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Back to Karri Saarinen: How We Win, with Karri Saarinen.

Why Did Karri Saarinen Start Linear?

Karri Saarinen started Linear because bug tracking is work people in the industry have to do almost every day, and it feels bad that they are forced to use bad tools. He wants the aesthetics and the feel to be good so people can enjoy the work.

A product can do really well while people hate the company and the product. He would rather they enjoy it. Soleio called that enjoyment a moral good, and Saarinen agreed, even if the business would not do well. One reason he started the company is that employees often have no choice, because the company picks the tools. Design problems always have many solutions. A lot of the time the choice is aesthetic: he simply likes one better.

He wants that quality for himself, and he thinks there is real value in it for other people.

Transcript

Karri Saarinen: How We Win ·

First of Kind

More from this episode

  1. Why Did Linear Compete on Quality Instead of Speed?Karri Saarinen says Linear competed on quality instead of speed because a faster product would not win a slow market.
  2. Should Designers Design in Figma or in Code?Karri Saarinen still designs product ideas in Figma rather than in code. He does not feel the need to design in code. A simple fix is a different case.
  3. How Did Facebook Notes Reveal Group Messaging?Soleio found that Facebook Notes revealed a desire to send messages to groups of people when users wrote notes and tagged others as if the tags were recipients.
  4. Has Linear Ever Run Split Tests?Karri Saarinen says Linear has never run split tests. Instrumentation is used only when a specific question needs an answer.
  5. How Does Linear Help Teams Know What to Build?Karri Saarinen says Linear can help provide some of the intent and context that building now needs, for humans and for agents, once teams have almost…
  6. Do Software Products Still Need a User Interface?Karri Saarinen says software products still need a user interface when people have to share one account of the truth, and sometimes they do not.
  7. Why Does Linear Reject the Minimum Viable Product?Karri Saarinen rejects YC's MVP advice. Linear moved fast and still tried to build a good product, and trying to be good is how the company stays unique.

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