Tweets
How the best companies compound unexpectedly
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...
Why Figma is not a “Photoshop killer”
Karri Saarinen, cofounder and CEO of Linear: “Adobe missed the one of the largest transformations in the design industry and lost the product designers for over a decade. Spending $20B on Figma is their ticket back in and hopefully evolving their thinking from the “software in a box” model.” Also love his take on Sketch “building a tool for a designer vs. building a tool for teams”.
I’ve seen a lot of takes on the Figma Adobe deal in past week and think most VCs/finance folks misses the point since they don’t really understand the market or tools Adobe and Figma makes. Figma is not a Photoshop killer and Figma didn't put "Photoshop in the cloud".
— Karri Saarinen (@karrisaarinen) September 20, 2022
TLDR of the Figma All-Hands
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
🧵...
Design Chat: Figma ⨉ Adobe, Part 2
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
Recent files on the new tab page
Nice update to the desktop app making it easy to pick up where you left off.
We just shipped a small update to the @figma desktop app 🎉
— Robert Bye (@RobertJBye) September 20, 2022
On the new tab page we now show your recent files, making it easy to pick up where you left off.
Download the Beta to get access now! https://t.co/Lqd0vAwh6p pic.twitter.com/nkq51T5lGR
3 new ways to use component properties
Molly Hellmuth with a detailed walkthrough of beta features and why they’re worth using right away.
💡 Figma Tip: Starting using the new BETA PROPERTY features now!
— Molly Hellmuth (@molly_hellmuth) September 20, 2022
This update is huge! There are 3 major ways it’s going to make using component instances much easier for your design team.
Keep reading to learn how.. pic.twitter.com/T0OOkkXRIO
Effective use of composition
Sho Kuwamoto, Director of Product at Figma, on new features and applying the concept of “composition” from engineering to design systems.
One of the reasons I'm so excited about this new set of features is that it lets people use composition effectively.
— Sho Kuwamoto (@skuwamoto) September 20, 2022
I know that "composition" (used in this way) is an engineering term and not a design term, but I think it applies.
1/n https://t.co/SL5mNhoMNm
Elemental poster
Vijay Verma with a gorgeous poster for Pixar’s upcoming Elemental movie. See the file and techniques he used in a thread.
From all the #D23Expo, I am most excited about Pixar's #elemental movie.
— vijay verma ᵍᵐ (@realvjy) September 12, 2022
The colors and overall poster really inspired me, so I created it in @figma over the weekend 😍 pic.twitter.com/sAaJqo8170
Ultra gradients
Fons Mans shows how to create rich gradients without any plugins — like this one, for example.
New tutorial! ✨
— Fons Mans (@FonsMans) September 13, 2022
Learn how to create an 'ultra gradient' with @figma, without using any plugins!
Let's get started 👇 pic.twitter.com/5eMYoPJc3z
Creation vs. usage of components
Luis on why it’s important to optimize for the usage of components.
Something I'm see a lot is that we prioritise component *creation*, not *usage*
— luis. (@disco_lu) September 13, 2022
This usually ends with something like this (simple example). Building is easier, but usage harder
The "notification" component is buried in variant settings. It's also a different component! pic.twitter.com/R5s63ptJ4w
Mobile comments
“You can now review, respond, and leave feedback to comments from your phone or tablet.”
I'm excited to announce mobile comments are now available in @figma. This is a request I know many of you (myself included) have been waiting for.
— Greg Blaszczuk (@gregblaszczuk) September 13, 2022
You can now review, respond, and leave feedback to comments from your phone or tablet. And as always, we're always open to feedback. pic.twitter.com/B4HPRvSFzq
10 reasons Figma dominated the design world
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:
A new generation of design-focused startups
Great point by Wendy Johansson on a positive side effect of this deal.
I'm very excited to hear the Figma acquisition news this morning!
— Wendy Johansson (@uxwendy) September 15, 2022
Startup employees often get a windfall 💰 when big moves like this happen. In the coming years (hold for those long-term gains taxes, Figma employees!), we should see two design-focused impacts coming from this 🧵 https://t.co/u9KNcxouMS
What makes software magical?
MDS with another take on Figma/Adobe: “The magic happens in the details and typically in things that you didn’t plan for”.
What makes software magical? Another take on Figma/Adobe for those of us who still wanna talk about it. pic.twitter.com/g2m5mQBEj0
— MDS (@mds) September 16, 2022
It’s nearly impossible to make legacy applications multi-user collaborative
Fantastic thread on why collaboration features in XD or Sketch would never match Figma: “In short, Adobe would have never caught up to Figma. It’s genuinely easier and cheaper for them to use Figma’s architecture to rebuild all of their existing applications than to try to make any of their existing apps as delightfully multiplayer as Figma.”
I'm not surprised that Adobe is acquiring Figma for $20B, nor that Wall Street doesn't understand it and $ADBE stock is down more than $20B today. It's a smart move for Adobe because it's nearly impossible to make legacy software applications multi-user collaborative. Thread: 🧵
— Amal Dorai (@amaldorai) September 15, 2022
Figma’s Valuation vs. ARR
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
Scott Belsky on the acquisition
Adobe CPO and founder of Behance: “Remembering the deluge of doubts in 2012 when we shared Behance’s acquisition, 10yrs later, platform grew 30x, product stronger than ever, brand intact, still free, high growth, and continued pipeline of goodness. But it takes work + principles. Like all bold moves, show > tell.”
today is a big day for both @Adobe and @figma. our teams are excited by the new possibilities and recognize both the opportunity and responsibility as we share our intent to come together. 🧵
— scott belsky (@scottbelsky) September 15, 2022
Figma’s “Big Wins” from 2013
Andrei Herasimchuk, the ex-Lead Designer at Adobe, shares a list of “big wins” and “small wins” that Figma cofounders and he wrote down in December 2013. Pretty amazing to see how almost all of it is a reality now. (“Modernizing masking & gradient UI” sounds pretty sweet though!)
Found this recently. Taken Dec 2013. It’s the list of things @zoink, @evanwallace, & myself wrote down for @figma while still in the temp office in Palo Alto. The list of “Big Wins” was all Dylan & Evan, esp. the community and team use part. They had the vision, even back then. pic.twitter.com/6mZg6cJvhp
— Andrei Herasimchuk (@Trenti) September 16, 2022
Blurring out areas of your FigJam file
A super useful tip by Miggi. The power of combining FigJam with Figma always keeps surprising me.
Blur out areas in your FigJam file with some @figma background blur shapes pasted in! #figmatip
— professor figma (@miggi) September 6, 2022
👉 Make a white rectangle in Figma
👉 Set blend mode to multiply
👉 Add background blur effect set to 50
👉 Paste into FigJam, resize + place over objects pic.twitter.com/TXhQmpPIyc
Quick palettes
Easy and fast way to access a pre-defined color palette in FigJam.
Here is a @figma FigJam process tip. Paste in screenshots of palettes when using the marker tool. Hit the "i" key for the eye dropper tool to select colors from the palettes. Great for quick ideation and grey scale UI wireframes. #figmatip. pic.twitter.com/sfAjcAwksv
— professor figma (@miggi) September 6, 2022