A computer doesn't have a mind of its own - it needs someone else's to function.

Unlike a goldfish, a computer can't really do anything without you telling it exactly what you want it to do.

I'm a designer, but I rely on programmers to bring my ideas to life. By learning to code myself, I think I can make things easier for all of us. Similarly, I want to be able to build things on my own without having to bother a programmer.

I live in Chicago but own some property up in Wisconsin.

Statistics rarely drive me. Feelings, intuition, and gut instinct do.

When it comes to making decisions, I'm not what you'd call a numbers guy.

As businesses grow, all sorts of things that once were done on the fly - including creating new products - have a way of becoming bureaucratized.

A company gets better at the things it practices.

I think the story is important in every business. Why do you exist, why are you here, why is your product different, why should I pay attention, why should I care?

A fixed deadline and a flexible scope are the crucial combination.

I used to think that deadlines should be ignored until the product was ready: that they were a nuisance, a hurdle in front of quality, a forced measure to get something out the door for the good of the schedule, not the customer.

If an employee can demonstrate results produced in a way that the company didn't think possible, then a new way forward can begin to take shape.

Give your employees a shot at showing the company a new way, and provide the room for them to chalk up a few small victories. Once they've proved that their idea can work on a limited basis, they can begin to scale it up.

When you're short on sleep, you're short on patience. You're ruder to people, less tolerant, less understanding. It's harder to relate and to pay attention for sustained periods of time.

People pulling 16-hour days on a regular basis are exhausted. They're just too tired to notice that their work has suffered because of it.

Whenever I speak at a conference, I try to catch a few of the other presentations. I tend to stand in the back and listen, observe, and get a general sense of the room.

I'd love to see more businesses take this approach - intentionally rightsizing themselves. Hit a number that feels good and say, 'Let's stick around here.'

Success isn't about being the biggest. It's about letting the right size find you.

I believe if you start a business with the intent of making it huge, you're already prioritizing the wrong thing. Size is important, but it's a byproduct of a whole bunch of other things that are worth way more of your mental energy - customers, service, quality.

We don't want to bank all our risk on a small collection of big companies. We don't want to lose 20 percent of our business if one big account goes away.

A diverse customer base helps insulate you; a few large accounts can leave you vulnerable to their whims.

When we launched the first version of Basecamp in 2004, we decided to build software for small companies just like us.

I've found that nurturing untapped potential is far more exhilarating than finding someone who has already peaked.

Sometimes you get lucky and things are as easy as you had imagined, but that's rarely the case.