I tend to frown on PR stunts for the simple reason that 99 out of 100 typically fail. But yesterday’s zinger by 37Signals CEO Jason Fried was, in a word, brilliant. The post, titled “PRESS RELEASE: 37SIGNALS VALUATION TOPS $100 BILLION AFTER BOLD VC INVESTMENT” has been the subject of 200+ blogs and generated more than 200 comments on the company’s own blog within the last 24 hours. I’d tell you how many times the clever post has been retweeted but I can’t count that high!

When Lithium Technologies’ Dan Ziman (mastermind of TIBCO’s Greg the Architect series) passed along Fried’s release yesterday, I thought he must have pulled it straight out of The ONION. For those of you who are returning from vacation and happened to miss the news, Twitter recently received a valuation of $1 billion dollars (insert Austin Powers pinkie). Capitalizing on the continued media frenzy and keeping pundits and bloggers honest about the silliness of basing valuations on investments in the process, Fried jokes in his post that his company is valued at $100 billion based on investors who are paying $1 for 0.000000001% of the company.

Fried’s blog struck a major chord with the blogosphere’s elite too.  TechCrunch’s MG Siegler wrote a counter post today that has already attracted more than 270 comments. It really doesn’t get any better than that: Publish a mock post and have the tech industry’s most popular blog respond with a counter analysis.  Hook, line and sinker!

Rather than wax on with about why I think it’s so great, I’ve included a few of my favorite excerpts from the release below:

In order to increase the value of the company, 37signals has decided to stop generating revenues. “When it comes to valuation, making money is a real obstacle. Our profitability has been a real drag on our valuation,” said Mr. Fried. “Once you have profits, it’s impossible to just make stuff up. That’s why we’re switching to a ‘freeconomics’ model. We’ll give away everything for free and let the market speculate about how much money we could make if we wanted to make money. That way, the sky’s the limit!”

A $100 billion value for 37signals is “not outlandish,” says Aanandamayee Bhatnagar, a finance professor and valuation guru at Grenada State’s Schnook School of Business. Bhatnagar points to a leaked, confidential corporate strategy plan that projects 37signals will attract twelve billion users by the end of 2013.

How will the company overcome the fact that there are only 6.8 billion people alive today? “Why limit users to people?” said Bhatnagar.

To help handle the burdens of an increased valuation, 37signals hired former YouTube exec Craig Mirage as Chief Operating Officer earlier this month. Mirage hopes to replicate YouTube’s valuation success at 37signals. “Of course, the investment comes with great expectations. But you should see the spreadsheet models we’re making up. Really breakthrough stuff,” said Mirage.

Hats off to you Mr. Fried!