business book, which was itself based on years of blogging. So what better way to kick off this show than talking about byproducts? In this episode, Jason explains how...

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