A culture war between founders and employees at the software firm is a reminder that new industries aren’t any more caring than old
The Basecamp app: the firm recently lost a third of its workforce over a new mission statement. Photograph: Postmodern Studio/Alamy
The Basecamp app: the firm recently lost a third of its workforce over a new mission statement. Photograph: Postmodern Studio/Alamy
Sat 8 May 2021 11.00 EDT
Basecamp is a plucky little (57-person) tech company that makes useful and imaginative project-management software and innovative email software. Or, rather, it was until a fortnight ago, when it suddenly became embroiled in a traumatic internal row between its employees and its two cofounders, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, a row that has transformed Basecamp into a much smaller company bearing the scars of collateral damage from a firefight in the culture wars.