Many of us who have started web based service businesses in the last 4 or 5 years have modeled themselves from the company 37 Signals. They are an excellent example of a successful web business that bootstrapped their way to success.

For those of you that don’t know them, they are an extremely small company that has millions in revenue from a few excellent web based products. Take a look at Basecamp and Highrise. We use them both.

When I first built Mobivity, our Mobile Marketing and SMS platform, I had to keep asking myself “what would the guys at 37 Signals do?” Repeating that line over and over played a large role in or success.

They have recently release their second book. The first one was a free online one called Getting Real.

I’ve already been through a bit of their new one called Rework, and I am very impressed. Not only with their book, but also with the fact that we already do much of what they are talking about. It validates our strategy and makes me even more confident we are on the right track.

One of my favorite excerpts is the one about “picking a fight” with the competition.

If you think a competitor sucks, say so. When you do
that, you’ll find that others who agree with you will rally
to your side. Being the anti- ______ is a great way to differentiate
yourself and attract followers.

For example, Dunkin’ Donuts likes to position itself
as the anti- Starbucks. Its ads mock Starbucks for
using “Fritalian” terms instead of small, medium, and
large. Another Dunkin’ campaign is centered on a taste
test in which it beat Starbucks. There’s even a site
called DunkinBeatStarbucks.com where visitors can
send e- cards with statements like “Friends don’t let
friends drink Starbucks.”

This is something I have always thought was a great strategy (as you can see from this previous post…). When you have a better product, then let the world know! When the competition screws up (like Pinch Media’s 10 day data refresh lag time), let the world know!

I am about to do just such a post on the Mobivity Blog about Clickatell who just got shut down by every U.S. carrier and have sent their customers calling us in droves. We MUST take this opportunity to let the industry know what makes us different, and why these things would never happen to us.

If any of our readers have their own business, or plan to start one, then this book is a must read. Visit the Rework site and read the free preview they have available.

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