The CEO of a $1 Billion Startup Rejected Silicon Valley’s Hustle Culture
Karri Saarinen, the 38-year-old CEO of project management startup Linear, has prioritized work-life balance while building a company valued at $1.25 billion.
Details
Saarinen’s company, Linear, is a remote-based startup that offers five weeks of paid time off per year and four months of paid parental leave. The company’s core product is a system to coordinate work in companies, used by over 2,000 companies including OpenAI, Cursor, and Block.
Saarinen rejects the idea of a 996 work schedule (9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week), which he believes leads to burnout and doesn’t produce quality outcomes. Instead, he asks employees to work the standard 40 hours, with generous perks.
Work-Life Balance
Saarinen prioritizes work-life balance, spending the first hour of his day playing with his 3-year-old son before logging on for work remotely at 8 a.m. He ends his day at 4 p.m., but sometimes logs on for an extra hour of work between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. as needed.
Saarinen’s approach to work-life balance is reflected in Linear’s company culture, which values quality over quantity. “People are rushing too much and launching things that don’t quite work,” he says. “In our company, we always try to err on the side of quality, not quantity.”
Remote Work
Linear is a remote-based company, with employees spread across 10 different time zones. Saarinen decided to make the company remote-based when co-founding the startup in 2019, before the pandemic and the remote boom.
Proponents of in-person work, like Google‘s former CEO Eric Schmidt, say that working in the office allows junior employees to learn from senior ones by soaking in office conversations. However, Saarinen believes that remote work allows employees to participate in family life and prioritize their well-being.
Source: Link
