The other thing to realize is that 37signals ideals and brand directly serve their marketing. I'm not questioning their wisdom per se, but realize that it is a tremendous positive feedback loop—one that they started cultivating for at least half a decade before they released their first product. And at a time when web know-how was a lot thinner on the ground than it is today, and being any kind of professional agency that knew what CSS was actually a shockingly huge differentiator. The other product launch I can think of with such a huge audience and explosive success out of the gate was Stack Overflow that followed a similar pattern of massive precision-tuned audience to market to with an already-authenticated-and-trusted human voice announcing the product.
That's not to say that their audience made their success—they obviously came out of the gate with great products as well. So if you can make a great product then you have half the equation. But the really interesting question to me (since I can build a product) is how to get the marketing right from a bootstrapping perspective.
Getting Basecamp linked up with any mention of Ruby on Rails helps too. Outliners (like 37Signals) work hard and do great work but they're not the standard we should compare ourselves to. Well unless you always want to fall short and feel like shit.
That's not to say that their audience made their success—they obviously came out of the gate with great products as well. So if you can make a great product then you have half the equation. But the really interesting question to me (since I can build a product) is how to get the marketing right from a bootstrapping perspective.