Welcome to In Depth, a new podcast from First Round Review that’s dedicated to surfacing the tactical advice founders and startup leaders need to grow their teams, their companies and themselves. Hosted by Brett Berson, a partner at First Round, In Depth will cover a lot of ground and a wide range of topics, from hiring executives and becoming a better manager, to the importance of storytelling inside of your organization. But every interview will hit the level of tactical depth where the very best advice is found. We hope you’ll join us. Subscribe to “In Depth” now and learn more at firstround.com
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Welcome to In Depth, a new podcast from First Round Review that’s dedicated to surfacing the tactical advice founders and startup leaders need to grow their teams, their companies and themselves. Hosted by Brett Berson, a partner at First Round, In Depth will cover a lot of ground and a wide range of topics, from hiring executives and becoming a better manager, to the importance of storytelling inside of your organization. But every interview will hit the level of tactical depth where the very best advice is found. We hope you’ll join us. Subscribe to “In Depth” now and learn more at firstround.com
Inside Linear: Why craft and focus still win in product building | Karri Saarinen (Co-founder and CEO)
In Depth
1 hour 33 minutes
4 months ago
Inside Linear: Why craft and focus still win in product building | Karri Saarinen (Co-founder and CEO)
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
Airbnb
Brian Armstrong
Brian Chesky
Coinbase
Jori Lallo
Linear
Tuomas Artman
Y Combinator
Where to find Karri
LinkedIn
Twitter/X
Where to find Brett
LinkedIn
Twitter/X
Where to find First Round Capital
Website
First Round Review
Twitter/X
YouTube
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
In Depth
Welcome to In Depth, a new podcast from First Round Review that’s dedicated to surfacing the tactical advice founders and startup leaders need to grow their teams, their companies and themselves. Hosted by Brett Berson, a partner at First Round, In Depth will cover a lot of ground and a wide range of topics, from hiring executives and becoming a better manager, to the importance of storytelling inside of your organization. But every interview will hit the level of tactical depth where the very best advice is found. We hope you’ll join us. Subscribe to “In Depth” now and learn more at firstround.com
