As an aside to this discussion: If they are actually that profitable it's a good idea to fly below the radar and resist making statements about how wildly profitable they are. Doing that might entice competitors to enter the same market and regardless of whether they succeed or not that could kill the goose.
Sometimes of course things are out in the open and it can't be avoided (lines at the restaurant or with public companies, or Oracle posting their 24x7 software support rates where a guy out of his house can do the math). Sometimes you want the publicity for one reason or another. But despite the openness of the internet there are still things that you want to keep to yourself lest everybody and their uncle decides to move into your neighborhood.
"just how profitable 37signals probably is"
As an aside to this discussion: If they are actually that profitable it's a good idea to fly below the radar and resist making statements about how wildly profitable they are. Doing that might entice competitors to enter the same market and regardless of whether they succeed or not that could kill the goose.
Sometimes of course things are out in the open and it can't be avoided (lines at the restaurant or with public companies, or Oracle posting their 24x7 software support rates where a guy out of his house can do the math). Sometimes you want the publicity for one reason or another. But despite the openness of the internet there are still things that you want to keep to yourself lest everybody and their uncle decides to move into your neighborhood.