37signals is the software company behind Basecamp and HEY, and unlike most of Silicon Valley, it decided to grow a spine. While the tech world was falling over itself to hit diversity quotas, wave ESG banners, and sponsor Pride-month parades, 37signals took a different route. In 2021, the company banned political activism at work, told employees to leave culture wars at the door, and even offered severance packages to anyone who could not handle the change. The message was simple: focus on building great products, not running a miniature activist nonprofit.
Basecamp co-founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson are notorious for calling out corporate groupthink. They ditched DEI trainings, refused to chase ESG brownie points, and made it clear that their company is a place for shipping code, not hosting sensitivity seminars. That contrarian streak cost them employees and got them roasted in tech media, but it also earned them a loyal customer base that just wants software without the side order of politics.
So if you are looking for a project management platform that is more interested in organizing your work than indoctrinating your team, 37signals is the rare island of sanity in a sea of woke tech companies. It proves you can actually run a successful business without plastering your homepage with social causes.
