In typical 37signals fashion, the wisdom in these pages is edgy yet

Don't confuse enthusiasm with priority
Coming up with a great idea gives you a rush. You start imagining the
possibilities and the benefits. And of course, you want all that right away.
So you drop everything else you're working on and begin pursuing your
latest, greatest idea.
Bad move. The enthusiasm you have for a new idea is not an accurate
indicator of its true worth. What seems like a sure-fire hit right now often
gets downgraded to just a "nice to have" by morning. And "nice to have"
isn't worth putting everything else on hold.
We have ideas for new features all the time. On top of that, we get dozens
of interesting ideas from customers every day too. Sure, it'd be fun to
immediately chase all these ideas to see where they lead. But if we did that,
we'd just wind up running on a treadmill and never get anywhere.
So let your latest grand ideas cool off for a while first. By all means, have
as many great ideas as you can. Get excited about them. Just don't act in the
heat of the moment. Write them down and park them for a few days. Then,
evaluate their actual priority with a calm mind.

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Be at-home good
You know what it feels like. You go to a store. You're comparing a few
different products, and you're sold on the one that sounds like it's the best
deal. It's got the most features. It looks the coolest. The packaging looks
hot. There's sensational copy on the box. Everything seems great.
But then you get it home, and it doesn't deliver. It's not as easy to use as
you thought it'd be. It has too many features you don't need. You end up
feeling that you've been taken. You didn't really get what you needed and
you realize you spent too much.
You just bought an in-store-good product. That's a product you're more
excited about in the store than you are after you've actually used it.
Smart companies make the opposite: something that's at-home good.
When you get the product home, you're actually more impressed with it
than you were at the store. You live with it and grow to like it more and
more. And you tell your friends, too.
When you create an at-home-good product, you may have to sacrifice a
bit of in-store sizzle. A product that executes on the basics beautifully may
not seem as sexy as competitors loaded with bells and whistles. Being great
at a few things often doesn't look all that flashy from afar. That's OK.
You're aiming for a long-term relationship, not a one-night stand.
This is as true for advertising as it is for in-store packaging or displays.
We've all seen a TV ad for some "revolutionary" gadget that will change
your life. But when the actual product arrives in the mail, it turns out to be a
disappointment. In-media good isn't nearly as important as at-home good.
You can't paint over a bad experience with good advertising or marketing.

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