Webflow’s Vlad Magdalin on the biggest lessons learned from bootstrapping and raising capital | S2E2

Webflow provides a way to design, build, and launch powerful websites visually without writing code. In this episode, Vlad Magdalin shares his inspiration for the product, tracing the story back from his early passion for computer science and 3D animation to the very moment he recognized a market need for intuitive, visual web design tools. He provides an open look into the company-building challenges his team faced during the early days, and how it helped build resilience in the years that followed.

Today, Webflow is a successful startup that supports a vibrant community of over 3.5 million users worldwide. Vlad shares his advice for other founders that he wishes he’d known at the start of his journey: to approach investors with boldness about your vision and values, think systematically around monetization, invest time training leaders, and more.

Conversation highlights: 

00:00 – Vlad’s background and Webflow’s founding story

02:53 – How fundraising challenges turned Webflow into a resilient business

09:22 – The importance of setting expectations and values alignment with VCs

20:00 – Ways the CEO role and business changed in the first year after fundraising

22:31 – Lessons Vlad wishes he had known at the start of his entrepreneurial journey 

30:50 – Webflow’s approach to training AI models with respect for creators

Featured: Vlad Magdalin, CEO and Co-Founder at Webflow, Arun Mathew, Partner at Accel