Navigating Early Challenges in a Startup Environment | 3min snip from Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth

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An inside look at Figma’s unique GTM motion | Claire Butler (first GTM hire)

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

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CHAPTER

Navigating Early Challenges in a Startup Environment

This chapter delves into the early experiences of Figma's 10th employee, sharing humorous stories about the startup's culture before its launch. It emphasizes the balance of critical strategic decisions and everyday tasks in the fast-paced world of a growing startup.

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Claire Butler was Figma’s first GTM hire and their 10th employee. She led Figma’s early GTM strategy from stealth through monetization. She also helped the team through the journey to find product-market fit and built the team that drove Figma’s unique bottom-up growth motion. Eight years later, as Senior Director of Marketing, she continues to lead Figma’s bottom-up growth motion, along with community, events, social, advocacy, and Figma for education. In this episode, we discuss:

• An in-depth look at Figma’s bottom-up GTM motion

• Why you need to start with individual contributors (ICs) loving your product

• How to spread adoption within the organization

• How “designer advocates” have played a critical role in Figma’s growth

• The freemium strategy that drove massive growth for Figma

• How to leverage product champions

• When to leave stealth

• Early-stage metrics, and why they are often unreliable

• Advice for people looking to join a startup

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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/an-inside-look-at-figmas-unique-bottom

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