Karri Saarinen (@karrisaarinen), co-founder and CEO of Linear, was the first designer at Coinbase and a lead designer at Airbnb.
On Design Review with YC's @aaron_epstein, he shares how his design background shaped Linear's product philosophy, why quality and craft matter from day one, what founders should look for when hiring, and how AI is changing the way teams build.
02:00 – Lessons learned from YC, Coinbase, and Airbnb
06:00 – Building trust through brand and design
08:24 – Linear’s brand: craft, quality, and authenticity
10:40 – Why sales is part of the brand experience
13:10 – Shipping fast without losing quality
17:18 – Hiring for product taste and judgment
19:28 – Superpowers of designers as founders
21:12 – Advice for designers considering founding a startup
23:26 – Why founders should care about design from day one
25:24 – Tips for creating products that stand out
28:24 – Balancing creative freedom with shipping timelines
28:56 – How AI is changing design and product work
30:44 – Why AI won’t replace designers (and what shifts to expect)
32:44 – The future of product and design teams with AI
The world has struck a new climate deal at the COP30 summit in Brazil, which calls for a tripling of funding to help countries adapt to increasingly severe climate impacts. But countries failed to agree to a roadmap away from fossil fuels, after entrenched divisions threatened to collapse the talks.
https://t.co/3nHoV9rjCe
US plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine needs "additional work," world leaders say, after proposal alarms Kyiv and its allies.
https://t.co/FSK04hmNKG https://t.co/23Y1mLPBiH