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20VC: Figma Founder, Dylan Field on How Leadership Needs To Evolve with Scale, The Transition from Application to Platform & The Future of Remote Work, Education and Digital Spaces

Dec 14, 2020

In this engaging discussion, Dylan Field, Founder and CEO of Figma, shares his journey from internships at industry giants to leading one of the fastest-growing design platforms. He addresses the evolution of his leadership style, emphasizing empowerment over micromanagement. Dylan also explores the future of education, advocating for meaningful internships and alternative pathways. He anticipates challenges in transitioning Figma from an application to a platform while maintaining a strong company culture amid rapid growth and remote work.

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ANECDOTE

Dylan Field's early career

Dylan Field's career began with internships at O'Reilly Media, LinkedIn, and Flipboard.
These experiences exposed him to design, entrepreneurship, and key mentors who later supported Figma.

INSIGHT

Leadership as a Skill

Management and leadership are skills that must be learned and practiced.
Self-awareness and seeking mentorship are crucial, especially for young leaders.

ADVICE

Delegation and Trust

Find the right people for each task.
If you believe you can do it better, you haven't found the right person yet.

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Dylan Field is the Founder & CEO @ Figma, the company that helps teams create, test, and ship better designs from start to finish and is one of 2020's fastest-growing companies. To date, Dylan has raised over $132M with Figma from some of the best including Sequoia, a16z, Index, Greylock, Founders Fund and Kleiner Perkins. Figma's latest round valued them at a reported $2Bn. Prior to founding Figma, Dylan enjoyed internships at Flipboard, LinkedIn and O'Reilly Media.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Dylan made his way from an internship at O'Reilly Media and a Thiel Fellowship to founding Figma, one of the fastest-growing unicorns?

2.) How does Dylan feel about the future of education? What core questions do students need to ask before entering? How does Dylan assess the impact of the Thiel Fellowship today? Why does Dylan believe that everyone should be an intern? What did he take from that experience?

3.) How would Dylan describe his leadership style today? How has it changed over time? How did he get past micro-managing in the early days and learn to delegate? How does Dylan think about insecurity and vulnerability as a young leader today?

4.) What does Dylan foresee as the biggest challenges in Figma's transition from application to platform? How does Dylan evaluate the success of the Figma plugin ecosystem? How does Dylan think about the right cadence to roll out new products? How does Dylan think about catering to power users vs catering to the standard everyday user?

5.) What have been the most significant impacts of COVID for Figma? Why did Dylan choose to adopt a hybrid model for Figma in terms of working styles moving forward? What have been Dylan's biggest lessons of what it takes to attract the very best talent? What works? What does not?

Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode

Dylan’s Favourite Book: Snow Crash

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