Company playbook / 07 / Adoption & expansion

Linear

Win a narrow group of people first

Linear was deliberate about who got access early. Instead of opening a beta to everyone, it asked who the user was and what they needed, then learned from people whose needs matched the product.

BrandProduct

01 / What they actually did

A waitlist that qualified early users

Linear asked for role, company size, current tools, problems and integrations, and selected users who were likely to succeed with the current product. [L2]

Ship and learn in small steps

Karri Saarinen describes focusing on a few meaningful projects, short cycles and feedback from a defined group of users. [L1]

Use more than one launch

Linear describes multiple launch opportunities across early milestones, rather than waiting for a single moment when everything feels complete. [L1]

02 / What you can learn

Lesson to keep: A great experience for the right ten users can teach you more than a disappointing experience for a thousand random signups.

Don’t over-copy: A waitlist is useful for selecting users, not for manufacturing fake scarcity. Enterprise infrastructure may not allow simple self-serve adoption.

03 / How to do something similar

01Define exactly who should benefit from the current version.
02Ask for the user’s job, current tool, frustration and reason for trying.
03Invite users who can succeed; personally follow up on setup and first result.
04Fix the biggest onboarding block before widening access.
05Make each meaningful improvement an opportunity to show what has changed.

Examples you could publish or run

“Early access request: what are you trying to replace?”“What changed since our private beta?”

What to measure
Activation, time to first value and invitations/referrals from successful users.

04 / Copy the framework

Inspired by Linear

Early-user invite and feedback

Bring in users whose needs the product can already meet.

REQUEST FORM:
- Your role and team size?
- Which tool or workflow do you use today?
- What problem are you trying to solve this month?
- What have you tried already?
- What integration or blocker matters most?

INVITATION PRIORITY:
High-fit problem + supported stack + willingness to test

AFTER INVITE:
Day 1: Can they get to first value?
Day 7: What stopped them or surprised them?
Day 14: Would they recommend it or continue using it?

MEASURE: Activation, first-value time, repeated usage.

05 / Original sources

Next playbookTailscale →