Basecamp was built 14 years ago. There was less competition and 37S a massive marketing channel. No disrespect to them but it was a different world.

He didn't just build Basecamp in those days. He also built Rails.

So you're saying it's virtually impossible?

You're right, it was a different world. A different world entrenched in J2EE, ColdFusion, and classic ASP.

And yet, he/they came in and disrupted things with "10 hours a week" and a few good ideas.

They still executed in their environment and leveraged all they had built.