-- Very clear focus on the top customer from day one. Before starting, we probably spent a year researching the space, problems and refining the ideas. - We ran a 1-year invite private beta to focus getting feedback from the defined customer profile & the companies that could use it as we were building the product - Thanks to artman we had very well thought out technical foundation and engineering fundamentals. We haven't needed to time untangling a mess or rewriting a lot of things - The sync engine pushes the technical foundation further because product engineers don’t have to think about managing data. Features are faster to build. Last 4 years have shipped close to 170 changelogs (usually including one larger update + 10-20 small fixes) - Have a community and shared Slack channels with customers. Have everyone in the team join and answer questions which helps them build understanding of customer problems - Have product teams to have space and time to explore options and polish the experience. Push deadlines back if needed - Being remote avoided most of the chaos of pandemic, and now the tug of war of in-office-hybrid-remote. Also as founder I don't have to spend time thinking about office furniture - Hiring slowly, and senior people in all roles, including support. Only hire if we are “strong yes” and not compromising our values. Our rule has been not more than double the team at any given year. Any new function or role, always hire one or two people first. Get the learnings and scale only after something works. - Using worktrials to validate people's skills and how they approach problems, avoiding wrong fits. - Hire leadership who lead from the front and are willing to roll up their sleeves. Every person in Linear has to be an individual contributor as well. Get output from the day one - Not a lot of meetings. Try to do async, video recordings, shared meeting records. - Focus on the brand from day one. Brand is about communicating your values by the actions, words and visuals
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