In the constantly evolving web services industry its hard so take a step back and switch focus from keeping abreast of technological advancements [in order to offer clients supercool new gizmos and feed an insatiable gear-whore craving to learn] in order to regain objective perspective on where your firm is going and what options you have to excercise experience and knowledge to create something other than for clients.
Though not obsessivly a fan like many web professionals, for about 8 years I have been keenly watching the evolution of 37signals - a Chicago based firm now known internationally for their suite of web tools including Basecamp [a simple project management software that has become an almost-utility in the industry].
If you ask the majority of their customers, 37signals is simply a company run by passionate individuals [founder Jason Fried has given numerous Steve Jobsian talks at tons of conferences, campuses etc...] who want to make working easier using the web. However, the company hasn't always been a software company - and their understanding of making applications that work well is rooted in experience streamlining web-design process.
Having just jumped onto archive.org's wayback machine to see whether there's a trace of how 37signals has evolved, I was pleasantly surprised to see extensive archival of their [static] site circa early 00's. In fact, if I'm reading the URL correctly, even as recent as 3 years ago, the firm's main offering was not software but design and redesign services. in 2005 their rate sheet saw 3 services priced between $7,500 and $15,000 to not create dynamic sites employing databases and scripting languages, but basic html/xhtml pages empliying clean, simple user interfaces.
If you visit 37signals.com today you'll see their McDonalds-claim of over 1,000,000 people subscribed to their software services [they dont sell software but provide it as a monthly subscription service] and its neat to see this hallmark of their success - both in terms of making more money [assumedly ;) ], and being now in a position to apply the years of experience/knowledge they gained from working almost exclusively [re]designing web interfaces.
