One of the best things about being a small business is that you get to move at lightning speed relative to large organizations. This is especially true when you're working with another small company to get something done. To illustrate the point, here is a time-line of events for a project we're working on. Keep in mind part of this happened over Labor Day weekend.

Friday 9/4 - 12:50pm: Job Post is placed on the 37Signals job board.
Saturday 9/5 - 9:32am Application received from qualified developer along with sample applications.
2:00pm - Non-Disclosure Agreement sent to Contract developer
6:00pm - NDA electronically signed.
9:37pm - Basecamp Project Space shared with developer
Sunday 9/6 - Developer reviews project space. I review applications developer has built to date.
Monday 9/7 - 10:55am - Quick chat in campfire about project question(s)
Tuesday 9/8 - 8:30am - Initial proposal received from developer
10:00am - Quick call to discuss a couple points of clarification on application architecture/design. (This is our first verbal communication)
5:41pm - Contract and SOW sent to developer
Wednesday 9/9 - 4:52pm - Contract fully executed by both parties.
Monday 9/14 - Development scheduled to begin.

Calendar days from job post to contract signing: 5 (2 business days)
Calendar days from job post to work starting: 10 (4 business days)

I've seen it take longer than 10 days just to get the language for a job posting put together. It takes reminding sometimes, but those of us who run small companies shouldn't be ashamed of our size. We should use it to our advantage.

By the way, I am officially at the point where I have no clue how I would run my business without the products by 37Signals.