Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Inside Linear: Building with taste, craft, and focus | Karri Saarinen (co-founder, designer, CEO)

Oct 8, 2023

Karri Saarinen, co-founder and CEO of Linear, shares insights from his impressive background, including design leadership at Airbnb and Coinbase. He discusses the importance of prioritizing craft in product development and how Linear’s unique hiring strategies set them apart. Karri reveals how the company operates with just one PM and emphasizes that good design is essential in today’s market. He offers strategies for maintaining focus amidst distractions while providing a sneak peek of an upcoming feature that enhances team communication.

01:39:49

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Episode guests

Karri Saarinen

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Quick takeaways

Design is crucial in attracting attention, instilling trust, and differentiating from competitors.

Linear's method focuses on opinionated software, consistent cycles, and project teams.

Linear prioritizes a good default experience for users and avoids excessive customization.

Linear emphasizes the importance of understanding the product and customers, balancing data-driven decisions with intuition.

Deep dives

Design as a Key Differentiator

In the podcast episode, the importance of design in the success of a product or company is emphasized. The speaker believes that as the significance of a domain or industry increases, so does the importance of design. Design is seen as a way to attract attention, instill trust, and differentiate from competitors. The speaker mentions that today, high-level design is crucial from the beginning to be taken seriously. Several examples are given to highlight the impact of design on user experience and perception, emphasizing the need for a well-designed product in today's competitive landscape.

The Importance of Iterative Development and Early User Testing in Feature Building

01:08

Focus on Main Quest Lines in Business

01:13

Design Has Become Ever More Important Already at Startup Phase

01:56

The Importance of Fit and Progress in Achieving Product-Market Fit

01:17

Intro

5min

Building Linear: Crafting Quality in Project Management

20min

The Power of Design in Competitive Markets

18min

Empathy Over Metrics in Product Development

9min

The Art of Focus and Prioritization in Startups

5min

Innovative Hiring for Growth

11min

From Concept to Launch: The B2B SaaS Journey

20min

The Evolving Responsibilities of Leadership in a Growing Company

2min

Enhancing Team Communication with Innovative Features

2min

10.

Dynamic Conversations: Quality and Pacing

5min

11.

Exploring Finnish Cuisine and Engaging with Innovative Business

2min

Karri Saarinen is the co-founder and CEO of Linear, an issue-tracking tool that has quickly become the fastest-growing and most beloved in the world. Before Linear, Karri was the principal designer and co-creator of design systems at Airbnb and the founding designer at Coinbase. In today’s episode, he shares:

• How to prioritize craft in product development

• The Linear method for modern software development

• How Linear operates with only one PM

• Why every product needs good design in 2023

• Strategies for staying focused amid distractions

• Linear’s unique hiring strategies

• Sneak peek of a soon-to-be-released Linear feature

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Brought to you by Mercury—the powerful and intuitive way for ambitious companies to bank | Composer—the AI-powered trading platform | Pendo—The all-in-one platform for product-led companies building breakthrough digital experiences

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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-linear-building-with-taste

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Where to find Karri Saarinen:

• X: https://twitter.com/karrisaarinen

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karrisaarinen/

• Website: https://karrisaarinen.com/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Karri’s background

(04:25) Overview of Linear

(06:43) Linear’s design process and its focus on quality

(12:25) Building a craft-oriented company

(16:41) Product management at Linear

(18:37) Strategies for launching a startup without a dedicated PM

(21:16) How Linear assists PMs in their roles

(23:46) Linear’s potential expansion in PM roles

(24:58) The importance of design

(29:08) Utilizing design and brand as distinct competitive advantages

(30:48) The importance of authenticity in branding and messaging

(33:08) How design reviews are conducted at Linear

(38:34) The Linear method for modern software development

(40:07) Why productivity software should be opinionated

(41:23) Why Linear created “cycles” and how it works

(43:27) Why Linear doesn’t have metric-based goals

(45:07) How a business can thrive without metrics, PMs, and A/B testing

(48:04) A customer-focused approach to building product

(50:02) Adapting strategies for diverse products and domains

(53:05) Three techniques Karri uses to maintain focus

(56:47) Linear’s hiring practices

(1:02:10) Paid work trials

(1:04:31) How to determine a candidate’s “product sense”

(1:08:21) Linear’s growth journey and milestones

(1:14:18) How pricing strategies were initially introduced at Linear

(1:16:18) Linear’s journey to finding product-market fit

(1:21:44) The importance of online presence and authenticity in business

(1:24:59) Insight into the corporate culture at Linear

(1:28:29) Lessons learned during Karri’s transition from IC to CEO

(1:30:21) Sneak peek into the upcoming “asks” feature at Linear

(1:32:04) Lightning round

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Referenced:

• Linear: https://linear.app/

• Vercel: https://vercel.com/

• Nan Yu on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thenanyu/

• The Linear method: https://linear.app/method

• How Ramp builds product: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-ramp-builds-product

• Lessons from scaling Ramp | Sri Batchu (Ramp, Instacart, Opendoor): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/lessons-from-scaling-ramp-sri-batchu-ramp-instacart-opendoor/

• Eric Yuan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericsyuan/

• The Timeless Way of Building: https://www.amazon.com/Timeless-Way-Building-Christopher-Alexander/dp/0195024028

• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-Maintenance-Inquiry/dp/0060839872/

• John Wick: Chapter 4: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10366206/

• Silo on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/silo/umc.cmc.3yksgc857px0k0rqe5zd4jice

• Philips Hue lights: https://www.philips-hue.com/en-us

• Finnish salmon soup recipe: https://jernejkitchen.com/recipes/finnish-salmon-soup-lohikeitto

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

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Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Inside Linear: Building with taste, craft, and focus | Karri Saarinen (co-founder, designer, CEO)

Episode guests