Jason Fried

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Jason Fried

Jason Fried

@jasonfried

Started & runs 37signals (makers of Basecamp, HEY, and ONCE). Non-serial entrepreneur, serial author. DM or email me at [email protected].

Katılım Nisan 2008
238 Takip Edilen600.4K Takipçiler
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Jason Fried
Jason Fried@jasonfried·
What do they got? A big team, lots of money, a strong brand, seemingly unlimited resources, panache, reputation, all that. They’re established. They’re your competitors. You want to look away, but you see them everywhere. Their ads on your social, their name in the media, your dream clients on their website. But you know what else they got? Bigger company bloat. Overflowing obligations. Narratives to uphold. Appearances to maintain. Entitlement. Too much overhead. They’re slow. They’re conservative. They talk too much. They’ve stopped taking risks. They’re resting on their laurels, gliding on their reputation. They’re on defense. What they’ve really got is a lot to lose. What do you got? Hunger. Drive. Grit. Scrappiness. Independence. You’re on offense. You don’t have enough, which is why you’re dangerous. You have no choice but to be clever and creative. To make up for what you don’t have with something they can’t have: The underdog spirit. You can move. You can adjust. You can adapt. You can get it done while they’re still stuck deciding what to do. Small is not a stepping stone. Small is not less than. It’s greater than. It’s faster than. It’s better than. Savor your position. You don’t get to be the underdog forever. The baton will be passed. But for now, it’s your magic wand. Use it. We stand with the underdogs.
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Jason Fried
Jason Fried@jasonfried·
Not true. Bring your agents in, put them to work. They'll keep track of all of it in Basecamp, right alongside the work you and your team are doing together, or separately. It's fantastic. basecamp.com/agents Here's the CLI if you want to get started: github.com/basecamp/basec… And with the SDK you can bring Basecamp right into your tooling, apps, and integrations. Build with it. Automate it. Make it your own. github.com/basecamp/basec…
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Tommy Geoco
Tommy Geoco@designertom·
Notion and Obsidian have such an opportunity to be the de facto source of truths for teams orchestrating work across humans and agents, but neither quite serves both as well as they could. I'm trying to figure out what that would look like, but it's a growing conviction.
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Devan Sabaratnam
Devan Sabaratnam@dsabar·
I built bespoke apps for customers for decades. A few that were used for 20+ years. Far from bloated or confusing, it usually did one thing well, *exactly* to fit the customer's use case. No one else, just that one customer. The exact opposite of a SaaS product, which I do now.
Jason Fried@jasonfried

A bespoke software revolution? I don't buy it. It'll exist. It already exists. Small consultants and big consulting firms have made custom software for years. It almost always sucks. It’s bloated, confusing, and because the client pays, it’s built wrong in all the ways. Who’s excited about bespoke software? Software makers! Of course they're excited about building bespoke software — that's what they do. X is full of them. Your feed is full of people who love making software talking about making software. Of course they’re excited about the revolution. Echo, echo, echo... Most people don’t like computers. Nobody in tech wants to say that out loud. People tolerate computers. They use them because they have to. Given the choice, most would rather not think about them at all. So when someone suggests that AI means everyone will build their own custom tools, ask who "everyone" is. The three-person accounting firm drowning in client paperwork? They want the paperwork gone, not a new system to maintain. The regional logistics company with 40 trucks? They want the routes optimized, not Joe spouting off about this new system he’s been messing around with. The law firm billing 70-hour weeks? They want leverage on their time, not a software project to design. They don’t hate technology. But building and maintaining their own critical systems isn’t their wheelhouse, regardless of how much faster and easier it’s become. It's another job on top of the job. Will these people use AI? Absolutely, for all sorts of things. Will some outliers go deep and build real custom systems? Sure, but they're almost always people who already had some pull toward software. The curiosity was already there. They were dabblers before. Giving everyone access to software building tools doesn't mean everyone becomes a builder. A powerful excavator doesn't turn a homeowner into a contractor. Most people just want the hole dug by someone else. They don’t want the responsibility either.

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Michael Rispoli
Michael Rispoli@michael_rispoli·
@jasonfried I think it’s not going to be bespoke in that way where a single company builds their own but I think you can have niche SaaS for more businesses. For example the siding and gutter guy wants all the fiends in his CRM to be named things that make sense to their business.
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Jason Fried
Jason Fried@jasonfried·
A bespoke software revolution? I don't buy it. It'll exist. It already exists. Small consultants and big consulting firms have made custom software for years. It almost always sucks. It’s bloated, confusing, and because the client pays, it’s built wrong in all the ways. Who’s excited about bespoke software? Software makers! Of course they're excited about building bespoke software — that's what they do. X is full of them. Your feed is full of people who love making software talking about making software. Of course they’re excited about the revolution. Echo, echo, echo... Most people don’t like computers. Nobody in tech wants to say that out loud. People tolerate computers. They use them because they have to. Given the choice, most would rather not think about them at all. So when someone suggests that AI means everyone will build their own custom tools, ask who "everyone" is. The three-person accounting firm drowning in client paperwork? They want the paperwork gone, not a new system to maintain. The regional logistics company with 40 trucks? They want the routes optimized, not Joe spouting off about this new system he’s been messing around with. The law firm billing 70-hour weeks? They want leverage on their time, not a software project to design. They don’t hate technology. But building and maintaining their own critical systems isn’t their wheelhouse, regardless of how much faster and easier it’s become. It's another job on top of the job. Will these people use AI? Absolutely, for all sorts of things. Will some outliers go deep and build real custom systems? Sure, but they're almost always people who already had some pull toward software. The curiosity was already there. They were dabblers before. Giving everyone access to software building tools doesn't mean everyone becomes a builder. A powerful excavator doesn't turn a homeowner into a contractor. Most people just want the hole dug by someone else. They don’t want the responsibility either.
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Jason Fried
Jason Fried@jasonfried·
Yes great analogy. Also there's this... When you keep asking the AI the same natural language question all the time, a button is better. When you keep wanting to see the same dashboard all the time, a static pre-designed dashboard/display is better. Before you know it, software builds up again. Now with natural language AI assistance when you need something special. But ultimately a consistent view into what you need most of the time is better than having to recreate it from scratch all the time.
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Kevin Rose
Kevin Rose@kevinrose·
agreed. my gut says for essential personal infra (email, photos, banking, etc.) no way a consumer touches that, I want handled by the pros -- then a ton of people (computer friendly but not eng) will tinker their way into little apps for their unique thing. it's kinda like those little herb gardens in your window, fun, useful, but the average person isn't operating a full on garden to sustain their families life. odd analogy, yes.
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Levi Bauer
Levi Bauer@LevyBrain·
@jasonfried Yeah, but for those of us who are tinkerers….our time to shine.
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Adam Pietrasiak
Adam Pietrasiak@pie6k·
@jasonfried Got it. Was thinking about another interpretation which was vastly different and made me ask: Some people are so obsessed with doing it themselves they miss the beauty of being vulnerable with others
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Adam Pietrasiak
Adam Pietrasiak@pie6k·
I feel some gravity towards b&w version of the new logo But also believe Screen Studio brand is quite connected with the current colors. Indigo is quite everywhere, tho.
Adam Pietrasiak tweet media
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Jason Fried
Jason Fried@jasonfried·
I'll take a 3 year take. And then take another when things change. And I agree with your broader outlook. But my point remains: People won't want to make bespoke software, systems, wherever it's called whenever it's called something else. They'll rely on a vendor's system. A general vendor that provides an AI agent, or a specific vendor who provides accounting or law or dental or whatever-specific agents, etc.
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Kevin Rose
Kevin Rose@kevinrose·
All true today. But this is a 3-year take. AI will mature to the point where there's no such thing as "building software." The code layer disappears. The accountant drowning in paperwork just asks for help in plain english and has what they need. The law firm billing 70-hour weeks largely won't exist. The logistics company gets real-time optimized routes without Joe pitching a new system. Humans become thermostat operators. Hotter or colder - just say so.
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Jason Fried
Jason Fried@jasonfried·
@pie6k Most would prefer someone else is there to take the heat when things don't work out, but when you do something yourself, there's no one else to blame.
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JAS
JAS@jonasasihlen·
@jasonfried Using it (forcefully) daily at my dayjob and I have to repent and clean myself every night. You are not using Jira, Jira is using you. Thank God for products like Basecamp.
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JAS
JAS@jonasasihlen·
@jasonfried Has anyone checked in on Chamath and his vibe coded Jira remake?
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Jason Fried
Jason Fried@jasonfried·
Nothing at all about complacency. Don't know where that came from. Sounds like a projection. The message is that people are busy with their own professions. Making custom software for their bespoke situation is not something they're particularly interested in, nor have the time or responsibility for. They're already at full capacity doing their thing. AI can help them in all sorts of ways, but that doesn't make them want to make, maintain, and improve their own bespoke systems.
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Brandon Wilson
Brandon Wilson@brandonwilson·
@jasonfried You really are misleading people though. Yours is a message of complacency. This will probably be one of the most dynamic and turbulent periods ever.
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Brandon Wilson
Brandon Wilson@brandonwilson·
You guys realize just because Saas is not dead, it doesn’t mean your business isn’t about to be scrambled. The industry is going to change a huge amount. Who cares if grandma is going to make software. That’s a red herring.
Jason Fried@jasonfried

A bespoke software revolution? I don't buy it. It'll exist. It already exists. Small consultants and big consulting firms have made custom software for years. It almost always sucks. It’s bloated, confusing, and because the client pays, it’s built wrong in all the ways. Who’s excited about bespoke software? Software makers! Of course they're excited about building bespoke software — that's what they do. X is full of them. Your feed is full of people who love making software talking about making software. Of course they’re excited about the revolution. Echo, echo, echo... Most people don’t like computers. Nobody in tech wants to say that out loud. People tolerate computers. They use them because they have to. Given the choice, most would rather not think about them at all. So when someone suggests that AI means everyone will build their own custom tools, ask who "everyone" is. The three-person accounting firm drowning in client paperwork? They want the paperwork gone, not a new system to maintain. The regional logistics company with 40 trucks? They want the routes optimized, not Joe spouting off about this new system he’s been messing around with. The law firm billing 70-hour weeks? They want leverage on their time, not a software project to design. They don’t hate technology. But building and maintaining their own critical systems isn’t their wheelhouse, regardless of how much faster and easier it’s become. It's another job on top of the job. Will these people use AI? Absolutely, for all sorts of things. Will some outliers go deep and build real custom systems? Sure, but they're almost always people who already had some pull toward software. The curiosity was already there. They were dabblers before. Giving everyone access to software building tools doesn't mean everyone becomes a builder. A powerful excavator doesn't turn a homeowner into a contractor. Most people just want the hole dug by someone else. They don’t want the responsibility either.

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Jason Fried
Jason Fried@jasonfried·
@designertom I'll show you around Basecamp 5, which will be out soon. Entirely different thing than when you used to use Basecamp. Get in the know. Hit me up.
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Tommy Geoco
Tommy Geoco@designertom·
@jasonfried Been a long time since I last used it! May be time to check it out
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Matt Harrison
Matt Harrison@__mharrison__·
@jasonfried Folks want other people to take responsibility. If you do it yourself, you give up that privilege...
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Ian Watts
Ian Watts@_ianwatts_·
@jasonfried @dvassallo there will also be/already is actual companies building these tools, usually done much better. tinkerers love building personal tools even when better ones already exist.
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Jason Fried
Jason Fried@jasonfried·
This stuff has to live somewhere, people want to browse things visually, they want to be able to look at things without having to describe every last thing. I don't disagree that natural language is an outstanding interface and it's going to change things in all sorts of wonderful ways, but describing something isn't making magic without the deck of cards.
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jk
jk@jondashkyle·
@jasonfried Stop thinking of it as making software. You are using a thing. There is something you don’t like about it. You describe the problem. You sharpen an answer that is unique to your requirements and context through iteration. You now have the thing you wanted.
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Jason Fried
Jason Fried@jasonfried·
Could absolutely be wrong. We're all going to be wrong about things if/when AGI really hits. Everyone's basically been wrong about everything so far without AGI too. Remember when ChatGPTs "GPTs" were going to replace apps? Remember when MCP was everything and now it looks like CLIs and APIs may be better? It's all moving so fast, no one knows.
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Kirill Zhuchkov
Kirill Zhuchkov@kirill_zhuchkov·
@jasonfried I love the take. Even if it proves wrong in 6 months when AGI comes about, it is still a breath of fresh air for some time
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