How Linear’s Karri Saarinen is Redefining What Scale Looks Like | S2Bonus

Most Y Combinator graduates and Forbes’ Top 50 AI companies use Linear’s project management suite to build their software. It's no accident that this purpose-built tool is beloved by engineers for its quality and ease of use. But, the company’s path to success hasn’t followed the same hyper-growth playbook its founders experienced in their previous roles at Airbnb, Uber, and Coinbase—and that’s entirely by design.

In this bonus episode of Spotlight On Season 2, Karri Saarinen, CEO and Co-founder of Linear, joins host Miles Clements to share the unique principles that have fueled the company's rise. Karri shares why prioritizing quality doesn’t mean perfectionism, how to raise funding when you don’t need cash, how Linear disrupted an existing category and continues to grow through a relentless focus on end-user needs, what most product teams get wrong about intuition, why he thinks scaling should be about building the highest functioning team instead of the biggest organization—and how his hiring strategy reflects that belief. 

Whether you’re a first-time founder, an established executive, or just care about building great products, we’re sure you’ll find some inspiration from our conversation with Karri. 

Conversation Highlights:

• 00:00 – Introduction to Linear's vision and purpose

• 01:17 – The importance of simple strategies executed well

• 03:00 – Most project management tools are built for the wrong end user

• 05:20 – Why achieving profitability and fundraising are both a part of Linear’s strategy

• 09:50 – The 'Linear way' and what product teams get wrong about intuition

• 19:04 – To achieve both speed and quality, abandon perfectionism

• 22:37 – Allowing customer feedback to guide product design roadmaps

• 28:15 – The role of taste in hiring practices and team culture

• 31:27 – Three practices for hiring only high-performers

• 37: 30 – Thinking about scale as a function of performance instead of size 

• 42:37  – What’s next for Linear 

Featured: Karri Saarinen, CEO and Co-founder of Linear; Miles Clements, Host