Karri Saarinen

Karri Saarinen is the co-founder, CEO, and designer of Linear.app, a software company that develops an issue tracking tool for managing software development.12 Here are some key details about Karri Saarinen:

Professional Background

Previous Roles::

• Principal Designer and design systems lead at Airbnb1
• Founding designer at Coinbase1
• Co-founder of Y Combinator-backed startup Kippt12

Education::

• Attended University of Vaasa, studying Management and Organizations at the School of Economics2
• Participated in Y Combinator's Summer 2012 batch with Kippt, the first Finnish company funded by Y Combinator2

Achievements and Recognition

• Received the Ruby Hero award in March 20132
• Awarded the Material Design Award by Google in October 2016 for the Airbnb mobile apps2

Linear.app

Karri co-founded Linear.app, which has quickly become one of the fastest-growing and most beloved issue-tracking tools in the world.3 Some notable achievements of Linear under Karri's leadership include:

• A team of 50 employees working 100% remotely across 16 countries5
• Used by tens of thousands of companies, including 66% of Forbes top 50 AI companies5
• Raised $52 million in total funding while remaining profitable with a negative lifetime burn rate5
• Achieved impressive growth with minimal marketing spend (0.5% of revenue) and a small sales team5

Personal

• Originally from Finland, now living in the San Francisco area12
• Fluent in English and Finnish2

Karri is known for his focus on design, product development, and building with taste and craft.34 His approach to leadership and product development at Linear has garnered significant attention in the tech industry.