Please note: This site's design is only visible in a graphical browser that supports Web standards, but its content is accessible to any browser or Internet device. To see this site as it was designed please upgrade to a Web standards compliant browser.
 
Signal vs. Noise

Our book:
Defensive Design for the Web: How To Improve Error Messages, Help, Forms, and Other Crisis Points
Available Now ($16.99)

Most Popular (last 15 days)
Looking for old posts?
37signals Mailing List

Subscribe to our free newsletter and receive updates on 37signals' latest projects, research, announcements, and more (about one email per month).

37signals Services
Syndicate
XML version (full posts)
Get Firefox!

David Heinemeier Hansson is now a signal

30 Jan 2005 by Jason Fried

This has been a long time in the making, but today in Seattle we put pen to paper — David Heinemeier Hansson, aka Mr. Ruby on Rails, Mr. Instiki, and the technical brains behind Basecamp, is now part of 37signals. We’re thrilled to officially have him on the team.

David is one of the sharpest, most practical, visionary developers I’ve ever met. He understands that programming isn’t just about the code you add, but the code you take away. He understands that design and the customer experience drives the back end. He understands what building something useful is all about. And he understands how to communicate clearly. He powers our Less Software movement. He’s 37signals through and through.

Welcome aboard, David. Here we go!

23 comments so far (Post a Comment)

30 Jan 2005 | Ryan Christensen said...

Congratulations David & 37s!

(To be honest.. I was wondering when this would be happening. It's about time!)

30 Jan 2005 | Noel Jackson said...

Congrats David! 37Signals is lucky to have you! :)

30 Jan 2005 | Peter Cooper said...

Woohoo! Now David can spread some European culture around, and be able to afford some real food instead of ramen and Kraft mac and cheese. :) Please make sure you let him still work on Rails and answer repetitive questions from us sycophants on #rubyonrails.

30 Jan 2005 | Marten Veldthuis said...

Congratulations David!

30 Jan 2005 | Justin French said...

Moving to the US, or working remotely?

30 Jan 2005 | Tobias Luetke said...

Congratulations David and 37s!

30 Jan 2005 | Richard Bird said...

Congratulations, DHH & 37s. Having the privilege of meeting and working with David, he's always been 37signals material. How about a recap for us, David (or Jason), on how the connection was first made and how it's grown? Best wishes to all.

30 Jan 2005 | Will Hayworth said...

Congratulations, David and also 37Signals.

Will Next Angle be closed completely, or still open for clients in smaller numbers?

30 Jan 2005 | Matt Hampel said...

Congratulations! This is great news.

Does this mean a large shift in 37Signals focus? Your site offers usability testing, redesigns, and education but all your major projects recently have been web apps.

30 Jan 2005 | Solomon Folks said...

Kudos to both 37signals and David. Although most here will see this as a logical move, business owners don't always make logical moves. I look forward to see even more from the great "new" team at 37 signals.

30 Jan 2005 | ~bc said...

Congrats, you all will continue to make beautiful music together, undoubtedly. I too wonder if DH will be in CHI or DK?

30 Jan 2005 | Bob said...

I'm surprise he signed it--giving up the "consultant" rate from a company to whom he was irreplacable? Must have been a sweet deal...congrats.

30 Jan 2005 | Jamie said...

4 down. 33 more to go! :P

30 Jan 2005 | Guan Yang said...

Welcome to the world of US tax returns...

31 Jan 2005 | SU said...

Congrats David -- you'll never work with a more passionate, driven, empathetic, and intelligent group of individuals as you will at 37signals.

31 Jan 2005 | Al Abut said...

Congratulations!

And I second Matt's question above - do you guys see a shift in your focus that we the fans have been seeing for a while? It's not a change in your approach, just in your offerings. Diversifying into being able to build web apps with useful/usable/simple interfaces - rather than cleaning up other people's creations - makes sense from a business perspective, it just makes me think of signal 04 from the manifesto. Will David get to work on external client projects too? Only Basecamp-style internal products?

For that matter, how about a little spiel about who 37s is? Who are the other partners, are you all in Chicago, etc. It's amazing how little I knew when I stopped to think about it.

31 Jan 2005 | JF said...

37signals is definitely transitioning into a products company. We're still doing some select client work, but 80%+ of our time is spent on Basecamp and the development of some other products in the pipeline.

Ryan and I are in Chicago, Matt is in New York, and David is in Copenhagen. We'll be bringing on a fifth person (a programmer) shortly, but that's it for our growth for a good long time.

31 Jan 2005 | Holy Cow said...

So what happens of David's job at TextDrive then, eh?

31 Jan 2005 | Jeremy Pinnix said...

I should have known something was up when David's Building of Basecamp, Seattle nametag specified he was a 37signals employee...

Congratulations to David and 37signals!

31 Jan 2005 | Anders Toxboe said...

Congrats!

31 Jan 2005 | David Heinemeier Hansson said...

Thanks, everybody! To answer a few questions.

Yes, Next Angle is going to be more or less inactive from this point forward. I'll be working pretty much exclusively through 37signals -- even for consulting/client work.

The connection with TextDrive was never one of employment. I advise on matters relating to Ruby on Rails from time to time and enjoy a mutually beneficial endorsement deal.

I will not be moving to the States. The last three years of working together remotely have proven that to be a very effective cooperation form, so we'll continue doing that for now.

24 Feb 2005 | dzwonki polifoniczne said...

http://www.37signals.com/svn/archives/001035.php

Comments on this post are closed

 
Back to Top ^