The people’s path to Basecamp

For many, tools like Asana, Trello, Notion, Monday, ClickUp, and Slack were underwhelming stops along the road before finally arriving at Basecamp.

Brian Garside
Manage Comics

Before finally landing on Basecamp, Brian went through tools like Jira, Slack, and plain old email.

First there were Emails + Meetings
Fine for a while, but
eventually not enough.
Google Docs didn’t do it
More documents and spreadsheets
didn’t make things better.
Next it was Slack
Chat made communication faster than
email, but there’s so much more to
collaborating than just talking.
Then Jira got a shot
Too technical, too task-oriented.

Finally, Brian found Basecamp

“Basecamp is my second brain, it’s where I go to document upcoming features, build user stories, and track work.
I couldn’t get by without Basecamp!” —Brian Garside, Manage Comics
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Brett Robison
Tinnacity

Tinnacity’s path is a common one of combining multiple tools only to find more isn’t better. They did try Basecamp early, but left to play the field a bit. But after exploring other tools, they circled back and rediscovered Basecamp. The rest is history.

They tried Trello + Slack
Trello for tracking work and Slack
for communications didn’t cut it.
Then switched to Basecamp
Next they gave Basecamp a try but it didnt’t stick. Yet.
Next they tried Airtable + Slack
They went back to a combo, this time
Airtable and Slack. But again, not right.
Notion + Slack came next
So they kept Slack and swapped in Notion
for Airtable. But still, too many holes.

Finally, back to just Basecamp for good

“Eventually we landed back on Basecamp because we like the peacefulness of it (versus Slack status and getting interrupted all day). We really enjoy To-dos and Automatic Check-ins to keep our company connected.” —Brett Robison, Tinnacity
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Dan Unger
Straight from the Heart

A common path from texting and email through a handful of popular tools, only to continually feel like something was lacking. Until they tried Basecamp.

Started with Texts + Emails
“We started with texting and email
but it just got too crazy and messy.”
Next, moved to Trillian
“We didn’t use it for long because it was just
like emails and texting. We wanted to be able
to do more (documents, lists, etc).”
Then over to Slack
Chat was chaotic and inadequate.
Then layered-in Google Drive
“The Slack + Google Drive combo gave
us documents with communication,
but the project part was lacking.”
Maybe Monday would do it?
Nope. “Just fell short of what
we were looking to do.”

Finally, they found Basecamp

“Once we used Basecamp, it had everything we wanted. Thanks for a wonderful product and giving a nonprofit discount. We wouldn’t be able to afford without it, but also wouldn’t be functioning as sufficiently. Forever thankful!” —Dan Unger, Straight from the Heart
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Johanne Brierre
NYbeautysuites

A friend recommended Basecamp to Johanne after her false starts with Slack, Asana, and Google Docs.

First up was Slack
Needed more than chat.
Then it was Asana
Not the right fit.
She tried Google Docs
Wasn’t getting it done.

Then her friend recommended Basecamp

“My friend Andres, who runs a digital agency, recommended Basecamp to me. It’s become a game-changer — one of the best platforms for managing a small team, especially for women founders like myself.” —Johanne Brierre, NYbeautysuites
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Ian Parsons
Matogen Digital

Fun path! Lots of trials and combinations and trying to stick multiple tools together only to find out that complexity never pays off. That’s why Matogen Digital traded up for the simplicity of Basecamp.

Got started with Email + Todos
The standard one-two punch
of email and simple to-dos.
Then layered in Google Sheets
They needed to track some stuff,
so here comes the spreadsheet.
Next it was Asana
They needed something more sophisticated,
so they gave Asana a try.
Then Monday got a shot
Monday was put in place to try to
replace everything else, but it fell flat.
Then back to Slack + Asana
Asana enters the picture again, this
time paired with Slack for chat.
Then Jira + Slack + Asana
Now they added Jira to the mix.
Things are getting messy and
complicated. Too many tools.

Eventually, they dropped everything
and picked up Basecamp

When you can replace Jira, Asana, Slack, Email, and Monday with one product, it’s a very good day. That’s exactly what Ian did when he went with Basecamp. “Thanks for keeping things simple.” —Ian Parsons, Matogen Digital
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Sebastien Bossi Croci
Uxo

Sebastien kept trying Slack plus something else, including Slack + Basecamp together, but in the end, Basecamp alone was the sole survivor. It did everything, simpler.

First was Asana + Slack
A common pairing because each
is deficient at what the other offers.
Then Notion + Slack
Slack stayed, but Notion replaced
Asana. But it didn’t pan out.
Then a Basecamp + Slack combo
Next, Basecamp entered the picture,
but Slack stayed too.

Ultimately, Basecamp replaced them all

In the end, it was better to have everything in one tool, in one place. And since Basecamp offers real-time chat, DMing, and external integrations, Slack was no longer needed at all. —Sebastien Bossi Croci, Uxo
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Stefan Straßburger
involve marketing GmbH

Starting with emails and tons of meetings, Stefan and team cycled though Slack and Teams, before falling back to email. Then they discovered Basecamp.

They started with Email
Email “and tons of meetings”.
A common starting point.
They gave Slack a shot
Ineffective chaos — the worst kind of busy.
Next, it was Microsoft Teams
Similiar to Slack, but part of the Microsoft
stack. Didn’t work for all the same reasons.
Then back to Email for a bit
Once the tools failed them,
they fell back to old habits.

Finally, they found Basecamp

“And here the journey ends. Thank god.” —Stefan Straßburger, involve marketing GmbH
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Helen Ryan
Flex Design Group

A bunch of tries lead to a bunch of letdowns. Until she found the right fit in Basecamp.

They started with Trello
“Too basic”.
Then came Notion
“Too heavy”.
ClickUp was next
“Too much”.
Asana got a try
“Not quite right”.
They even tried Moxie
“Not strong enough”.

Finally, Helen found Basecamp

“I was looking for a simple solution that was easy
for both me and clients to keep track of work.” —Helen Ryan, Flex Design Group
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Doug Seidl
Straight-up Digital Marketing

Doug’s path rolls through many of the usual suspects like Trello, ClickUp, and Notion, but ultimately after finding frustration and sliding back to email, Doug found Basecamp.

Things started with Email
A common starting spot, especially
when just starting out and basic
communication is all you need.
Then, they tried Trello
Kanban just wasn’t enough.
Next it was ClickUp’s turn
ClickUp had a lot more, but ultimately too much
more. More isn’t better when it gets in the way.
Then Email again
Back to good old (but messy) email.
Then it was Notion
Was a document-centric approach
the right one? No, it wasn’t.
Nope, back to Email
The old standby gets a call off the bench once
again. But the same weakness emerge.

Finally, they found Basecamp

“Best solution for what I do that I’ve tried… and one clients ACTUALLY participate in when I need that.” —Doug Seidl, Straight-up Digital Marketing
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Lucien Odey
Projektt Technologies

This one features a relapse to Jira + Confluence, only to realize it didn’t work the second time for the same reasons it didn’t work the first time. Then they found their fit in Basecamp.

First up, it was Jira
They used Jira + Confluence
together, and “left because
they were too fiddly”.
Then they tried Microsoft Azure Boards
Looking for something more Kanban-esque,
they went with Azure Boards but the “UI was
cluttered with tons of Microsoft
services in there”.
Then back to Jira
After Azure didn’t pan out, they went back
to Jira + Confluence but it “encouraged the
wrong engineering mindset”. Like returning
to a bad relationship, the second time around
didn’t work for the same reasons the first
time didn’t work.

Finally, Lucien found Basecamp

“I think it’s great. You guys have built a fantastic product. The most interesting ‘feature’ for me is the disciplined thinking it encourages. There’s something about that focused UI view when creating a new message or doc that forces better writing from me. Its value is actually pretty hard to capture in words. Perhaps best say ‘it makes me think better.’” —Lucien Odey, Projektt Technologies
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