Linear’s secret to building beloved B2B products | Nan Yu (Head of Product)
Nan Yu is the head of product at Linear, one of the most beloved and fastest-growing B2B SaaS products out there today, and the gold standard for high-performing tech teams. In our conversation, we discuss: • Why speed and quality aren’t actually at odds • Linear’s unique approach to product development • Nan’s systematic approach to creativity • Linear’s philosophy on deadlines • The “double triangle” framework for product management • Nan’s approach to landing his dream product roles • Much more — Brought to you by: • Sinch—Build messaging, email, and calling into your product • Paragon—Ship every SaaS integration your customers want • Wix Studio—The web creation platform built for agencies — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/linears-secret-to-building-beloved-b2b-products-nan-yu — Where to find Nan Yu: • X: https://x.com/thenanyu • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thenanyu/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Introduction to Nan Yu and Linear (04:54) Survey insights: Linear vs. Jira (07:51) The speed vs. quality myth (09:24) Building and iterating quickly (15:31) Avoiding bloat in enterprise software (23:57) Understanding user needs deeply (30:09) How to approach customer calls (34:10) Creating strong emotional hooks (40:31) Managing the product backlog (44:46) Systemizing creativity (48:16) Demo: Saving drafts in Linear (51:38) Breaking constraints and building at extremes (54:15) Adopting new tools (58:22) The “double triangle” framework for product management (01:04:23) Effective job-hunting strategies for PMs (01:09:15) Thoughts on deadlines (01:14:15) Lightning round — Referenced: • Jira: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira • Linear: https://linear.app/ • Patrick Collison’s post on X: https://x.com/patrickc/status/1869422495985750459 • Magnus Carlsen on X: https://x.com/magnuscarlsen • Hikaru Nakamura on X: https://x.com/gmhikaru • Geoffrey Moore on finding your beachhead, crossing the chasm, and dominating a market: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/geoffrey-moore-on-finding-your-beachhead • Customer Request feature on Linear: https://linear.app/customer-requests • Everlane: https://www.everlane.com/ • Schlep Blindness: https://paulgraham.com/schlep.html • Linear’s triage tool: https://linear.app/docs/triage • Patrick Collison’s post about mental models on X: https://x.com/patrickc/status/1443215022029619200 • Brian Chesky’s new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach • Unpacking Amazon’s unique ways of working | Bill Carr (author of Working Backwards): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/unpacking-amazons-unique-ways-of • Mode: https://mode.com/ • The Diplomat on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81288983 • Sakura Micron pens: https://www.amazon.com/SAKURA-PIGMA-MICRON-ESSENTIAL-COLORS/dp/B07VJFXT3C/ — Recommended books: • Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers: https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-3rd-Disruptive-Mainstream/dp/0062292986 • The Design of Everyday Things: https://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Revised-Expanded/dp/0465050654/ — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe