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David Heinemeier Hansson

What David Heinemeier Hansson thinks about startups

@dhh · 154 positions · 10 changes of mind

Creator of Ruby on Rails, CTO of 37signals, and creator of Omarchy.

Everything they publish, on ppll ↗

David Heinemeier Hansson did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

5 dated positions, 2025 to 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what David Heinemeier Hansson has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingVenture money ruins software: raise a fortune, hire hundreds, and crap comes out, because the funnel that forces hard choices is gone.

    Their wordsThis was one of the reasons why I was always so skeptical about venture capital when it came to software. Because I saw time and again people raise an enormous amount of money, hire hundreds of people, and produce crap software.

    ↗DHH: How to Build a Profitable Company Without Losing Controlyoutube.com 3rd of 15 in this recording

    venture capital

    Interesting
  2. 4 months earlier

  3. Our readingBasecamp was the best business idea he will ever have: lightning is not caught twice, and a founder's second idea is rarely as good as the first.

    Their wordsAnd I have no shame in saying that Base Camp was the best idea objectively in terms of a business that we've ever had.

    ↗DHH’s new way of writing codeyoutube.com 3rd of 20 in this recording

    Interesting
  4. 9 months earlier

  5. Our readingThe way to stay small is never to take other people's money: the moment you do, they want the largest return, and the enterprise playbook follows.

    Their wordsBecause the problem isn't just venture capital, it's other people's money. Once you take other people's money, completely understandably, they want a return and they would prefer to have the largest return possible.

    ↗DHH: Future of Programming, AI, Ruby on Rails, Productivity & Parenting | Lex Fridman Podcast #474youtube.com 22nd of 36 in this recording

    venture capital

    Interesting

  7. Our readingBasecamp was the best business idea he will ever have: lightning is not caught twice, and a founder's second idea is rarely as good as the first.

    Their wordsI know this from experience because I've been trying to build a lot of other businesses since. And some of them have been moderate successes, even good successes, none of them have been Basecamp. It's really difficult to do that twice.

    ↗DHH: Future of Programming, AI, Ruby on Rails, Productivity & Parenting | Lex Fridman Podcast #474youtube.com 25th of 36 in this recording

    Interesting

  9. Our readingAfter the cloud exit, the next step is out of the data centre: home servers and multi-gigabit home connections make the garage startup literal again.

    Their wordsNow my next kind of tingle is that if you could move out of the cloud, can you also move out of the data center? Personal servers have gotten really scarily quick and efficient and personal internet connections rival what we connected data centers with just a decade or two ago.

    ↗DHH: Future of Programming, AI, Ruby on Rails, Productivity & Parenting | Lex Fridman Podcast #474youtube.com 28th of 36 in this recording

    the clouddata centers

    Interesting