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20VC: Figma Founder Dylan Field on The Biggest Mistakes Young Founders Most Often Make, How To Go Slow To Go Fast With Venture Dollars & How The Design Process Will Fundamentally Change Over The Next 5-10 Years

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Apr 19, 2019

Dylan Field, Founder and CEO of Figma, shares his journey from the Thiel Fellowship to revolutionizing design collaboration. He discusses the four-year path leading to Figma’s launch, navigating VC expectations, and the philosophy of 'going slow to go fast' with funding. Dylan also emphasizes the importance of building trust with investors and highlights how the role of designers is evolving into strategic leadership. His insights on the future of design tools and the tech landscape promise to reshape how we think about creativity and accessibility in technology.

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ANECDOTE

Dylan Field's Path to Figma

Dylan Field's early work experiences include O'Reilly Media, Microsoft Research, LinkedIn, and Flipboard.
He dropped out of Brown with support of the Thiel Fellowship to found Figma.

ANECDOTE

Acting and Entrepreneurship

Dylan Field's acting background taught him to handle rejection.
Constant rejection in acting prepared him for similar experiences with investors, candidates, and markets as an entrepreneur.

ANECDOTE

Figma's Four-Year Launch

Figma's launch took four years due to extensive product development and exploration.
They initially explored various applications of WebGL, including a meme generator and a photo editor.

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Dylan Field is the Founder & CEO @ Figma, the startup that provides a better way to design, prototype and collaborate, all in the browser. To date, Dylan has raised over $82m in funding from some of the world's best investors including Sequoia, Greylock, Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Index Ventures and more. Prior to changing the world of design with Figma, Dylan held roles at Flipboard, Microsoft and LinkedIn and was part of the renowned Thiel Fellowship.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Dylan made his way from Thiel fellow to changing the world of design and prototyping with Figma?

2.) What is the story behind the 4-year journey to the launch of their first product? How did Dylan maintain morale with such an extended window between creation and launch? What are the core challenges of building tools companies and getting initial traction? How did Dylan satiate VCs desire for fast growth with such a long period to launch? Is it possible to "go slow to go fast" with VC dollars?

3.) Sequoia led Figma's Series C, how did the round come together? What was it that made Dylan choose the lead investors for each of his rounds? How did this round compare to prior rounds led by Index, Kleiner and Greylock? How does Dylan advise founders to build relationships of trust and transparency with their VC in short period of time?

4.) How did Dylan approach the topic of board construction? What did he most want to get out of his board? What have been some of Dylan's biggest learnings when it comes to board management? What has Dylan found the most challenging element?

5.) As a young founder himself, where does Dylan see commonalities in the mistakes that other young founders make today? As a young founder, how has Dylan been able to hire A** talent execs? What have been some of the biggest learnings on team assembly and construction through the process?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Dylan’s Fave Book: Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful

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