Rapid growth, a massive user base and stealing the market out from under an industry Goliath — this is the stuff of which tech startup founders dream. It’s also the story of Figma, a cloud-based platform for designing websites, apps, logos or just about any software, created by game-changers Dylan Field and Evan Wallace.
Dubbed “the Google Docs of design” for its flexible simplicity, Figma lets teams of product, user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) designers collaborate, edit and comment on projects in real time.
Enterprise design has exploded in the past 10 years, and Figma’s success in stealing the market from Adobe — the aforementioned Goliath — is just one reason we’re thrilled that Dylan Field, Figma’s co-founder and CEO will join us on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco on October 18-20.
Consider this: Field was just 20 years old when he started Figma in 2012, and the product became available to the public in 2016. Between April 2020 and May 2021, Figma’s valuation increased from a $2B valuation to $10B. Roughly 4 million people use Figma including big tech companies like Dropbox, Rakuten, Slack, Twitter and Volvo.
We’ll certainly talk with Field about Figma’s remarkable growth and how the nature of design work has changed since he co-founded Figma in 2012. But Field is a decade into his founder’s journey, and we’re also interested in his evolution as a leader.
Figma places high value on inclusion, creativity and fun — those values are at the forefront of the company’s culture. We’ll ask how he developed the skills required to build a company where people actually want to work — and why those values matter.
Field studied computer science and mathematics at Brown University where he and his co-founder, Evan Wallace, first started experimenting with design tools built on (and for) the web. They began Figma with funding from a Thiel fellowship. Prior to Figma, Field interned at O’Reilly Media, LinkedIn and Flipboard.
Don’t miss a fascinating conversation with Dylan Field on business growth, the evolution of leadership and why maintaining a company culture that fosters inclusion, creativity and fun is key to Figma’s continued success.
TechCrunch Disrupt is back in person on October 18-20 in San Francisco. Buy your passes now and save up to $1,300. Prices increase on July 29.
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