I don't think pointing to 'basecamp' as an example of people doing marketing wrong is the best path.<p>And I very much agree that you should focus on sales first and marketing later. Proper marketing burns money like there is no tomorrow, it can distort a bad picture into one that superficially looks good, it distracts you from talking to your customers, the ones that already picked you.<p>There is a right time to start marketing, as long as you're pre-series A, if you can't make virality (the cheapest form of marketing) work for you in that your customers are willing to go to bat for you then you still need to work harder on the product.<p>There is a lot to harp on out there when it comes to examples of companies bad at marketing but 37signals isn't one of them, after all even the author is (unwittingly, and apparently against his will) part of their marketing arm.<p>Before you have a good grip on your product life-cycle marketing can hinder rather than help. Once you're solidly entrenched and you're reaching the limits of your autonomous growth marketing can boost you to the next level. But starting that push too early is like lighting the second stage of the rocket before the first one has detached.
Replying here because I can't go any deeper...<p>@jacquesm You make a good point. I wanted to show that even a product as tremendously successful as Basecamp can still find local minimas where nobody wants it. However as you say, I'm not sure I actually made that very well so have cut those paragraphs.