Episode
If SaaS Is Dead, Linear Didn't Get the Memo
- Podcast
- AI and I
- Published
- Apr 1, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3168
- Processing state
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Summary
Founded in 2019, Linear is the rare company started pre-ChatGPT to have successfully reinvented itself as an agent-native business. On this episode of AI & I, Dan Shipper sat down with Karri Saarinen, cofounder and CEO of the product management tool, to discuss building a platform where humans and agents develop software together—and why the "SaaSpocalypse" isn’t coming for all SaaS companies. If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share! To hear more from Dan Shipper: Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper Visit https://scl.ai/dialect to learn more about Dialect, a new system from Scale AI. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 2:00 Why Linear waited to ship AI features instead of rushing to chatbots 5:06 Linear's agent platform and becoming the system that guides AI agents 7:42 Why "SaaS is dead" is a simplistic narrative 12:18 How Linear adopted AI coding tools 17:45 AI's impact on product building workflows—speed versus thoughtfulness 22:18 The value of conceptual work and thinking before shipping 29:30 How AI is reshaping Linear's product strategy 37:18 Demo: Linear's agent skills, shared context, and code review workflow 47:48 The future of product development and the enduring role of human judgment