Karri Saarinen, CEO of Linear, emphasizes building authentic startup brands by aligning website messaging and design with the company’s current stage and target audience, using clear, specific language to set proper expectations. Through reviewing various YC startup websites, he highlights the importance of clarity, targeted communication, user engagement, and simplicity to effectively convey value, build trust, and connect with early adopters.
In this episode of Design Review, Karri Saarinen, co-founder and CEO of Linear, shares valuable insights on building a strong and authentic brand through your startup’s website. Karri emphasizes the importance of authenticity and advises startups to avoid mimicking established companies’ polished websites too early. Instead, he suggests aligning the website’s messaging and design with the company’s current stage and target audience to set the right expectations. Using Linear’s own website evolution as an example, Karri highlights how their initial simple, one-page site focused on clear, specific language—like “issue tracking”—to attract the right early users, rather than vague or overly ambitious terms.
Karri and the host then review several startup websites submitted by YC companies, providing constructive feedback on branding, messaging, and user experience. For Sprites AI, they note that while the graphics are unique, the site lacks clarity on the target audience and the product’s core value, suggesting more specific language and clearer explanations of workflows. For Giga ML, an enterprise-focused AI support platform, they discuss the challenges of converting enterprise users through a website and recommend clearer communication of product benefits, better prompts in the AI chat feature, and more targeted messaging to align with enterprise buyers’ needs.
The review of Unreal Milk’s website highlights its strong personality and memorable, playful branding that effectively communicates the product’s mission of sustainable, lab-grown milk. However, Karri points out the lack of clear calls to action and suggests adding ways for visitors to engage, such as joining a mailing list or community. The discussion also touches on the importance of font choice in conveying brand personality and how the site balances scientific innovation with an organic, approachable feel to ease consumer concerns about manufactured foods.
Confident AI’s site is praised for its professional look and clear focus on a niche audience of LLM experts, but Karri suggests making the relationship between their open-source and paid products more explicit. He advises sharpening the messaging to highlight unique differentiators and ensuring headlines communicate value clearly to help visitors quickly understand what the product does. This approach aligns with Karri’s broader theme of tailoring messaging to early adopters’ specific needs and language to build trust and interest.
Finally, Dropback’s website is critiqued for feeling chaotic due to excessive animations and a busy design, which may overwhelm their non-technical target users. Karri recommends simplifying the homepage, improving text readability, and using navigation to create targeted pages for different user groups. He stresses the importance of building trust through clear communication and social proof, especially for audiences unfamiliar with complex technology. Throughout the episode, Karri’s insights underscore the evolving nature of branding and the need to balance clarity, authenticity, and user focus to create memorable and effective startup websites.