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I predict that GitHub will acquire Campfire.
So what happens to the other products?
In the short term, everything stays the same. Business as usual. No interruption in service, no changes that affect our customers.
In the long term, one of three things:
SCENARIO 1: We'll spin them off into separate companies where we'll retain partial ownership, but another fully-dedicated team will run the products and own the majority of the company. This would be our ideal situation as it would ensure continuity and no interruption for our customers, but we'd have to find the right entrepreneur/team with the right experience and enough financing to make it work.
SCENARIO 2: We'll sell the products outright (either separately or together). The key for us in this scenario is that the products, and our customers, are well looked after. We will not sell either of these products to a company that is planning to shut the products down. And since no one from our team goes with the sale, this is not an acqui-hire situation. We're looking to sell to a company that wants to add well-respected, well-established, profitable, growing products to their portfolio.
SCENARIO 3: If we can't find the right partner or buyer, we are committed to continuing to run the products for our existing customers forever. We won't sell the products to new customers, but existing customers can continue to use the products just as they always have. The products will shift into maintenance mode which means there will be no new development, only security updates or minor bug fixes. We did this successfully in 2012 with Ta-da List, Writeboard, and Backpack, so we know how to make it work.
If you're a company or team interested in exploring scenario 1 (spin-off) or scenario 2 (outright purchase), please get in touch. Based on current revenues, current growth rates, and a conservative multiple, Campfire will sell in the single digit millions, and Highrise will sell in the tens of millions, so serious inquires only please. Disclosure: We're currently in early discussions with a few interested parties.
And I was just about to integrate Highrise into my app...moving on! Any suggestions on a Highrise competitor that is stable, etc.?
We've also got an easy migration tool for any existing Highrise users: http://close.io/highrise and a solid REST API http://developer.close.io/
2004 first product launched.
5 years after the company and team came together.
5 years of time to hone the skills and struggle.
Oh yah, and another 10 years to grow to 43 people.
Simple reminder of the commitment to patience it can actually take to build a remarkable business.
And I was just about to integrate Highrise into my app...moving on! Any suggestions on a Highrise competitor that is stable, etc.?
Anyone care to take a guess to what Campfire and Highrise revenue? What type of multiple of revenue do they expect to get?
I predict that GitHub will acquire Campfire.
However, it's weird to lose the 37 Signals brand. I actually don't like Basecamp as a product, but I love 37 Signals. I treat their books like a bible, and read their blog posts religiously. Somehow, they seemed like more like a philosophy than just a product, and Basecamp (and Rails and their books) were a side effect.
I know it's the same people and nothing will really change (A rose by any other name...), but it's still so weird to me to lose 37 Signals.