The Start:

Before founding Linear, Karri Saarinen honed his skills as a designer at Airbnb, where he worked on enhancing user experience and product development.

His extensive background in design and development, combined with his experience in a fast-paced tech environment, fueled his desire to create tools that could optimize productivity and collaboration within software teams.

The problem:

Karri identified significant issues with existing project management tools during his tenure at Airbnb. These tools were often slow, cluttered, and difficult to navigate, leading to inefficiencies and frustration among users.

He noticed that many teams struggled with cumbersome interfaces and poor integration capabilities, which hindered their ability to maintain focus and momentum on projects.

The lack of streamlined workflows and real-time collaboration features made it challenging for teams to manage tasks efficiently.

Recognizing these pain points, Karri set out to develop Linear, aiming to build a faster, more intuitive, and seamless project management tool designed specifically for modern software development teams.

Getting their first customers:

The founders of Linear come from some of the most prominent startups in the ecosystem and held significant positions in these companies, allowing them to leverage their networks effectively.

Karri, one of the founders, blogged on Medium, gaining a few thousand followers who helped seed Linear's launch announcement.

Combined, the three founders had an audience of nearly 25k followers, sufficient to generate the first few hundred invites into the system. They also allowed early adopters to let others skip the waiting line to try the product through referrals.

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