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It could be because the industry is relatively new. 37 Signals is about 12 years old. How big was Wal-Mart after 12 years?

Edit: Wikipedia says Wal-Mart was doing $340.3 million after 13 years.

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Also the industries aren't comparable directly on revenue numbers. Walmart had net sales of $340 million but the net income after tax was $11 million. That's a very low margin business compared to software, where a typical result might be $55 million in revenue to make $11 million.

http://walmartstores.com/Media/Investors/1976AR.pdf

2011 37signals is not the same company as 2001 37signals. They've been doing product for just about as long as Matasano has been in business; ~2005.

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