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Inside Linear: Why craft and focus still win in product building | Karri Saarinen (Co-founder and CEO)

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Manage episode 487015516 series 2815222
Content provided by First Round. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by First Round or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.

Karri Saarinen is the co-founder and CEO of Linear, the project management tool built for high-performance software teams. Since its founding in 2019, Linear has achieved a valuation of $1.25B as of 10th June 2025 and now counts companies like OpenAI, Ramp and Vercel as customers. Before founding Linear, Karri led design at Airbnb and Coinbase, and previously co-founded Kippt, a bookmarking tool acquired by Coinbase.

In today’s episode, we discuss

  • Karri’s childhood love for computers that shaped his career
  • The lessons he learned from a failed first startup
  • Linear’s founding principles
  • The early validation strategies used to shape the product
  • Why Karri believes in small teams
  • And much more…

Referenced

Where to find Karri

Where to find Brett

Where to find First Round Capital

Timestamps

(1:37) Childhood roots in computers and design

(6:54) Founding Kippt and lessons from a failed bookmarking startup

(13:14) Lessons from a serial entrepreneur

(19:32) Why teams shouldn’t grow too quickly

(25: 03) Linear’s early beginnings

(36:55) The unexpected power of intuition

(42:41) Linear’s unusual approach to user growth

(47:29) What shaped Linear’s early product roadmap

(52:02) Startups shouldn’t try to boil the ocean

(57:30) The power of extreme focus

(59:18) Design “something for someone”

(1:04:29) Flexibility vs. simplicity

(1:17:27) Lead your team with strong principles

(1:24:45) Design founders vs. engineering founders

  continue reading

150 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 487015516 series 2815222
Content provided by First Round. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by First Round or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.

Karri Saarinen is the co-founder and CEO of Linear, the project management tool built for high-performance software teams. Since its founding in 2019, Linear has achieved a valuation of $1.25B as of 10th June 2025 and now counts companies like OpenAI, Ramp and Vercel as customers. Before founding Linear, Karri led design at Airbnb and Coinbase, and previously co-founded Kippt, a bookmarking tool acquired by Coinbase.

In today’s episode, we discuss

  • Karri’s childhood love for computers that shaped his career
  • The lessons he learned from a failed first startup
  • Linear’s founding principles
  • The early validation strategies used to shape the product
  • Why Karri believes in small teams
  • And much more…

Referenced

Where to find Karri

Where to find Brett

Where to find First Round Capital

Timestamps

(1:37) Childhood roots in computers and design

(6:54) Founding Kippt and lessons from a failed bookmarking startup

(13:14) Lessons from a serial entrepreneur

(19:32) Why teams shouldn’t grow too quickly

(25: 03) Linear’s early beginnings

(36:55) The unexpected power of intuition

(42:41) Linear’s unusual approach to user growth

(47:29) What shaped Linear’s early product roadmap

(52:02) Startups shouldn’t try to boil the ocean

(57:30) The power of extreme focus

(59:18) Design “something for someone”

(1:04:29) Flexibility vs. simplicity

(1:17:27) Lead your team with strong principles

(1:24:45) Design founders vs. engineering founders

  continue reading

150 episodes

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