What Jason Fried Learned from 26 Years of Building Great Products
AI and I5 Nov 2025

What Jason Fried Learned from 26 Years of Building Great Products

37signals makes tens of millions in profit every year but Jason Fried isn’t all that interested in running a business.

Instead, he cares most about making great products—like Basecamp, HEY, and Ruby on Rails—products that are centered around a single, coherent idea. These products are complete wholes, where each piece matters—like a Frank Lloyd Wright house or a vintage car.

But how do you create products like that?

In this conversation, we talk to Jason about what two decades of building 37signals has been like—and how to build products that have soul.

If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share!

Want even more?

Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT here: https://every.ck.page/ultimate-guide-to-prompting-chatgpt. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.

To hear more from Dan Shipper:

Listen to Working Smarter wherever you get your podcasts, or visit workingsmarter.ai

Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Start

00:00:32 - Introduction

00:02:06 - What architecture, watches, and cars teach us about software

00:10:54 - How Jason thinks AI plays into product-building

00:20:58 - How developers at 37signals use AI

00:25:47 - Jason’s biggest realization after 26 years of running 37signals

00:29:58 - Where Jason thinks luck shaped his career

00:32:41 - What Jason would do if he were graduated into the AI boom

00:37:22 - Dan asks for advice on running a non-traditional company like Every

00:46:39 - Why staying true to yourself is the only way to build something lasting

00:49:38 - Wholeness as the north star for building products—and companies


Links to resources mentioned in the episode:

Avsnitt(100)

Prompt Your Way To Personal Growth - Ep. 51 with Steve Schlafman

Prompt Your Way To Personal Growth - Ep. 51 with Steve Schlafman

Steve Schlafman is using a $20 ChatGPT subscription to expand his consciousness.He’s doing this through:Advanced dream work—Steve records himself talking about his dreams every morning, uploads the tr...

12 Mars 202555min

 How AI Startups Can Win With Better Strategy - Ep. 50 with Mike Maples

How AI Startups Can Win With Better Strategy - Ep. 50 with Mike Maples

Our sponsor for this episode is Microsoft. Want seamless collaboration without the cost? Microsoft Teams offers a robust free plan for individuals that delivers unlimited chat, 60-minute video meeting...

5 Mars 20251h 2min

He Built an AI Audience Simulator. It’s the Future of Customer Research. - Ep. 49 with Michael Taylor

He Built an AI Audience Simulator. It’s the Future of Customer Research. - Ep. 49 with Michael Taylor

Michael Taylor has perfected the art of getting AI to speak in tongues. He’s taught it to mimic the voices of your customers—so you can see how they would respond before you ship.Michael is the creato...

26 Feb 20251h 6min

How Nat Eliason Made $200,000 in a Week Teaching AI - Ep. 48

How Nat Eliason Made $200,000 in a Week Teaching AI - Ep. 48

Nat Eliason’s career arc is borderline absurd—but it works. In the last five years, he ran an SEO agency, got into crypto, made $600,000 from a course on the note-taking toolRoam Research, flipped rea...

12 Feb 202559min

Vercel’s Guillermo Rauch on What Comes After Coding - Ep. 47

Vercel’s Guillermo Rauch on What Comes After Coding - Ep. 47

Guillermo Rauch is one of the most prolific coders of this generation.  But he doesn’t think of himself as a coder anymore.  Coding, he says, is a specific skill that AI is becoming great at. Instead,...

5 Feb 202556min

How to Prepare for AGI According to Reid Hoffman - Ep. 46

How to Prepare for AGI According to Reid Hoffman - Ep. 46

AGI is coming. Reid Hoffman just wrote the book on how to prepare. According to Reid, every major tech breakthrough (the written word, the printing press, the telephone) triggered mass fear. But, cont...

29 Jan 20251h 9min

The Venture Capitalist Who Finds the Best AI Products—Before They Win - Ep. 45 with Nabeel Hyatt

The Venture Capitalist Who Finds the Best AI Products—Before They Win - Ep. 45 with Nabeel Hyatt

Nabeel Hyatt is looking for the “Japanese toilets” of AI—products that delight users in unexpected ways. As a partner at Spark Capital, that investment philosophy has paid off. Despite making only 1-2...

22 Jan 20251h 1min

An Inside Look at Building an Email Client in 3 Months - Ep. 44 with Kieran Klaassen, Brandon Gell

An Inside Look at Building an Email Client in 3 Months - Ep. 44 with Kieran Klaassen, Brandon Gell

Building an email client used to take many years and millions of dollars. But Every’s Kieran Klaassen built Cora—a totally new way to manage your inbox with AI—in just 3 months. He even shipped the or...

15 Jan 20251h 15min

Populärt inom Teknik

uppgang-och-fall
bilar-med-sladd
market-makers
elbilsveckan
rss-elektrikerpodden
bosse-bildoktorn-och-hasse-p
rss-veckans-ai
skogsforum-podcast
rss-laddstationen-med-elbilen-i-sverige
natets-morka-sida
bli-saker-podden
garagehang
developers-mer-an-bara-kod
rss-it-sakerhetspodden
rss-digitala-influencer-podden
rss-en-ai-till-kaffet
rss-technokratin
toms-laskpodd-och-annat
cyber-chats-chill
rss-racevecka