INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Software will eat the world, as the saying goes, but in doing so, some developers are likely to get a little indigestion
That is to say, building products requires working with disparate and distributed teams, and while developers may have an ever-growing array
Now three developers have taken their own experience of that disconnect to create a new kind of platform, Linear, which they believe
addresses the needs of software developers better by being faster and more intuitive
from Index Ventures and a number of investors, startup founders and others that will also advise Linear as it grows
(CEO, Bugsnag), Fred Stevens-Smith (CEO, Rainforest), Bobby Goodlatte, Marc McGabe, Julia DeWahl and others.Cofounders Karri Saarinen,
trials and tribulations of working with disparate and distributed teams
Saarinen was previously the principal designer of Airbnb, as well as the first designer of Coinbase; Artman had been staff engineer and
We believe there is a much better, modern workflow waiting to be discovered
We believe creators should focus on the work they create, not tracking or reporting what they are doing
Managers should spend their time prioritizing and giving direction, not bugging their teams for updates
Lallo, and Tuomas ArtmaAll of that translates to, first and foremost, speed and a platform whose main purpose is to help you work faster
Pages load quickly and synchronise in real time (and search updates alongside that)
Users can work offline if they need to
And of course there is also a dark mode for night owls.The platform is still very much in its early stages
close Linear issues on merge), Figma designs (where you can get image previews and embeds of Figma designs), and Slack (you can create
issues from Slack and then get notifications on updates)
Saarinen also said another area they hope to address is general work practices, with a take that seems to echo a turn away from time spent
chain from your task to the company goal
We think that there are ways to build Linear to be a real-time picture of what is happening in the company when it comes to building
workflow and collaboration apps targeting the developer community
drawn out on which of these (or others) that it sees as direct competition, noting that none are addressing developer issues of speed, ease
A lot of the value these tools sell is around tracking work that happens, not actually helping people to be more effective
Since our focus is on the individual contributor and intelligent integration with their workflow, we can support them better and as a side
private beta and has been running a waitlist to bring on new users
Middesk, Catch and Visly)
more permanent presence in this part of the world, specifically in London.Sources familiar with the firm, however, tell us that while it has
been sounding out VCs at other firms, saying a London office is on the horizon might be premature, as there are as yet no plans to set up
However, with more companies and European founders entering its portfolio, and as more conversations with VCs turn into decisions to make
the leap to help Sequoia source more startups, we could see this strategy turning around quickly.
