Karri Saarinen
Role at Linear
Karri Saarinen is an internationally recognized Finnish designer, software engineer, and technology entrepreneur who serves as the co-founder and CEO of Linear. Prior to founding Linear in 2019, Saarinen was the Principal Designer at Airbnb, where he co-created the renowned Airbnb Design System that influenced digital design practices worldwide. Before Airbnb, he served as the founding designer at Coinbase, shaping the initial cryptocurrency trading interface, and co-founded Kippt, a Y Combinator-backed bookmarking and curation platform. At Linear, Saarinen has spearheaded product vision, user experience design, and company strategy, championing a return to software craft and high-velocity engineering.