1999 ; 17 years ago 1999 founder jason fried carlos segura ernest kim headquarters chicago illinois u.s. key people jason fried david hansson products basecamp ruby on rails backpack campfire highrise services web applications number of employees 50 2015 1 website www.basecamp.com basecamp formerly known as 37signals is a privately held american web application company based in chicago illinois . the firm was co founded in 1999 by jason fried carlos segura and ernest kim as a web design company . 2 in february 2014 the company adopted a new strategy focusing entirely on its flagship product basecamp software and renaming the company from 37signals to basecamp . 3 4 since mid 2004 the company s focus has shifted from web design to web application development . its first commercial application was basecamp ; this was followed by backpack campfire and highrise . 5 the open source web application framework ruby on rails was initially created for internal use at 37signals before being publicly released in 2004 . 6 7 contents 1 history 2 products 2.1 ruby on rails 3 books 4 references 5 external links history edit the company 37signals was originally named after the 37 radio telescope signals identified by astronomer paul horowitz as potential messages from extraterrestrial intelligence . 8 work on the company s first product the project management application basecamp began in 2003 . 9 by 2005 the company had moved away from consulting work to focus exclusively on its web applications . the ruby on rails web application framework was extracted from the work on basecamp and released as open source . 7 in 2006 the company announced that jeff bezos had acquired a minority stake via his personal investment company bezos expeditions . 10 11 products edit basecamp is 37signals first product a web based project management tool launched in 2004 . basecamp s primary features are to do lists milestone management forum like messaging file sharing and time tracking . 12 basecamp next was released in 2012 while basecamp 3 was released in 2014 . 13 14 campfire is a business oriented online chat service launched in 2006 . 14 ruby on rails edit main article ruby on rails ruby on rails is a free web application framework created by david heinemeier hansson one of the 37signals programmers . it was originally used to make 37signals first product basecamp and was since extracted and released as open source in 2004 as well as being the framework that 37signals use to make their web applications . 7 books edit jason fried and david heinemeier hansson published several books under the 37signals name . rework 2010 randomhouse became a new york times best seller . 15 16 remote office not required 2013 randomhouse which is about allowing employees to work from remote offices was also a new york times best seller . the book was about 37signals experience with a largely remote workforce . 17 18 defensive design for the web how to improve error messages help forms and other crisis points new riders press 2004 isbn 0 7357 1410 x getting real the smarter faster easier way to build a successful web application 37signals 2006 isbn 0 578 0128 12 references edit hinkle haley october 21 2015 . basecamp s jason fried aims to let great ideas set the course . chicago tribune . retrieved 19 september 2016 . caplan jeremy may 17 2007 . small is essential with a million users and a payroll of eight software sensation 37signals excels by doing more with less . time . retrieved 19 september 2016 . kepes ben february 5 2014 . 37signals no more changes name to basecamp and drops all products but its namesake . forbes . retrieved 19 september 2016 . fried jason july 1 2016 . why 37signals refocused on a single product basecamp . inc. retrieved 19 september 2016 . harris melissa february 5 2014 . 37signals changing name to basecamp shedding products . chicago tribune . retrieved 19 september 2016 . harris melissa september 4 2012 . 37signals takes stake in the starter league . chicago tribune . retrieved 19 september 2016 . a b c park andrew february 25 2008 . the brash boys at 37signals will tell you keep it simple stupid . wired . retrieved 19 september 2016 . 37signals . com what s in a name . 37signals . archived from the original on 27 april 2007 . retrieved april 1 2007 . dusto amy may 27 2014 . how basecamp grew from an internal project to generating millions in revenue . built in chicago . retrieved 19 september 2016 . arrington michael july 20 2006 . 37 signals takes jeff bezos investment . techcrunch . archived from the original on 23 march 2008 . retrieved march 21 2008 . hof rob july 19 2006 . 37signals 1 big new investor jeff bezos . bloomberg . retrieved 19 september 2016 . empson rip february 8 2013 . after 8 years on the web project management platform basecamp finally launches an official ios app . techcrunch . retrieved 19 september 2016 . hendershot steve march 31 2012 . 37signals vaults from base camp to summit . crain s chicago business . retrieved 20 september 2016 . a b hempel jessi november 4 2015 . basecamp 3 will change the way you think about work again . wired . retrieved 19 september 2016 . mims christopher march 5 2013 . jason fried s next project remote is a book length refutation of yahoo s ban on telecommuting . quartz . retrieved 20 september 2016 . fried jason ; heinemeier hansson david 2010 . rework . crown publishing group . isbn 9780307463760 . access date requires url help fried jason ; heinemeier hansson david 2013 . remote office not required . crown publishing group . isbn 9780804137515 . access date requires url help silverman rachel emma august 6 2013 . some tech firms ask who needs managers . wall street journal . retrieved 19 september 2016 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title basecamp company & oldid 743336237 categories web design companies of the united statesdesign companies of the united statesinternet companies of 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