You've launched... now what?

What It Covers

37signals cofounders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson explain their post-launch strategy for Fizzy, their new product. They cover team scaling from seven developers down to two, why they skip analytics instrumentation, how they resist data-driven decision making, and their approach to maintaining founder enthusiasm without faking sustained hype.

Key Questions Answered

• •Post-launch patience: Avoid making aggressive product changes for several weeks after launch, even when feedback flows in. Users need time to adjust to new interfaces and workflows. Only fix broken features immediately. Wait months before implementing major changes based on complaints about naming, functionality, or workflow preferences to see if users naturally adapt to the design decisions.
• •Delayed billing implementation: Launch products without payment processing capability to focus development energy on core features. 37signals launched Fizzy with a 1000-card free tier but no billing system, giving themselves weeks to build payment infrastructure after launch. This forces simpler billing design and redirects pre-launch effort to product quality rather than monetization mechanics.
• •Team surge and contraction: Staff new products heavily during final launch push, then scale back to sustainable levels. Fizzy peaked at six to seven programmers pre-launch, then contracted to two programmers and one designer post-launch. This rhythm prevents burnout while enabling intense focus during critical periods. Most feature work runs with just one designer and one programmer at 37signals.
• •Minimal analytics approach: Track only basic metrics like total signups and card usage rather than implementing comprehensive instrumentation. After ten years of detailed data analysis, 37signals identified only one pivotal insight from analytics: a homepage redesign that reduced conversions by 20 percent over six months. Gut instinct and intuition outperformed quantitative analysis for product decisions across their entire history.
• •Founder-led longevity: Companies run by founders who care about product quality outperform those managed by data-focused executives optimizing for short-term metrics. Examples include Starbucks under Howard Schultz, Dell under Michael Dell, and Google with Sergey Brin returning. MBA-style optimization and private equity thinking destroyed American giants like Toys R Us, Intel, and Boeing by prioritizing quarterly results over sustainable product excellence.