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

Don't write it down
How should you keep track of what customers want? Don't. Listen, but then
forget what people said. Seriously.
There's no need for a spreadsheet, database, or filing system. The
requests that really matter are the ones you'll hear over and over. After a
while, you won't be able to forget them. Your customers will be your
memory. They'll keep reminding you. They'll show you which things you
truly need to worry about.
If there's a request that you keep forgetting, that's a sign that it isn't very
important. The really important stuff doesn't go away.

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CHAPTER
 
PROMOTION

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Welcome obscurity
No one knows who you are right now. And that's just fine. Being obscure is
a great position to be in. Be happy you're in the shadows.
Use this time to make mistakes without the whole world hearing about
them. Keep tweaking. Work out the kinks. Test random ideas. Try new
things. No one knows you, so it's no big deal if you mess up. Obscurity
helps protect your ego and preserve your confidence.
Retailers experiment with test markets all the time for this reason. When
Dunkin' Donuts thought about selling pizza, hot dogs, and other hot
sandwiches, it test-marketed the products at just ten select locations.
Broadway shows also provide a great example of testing ideas on a small
stage first. They routinely do a trial run in a smaller city before coming to
New York. Testing out of town lets actors get some reps in front of a live
audience before the show goes up in front of harsher critics and
tastemakers.
Would you want the whole world to watch you the first time you do
anything? If you've never given a speech before, do you want your first
speech to be in front of ten thousand people or ten people? You don't want
everyone to watch you starting your business. It makes no sense to tell
everyone to look at you if you're not ready to be looked at yet.
And keep in mind that once you do get bigger and more popular, you're
inevitably going to take fewer risks. When you're a success, the pressure to
maintain predictability and consistency builds. You get more conservative.
It's harder to take risks. That's when things start to fossilize and change
becomes difficult.
If millions of people are using your product, every change you make will
have a much bigger impact. Before, you might have upset a hundred people
when you changed something. Now you might upset thousands. You can
reason with a hundred people, but you need riot gear to deal with ten
thousand angry customers.
These early days of obscurity are something you'll miss later on, when
you're really under the microscope. Now's the time to take risks without
worrying about embarrassing yourself.

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