“Knowing how people use Figma is a critical process for making design accessible to everyone, and it requires us to carefully collect and analyze different types of user data. It’s a big responsibility to be entrusted with this data, so we want to be sure our customers know what we use it for and why.”
“On the Figma security team, our goal is to help Figmates ship new products and features as securely as possible — all without slowing them down. We wanted to share our operating model, which prioritizes transparency, decentralized and reusable solutions, and earning trust over mandating processes.”
Figma asked the design company COLLINS to help craft a brand story and campaign that would debunk the Myth of the Lone Genius and get everyone from the intern to the C‑suite collaborating on their platform. The two companies worked closely together on this fantastic story.
Francisco Tolmasky asks an important question — after Figma did the unimagined and released design tool in the browser, where are all other cool web apps built with this technology? A few examples I can think of are Framer and Spline.
It’s interesting that Figma didn’t usher in a new age of super cool web apps. They released a super impressive WASM app *6 years ago*. Everyone was blown away & then proceeded to… talk about WASM as a future technology & just went back to arguing about React vs. Vue or whatever.
— Francisco Tolmasky (@tolmasky) September 30, 2022
Kavir Kaycee explains why Figma won over the competition from the perspective of the Product Manager. He explains Figma’s success by being collaborative, community-driven, and affordable. I also like his point that Figma might become the starting point for all software development in the future.
On this episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast – Interview Series, the host Daniel Newman is joined by Ashley Still, Senior Vice President of Digital Media/Marketing, Strategy & Partnerships for Adobe, to take a look at Adobe’s acquisition of Figma.
Congrats to the FigJam team! It’s definitely the most fun and delightful product I’ve used in a while.
Sho Kuwamoto describes how the editor team works. Building the process around “What do our users want us to make better?” instead of self-centered questions is probably what makes Figma so magical.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how @figma does product work.
— Sho Kuwamoto (@skuwamoto) September 23, 2022
And what makes Figma “Figma”?
This, in turn, made me realize I never followed up on my previous thread about roadmap prioritization.
So here goes….https://t.co/WqInVKd1xj
A piece on why businesses should adopt a design-centric mindset to ensure success, with commentary by Nikolas Klein, Product Designer at Figma since 2018.
Matt Stoller: “My instinct is that this merger is illegal and that it will be blocked or abandoned. But I’m not 100% sure, as there are also technical issues here that I’m still trying to wrap my head around. But even within the merging parties, there is genuine concern about whether this merger will close. Internally, Adobe executives are already telling employees not to write anything down about the merger for fear it will be found by government investigators.”
The Wall Street Journal gathered thoughts and concerns on the deal from folks in the industry, including Scott Belsky, Fons Mans, and Yuhki Yamashita.
Garry Tan on 10,000 landmines that Dylan Field and Figma had to overcome on their way to success.
Index Ventures is Figma’s first and largest venture partner. In this post, Danny Rimer questions what makes Figma so special and talks about the generational significance of design thinking and Dylan’s focus on the community.
During a VC job interview in 2018, Kyle Harrison built a model with Figma becoming a $19B company in 2025. His analysis was called “unrealistic”. Good thread on compounding growth, and there is a deeper dive in his newsletter.
In 2018 Figma did $4M of ARR. Soon after I had a VC job interview where I did a Figma case study. I built a model with Figma becoming a $19B company in 2025
— Kyle Harrison (@kwharrison13) September 19, 2022
I didn't get the job. They said my analysis was "unrealistic"
A thread on how the best companies compound unexpectedly...
Rafa from Layout FM podcast shares his thoughts and predictions after the acquisition. Also, listen to his podcast episode on this topic.
A good summary of topics discussed at the Figma All-Hands call on September 16th.
Here's the TLDR of the @figma all hands spaces.
— Ashish ✦ ashuxi.eth (@Ash_uxi) September 16, 2022
🧵...
Dann Petty hosted an open chat about Figma’s acquisition with Scott Belsky from Adobe.
If you missed our design chat today about @Adobe + @Figma with @scottbelsky you can listen to the recording 🙌 https://t.co/vPlS8wnlAB
— DANN ツ (@DannPetty) September 22, 2022
Nice thread from Nathan Barry, founder of Convertkit, on Figma’s dominance.
Figma just sold for $20 Billion.
— Nathan Barry (@nathanbarry) September 17, 2022
The highest price ever for a private SaaS company. An incredible 50x multiple their $400 million ARR.
Here are the 10 reasons Figma dominated the design world:
Mike Davidson, ex-VP of Design at InVision and Twitter: “Figma did a lot of things right over the ten (yes, ten!) years they’ve worked on the product, but one thing they did that no one else has been able to replicate is meet and in some cases exceed native app performance inside of a web browser.“ Also: “Within the next several years, it’s going to be possible to go from idea in the morning, to prototype in the afternoon, to working code in the evening… and the company who can do that most thoughtfully is going to be one of the most important companies in the world.”
David Sacks on late bloomers and responsiveness of VC markets. See a more in-depth discussion in Episode 96 of the All-In Podcast.
Figma’s Valuation (purple line; left axis) versus ARR (red line; right axis).
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) September 16, 2022
Take-aways:
1) Late bloomers can thrive. Founders should never give up.
2) VC markets are highly responsive and slightly ahead of the curve.
We discuss fully on the next episode of @theallinpod. pic.twitter.com/JDnzALwqHK