Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

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

Sep 7, 2023

01:31:26

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Claire Butler, Figma's first GTM hire, discusses Figma's unique bottom-up growth motion. Topics include: starting with ICs loving the product, spreading adoption within the organization, leveraging product champions, freemium strategy for growth, early-stage metrics, and advice for joining a startup.

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Quick takeaways

Establishing credibility with designers through technical content and design principles.

Active listening and involvement of users in the product-building process.

Connecting with users through existing channels and platforms.

Emphasizing transparency, honesty, and trust in interactions with users.

Deep dives

Building Credibility

In the early days, Figma focused on establishing credibility with designers by showcasing technical features and deep content about design decisions. They wrote blog posts about the tool's technical feats and shared insights on design principles. Figma also had a designer advocate who engaged with users, addressed their feedback, and created content to build authenticity and credibility.

Building Credibility: Technical Features and Authenticity

03:23

Using Twitter to Reach and Connect with Influencers

02:21

Navigating Metrics and Finding Signal in Early Stage Product Development

01:50

Summary of the Bottoms-Up GTM Sales Motion

01:23

Introduction

4min

Naming and Strategic Decisions

19min

Dealing with Metrics and Finding Signal

5min

The Importance of Champions in Spreading the Product

16min

Building Credibility and User Engagement in the GoToMarket Model

4min

Building Connections on Twitter

19min

Figma's Pricing Structure and Continuous Feature Updates

2min

Building a Team of Designer Advocates

18min

Discussing '100 foot wave' and 'fig jam'

2min

10.

Favorite Life Motto and Surprising Use Case of Figma

2min

11.

Closing Thoughts and Call to Action

2min

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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

—

Where to find Claire Butler:

• Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/clairetbutler

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairetbutler/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

—

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Claire’s background

(03:47) The huge branding decision that Claire made on day one at Figma

(07:45) The most stressful memory of early days at Figma

(09:55) Advice for people looking to join a startup

(12:55) What a bottom-up go-to-market motion is

(17:12) Figma’s unique approach to bottom-up GTM

(18:52) Figma’s launch out of stealth

(23:01) Signals vs. hard metrics in the early days

(24:50) How Figma won over Microsoft

(30:08) How to win over ICs

(32:00) How to establish credibility

(37:38) Customer obsession in action

(41:11) Why getting users to love your product is so vital

(44:01) How Figma used Twitter as its primary channel in the early days

(49:06) Transparency and authenticity

(49:52) GTM tactics at scale

(52:09) “Little big updates” at Figma

(54:16) Figma’s acquisition, and why it was one of the hardest days of Claire’s career

(57:10) Figma’s core values

(58:06) The Config conference

(1:00:21) Spreading your product within the organization

(1:02:09) The pricing tiers at Figma

(1:07:35) The role of designer advocates

(1:10:57) Design systems

(1:16:12) Leveraging internal champions

(1:17:53) Accelerating spread at scale

(1:19:14) What types of companies are a good fit for bottom-up GTM

(1:24:16) A summary of the bottom-up GTM model

(1:25:27) Lightning round

—

Referenced:

• Dylan Field on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanfield/

• John Lilly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnlilly/

• Ivan Zhao on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivanhzhao/

• Xamarin: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/apps/xamarin

• Josef Müller-Brockmann: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_M%C3%BCller-Brockmann

• Datadog: https://www.datadoghq.com/

• Coda: https://coda.io/

• Oren’s Hummus on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orenshummus/

• Intercom: https://www.intercom.com/

• How Coda builds product: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-coda-builds-product

• Dylan Field on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zoink

• Dylan’s tweet: https://twitter.com/zoink/status/1566566649712431105

• Little Big Updates: https://www.figma.com/blog/little-big-updates-august-2022/

• Sho Kuwamoto on Twitter: https://twitter.com/skuwamoto

• Kris Rasmussen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kris_rasmussen

• Config: https://config.figma.com/

• Tom Lowry on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomaslowry

• Atomic Design: https://atomicdesign.bradfrost.com/

• Figjam: https://www.figma.com/figjam/

• Dev Mode: https://www.figma.com/dev-mode/

• Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity: https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Revised-Kick-Ass-Humanity/dp/1250235375

• Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts: https://www.amazon.com/Dare-Lead-Brave-Conversations-Hearts/dp/0399592520

• 100 Foot Wave on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/100-foot-wave

• Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones: https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-James-Clear-audiobook/dp/B07RFSSYBH

• Noah Weiss on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-10-traits-of-great-pms-how-ai-will-impact-your-product-and-slacks-product-development-process/

• How to create an exceptional coverage plan for your parental leave (Tamara Hinckley): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-create-an-exceptional-coverage

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

—

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

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Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

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