Speed vs Soul: What NFX & Linear Teach Us
Two viral essays—NFX's: Speed vs AI - and Linear's Quality Rarity? - seem to fight, but should they?
The Great AI Paradox
Why the next generation of breakout products will be both blisteringly fast and unmistakably crafted.
1. Setting the Stage
Generative AI has collapsed product‑development cycles from months to days, yet users complain that too much new software feels rushed and soulless. Two essays crystallise the tension:
“Speed × AI” by VC firm NFX—a manifesto that says the only moat left is velocity.
“Why is quality so rare?” by Linear—a rallying cry for a renaissance of craft.
Understanding these apparently opposing gospels is the first step toward synthesising them.
Sources
NFX – “Speed × AI”, https://www.nfx.com/post/ai-speed
Linear – “Why is quality so rare?”, https://linear.app/blog/why-is-quality-so-rare
2. The Velocity Gospel — NFX’s “Speed × AI”
James Currier argues that generative AI “ratchets the speed bar up 10×.” Founders who aren’t running 20–100 experiments a week will forfeit network effects, data advantages, and investor interest. NFX prescribes:
Experiment first. Treat every feature as a reversible test.
Borrow shamelessly. Copy what works; differentiate later.
Ego detox. AI doesn’t procrastinate—humans must learn to ship with the same detachment.
The message: in an AI arms‑race, inertia is fatal.
3. The Craft Renaissance — Linear’s “Why Is Quality So Rare?”
Karri Saarinen counters that the scarcest asset in 2025 isn’t code but care. Linear’s playbook:
Taste over metrics. Small maker teams trust intuition before dashboards.
Zero‑bugs policy. Anything broken is fixed inside seven days.
Internal‑only MVPs. Customers never touch half‑baked flows.
Quality, Saarinen claims, “creates gravity”—users become evangelists, CAC trends toward zero, and profitability arrives early.
4. Our Take — Speed and Craft as One Flywheel
Seen together, the essays describe two halves of a single engine:
AI removes the cost of iteration; craft converts that freed‑up time into long‑term love.
Fast loops give teams more shots on goal, while disciplined polish makes every hit stick. Data from a16z shows AI‑native startups now reach $2–4 M ARR in < 12 months—but only those that pair rapid deployment with trust‑worthy UX keep churn below 5 %. Lenny’s interviews with Linear confirm that “speed and quality are positively correlated in elite teams.”
Sources
Andreessen Horowitz – “In Consumer AI, Momentum Is the Moat”,
McKinsey – “How an AI‑enabled PDLC fuels innovation”,
Lenny’s Newsletter – “Linear’s secret to building beloved B2B products”
5. Detailing the Quality–Velocity Flywheel
Tactical guard‑rails
Dual OKRs. Track lead‑time to production and a quality bar (e.g., NPS ≥ 50, defects < 0.1/kLOC).
Polish budget. Reserve 10–15 % of every sprint for craft debt—refactors, a11y fixes, empty states.
Automate the boring, review the nuanced. Let AI write tests; humans own edge‑cases and ethics.
Rotate a “Craft Custodian.” One team‑member per cycle has veto power on shippable polish.
6. Closing Thoughts
The coming decade belongs to high‑taste rapid iterators—teams that wield AI as jet fuel yet still grip the steering wheel with white‑knuckled intent. Move 10× faster so that you can spend 10× more of your reclaimed attention on what Linear calls “quality without a name.” When speed funds craft and craft sustains speed, the paradox disappears—and a formidable moat appears.
Move fast, polish hard.