korrents
Karri Saarinen

Karri Saarinen

@karri-saarinen · 14 positions · On ppll ↗

Co-founder and CEO of Linear; previously principal designer at Airbnb, where he led the Design Language System, and founding designer at Coinbase.

Karri Saarinen did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

2 of Karri Saarinen's claims fit 2 mental models. Most often: The map is not the territory, Trade-offs.

Models we see in what they say

Our reading: their claim applies the idea without naming it. The claim is theirs; filing it here is ours.

The map is not the territory

Every model, word or plan is a simplified map of reality; useful when its structure matches, misleading when mistaken for the thing itself.

Used by 55 others

A product vision cannot be transferred through specs and bullet points; the product visionary has to engage in doing.

  1. Karri Saarinen Co-founder and CEO of Linear As a product visionary, trying to describe the product on a piece of paper with paragraphs and bullet points is like trying to paint the Sistine Chapel with a whiteboard marker. Your Product Needs a Soulkarrisaarinen.com · 12 Feb 2010
    As a product visionary, trying to describe the product on a piece of paper with paragraphs and bullet points is like trying to paint the Sistine Chapel with a whiteboard marker.

Trade-offs

Every choice gives something up, so name the cost; and check, because some trade-offs everyone assumes are not real.

Used by 60 others

Working alone with agents may be efficient, but it means people stop learning from each other.

  1. Karri Saarinen Co-founder and CEO of Linear a lot of people are working alone with their agents building things and I think it's efficient but then there's also the problems like we not learning from each other anymore Context is now the product: Product leadership when software can build itself | Karri Saarinen (Lenny & Friends Summit, San Francisco, 10 September 2026)youtube.com · 10 Sept 2026 · 10:21 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    a lot of people are working alone with their agents building things and I think it's efficient but then there's also the problems like we not learning from each other anymore