Tactics Figma Used to Get to $20B, How a Founder Sharpens her Mental Models - Tactician: #00103

Figma, man.

They made a design tool so intuitive, even a baby could use it.

Next thing you know, babies are out there freelancing, 'I'll have your website done right after naptime.'

 Tactics Figma Used to Get to $20B

Why Read:

• Gain insights into Figma's strategic approach to building an enduring product, overcoming challenges, and leveraging emerging technologies like AI.

Featuring:

• Jaryd Hermann, Author / Creator at HowTheyGrow.co

• Link: 

  • “How Figma Grows: Design Beyond Designers”

Key Concepts and Tactics:

• Figma's Evolution from 0 to 1: 

  • "The noteworthy players back then were Adobe, as well as innovative startups like Sketch, Framer, and Invision. So, there was no shortage of competition."

  • “That’s why Dylan and Evan rallied a team and built in stealth for 3 full years. Until September 27, 2016, when… they really did come in like that…stylishly wrecking everyones market share.”

  • “Today, if you need to design anything, it’s not even a question (IMO) where you should do it. Figma is the place.”

• On Grit and Patience:

  • “...Kris’ emphasis on patience is an important lesson. A lot of founders are scared to do things that take a long time. They want rapid growth. But for the really big ideas—the category defining products that go against all conventions—it’s important to do things that might take years, not months.”

  • “That takes real grit to work in stealth for 36 months before even getting to the point where they could even open the product up to the public and start to get real feedback.”

• Leveraging Inflection Points: 

  • "Figma took two huge bets: That designers would want multiplayer design tooling in a browser (besides them not explicitly asking for it) That the technology behind the browser would improve, thus making Figma feasible for high fidelity design."

  • “This gave Figma a very compelling Why Now (WebGL in browsers), which is a classic stripe that most massive and enduring companies have. [...] startups have a higher chance of success when their insight is built on some big and accelerating change happening in the world.”

  • A change that is in the early innings of playing out, because a) it means the opportunity later on is much bigger than it is today, and b) anyone working against it now has early mover advantages.

• How Can You Spot a Wave to Catch?

  • “...first know that there are two main types of why nows.”

  • “Demand why-nows (shifts in what people want and need)”

  • “Supply why-nows (some recent advancement that makes your solution more possible, affordable, or profitable)”

  • “And to find them, speak to your customers, get insights from the sales team, stay up to date on advancements in tech by following a few of the right sources, look at which sectors are getting funding, and keep a pulse on your competitors.”

• Push Toward Your Vision

  • “Sticking to their guns and pushing through towards that vision must have been extra challenging since Figma had a lot of criticism when it launched, with designers being very vocal that this was not were they wanted design to go.”

  • “Which brings us to an important point: you most likely know the most.”

  • “You’re closer to things like important tech advancements than your customers. You have better proximity to the market, and you’ve probably got much more data and access than the layman…be that the press, or a customer.”

• Intuitive Innovation and Customer Proximity:

  • “One tactical thing worth noting about Figma’s culture in the early days, and to some degree, still through to today:

    • They make sure everyone at Figma uses Figma. Dogfooding their own product is a key principle.

    • They had/have everyone, including devs, spend time with customer support.”

    • “Product-empowered engineering is a key lever to building and shipping fast. When we looked at beehiiv who build with crazy velocity, this is one of their key speed drivers. You want engineers looped into customer conversations and strategic planning, because it means they have deep context to make decisions quickly while they work.”

• Strategic Growth Post-Adobe Deal: 

  • "Now we can just double down on what we were already doing, and we can also focus more on all the new opportunities, like AI and ML, that this shifting technical landscape presents for turning ideas into reality."

• Sequential Loops and Ecosystem Expansion: 

  • “A common thread I kept hearing in my chat with Kris was how Figma was thinking about catalyzing compounding productivity in design. And a critical part of this for Figma is expanding the platform beyond the core “design” function. Their insight driving this strategy is that design goes beyond designers. It’s equally all of the conversations around what to build. The feedback cycles, the prototypes with users, and the handoff specs.” 

  • “Therefore, there are other key stakeholders, adjacent problems, and big opportunities that Figma has core advantages in addressing. And the more that Figma can stack solutions for them into one tightly integrated platform, the more Figma will be an essential part of every type of teams product delivery process.”

  • “To illustrate how Figma has rolled out towards this vision:

    • GTM wedge: Core multiplayer design tool (Figma) → win designers over

    • 1st Expansion Multiplayer whiteboard/brainstorm tool (FigJam) → win PMs over

    • Latest Expansion: Translate design to code (Dev Mode) → win engineers over”

• AI as a Catalyst for Design:

  • "AI accelerates all of that. I think it has the opportunity to raise the ceiling of what designers can do by virtue of shortening iteration cycles and making repetitive rote things a lot less tedious."

How a Founder Sharpens her Mental Models

• Why Read:

  • Learn the importance of challenging assumptions, being open to new experiences, and updating mental models for better decision making.

• Featuring:

  • Wes Kao, Founder at Maven

  • Link: 

    • “How I sharpen my mental models over time”

Key Concepts and Tactics:

Challenging Your Preconceived Notions

• Point: Be open to questioning your assumptions and trying things you previously thought you disliked.

  • "I've hated scallops since I was a kid. I said, 'That looks great! I'm not a huge fan of scallops. I'll pass, but thank you.' I've responded that way dozens of times over the years. It was habitual at that point to say no to scallops. He said, 'Really? Give them a try. They're fresh caught from a boutique grocer in Chelsea Market and they are delicious. Just cut a tiny piece and see if you like it. If you don't, I'm sure Alex or Willie will eat it.'"

  • “To my surprise, it was the most drool-worthy seafood I’ve ever had.”

Recognizing the Limitations of Past Experiences

• Point: Understand that your past experiences may represent a limited sample size and may not accurately reflect the full potential of something.

  • "Sometimes we think we don't like something, or it doesn't or won't work for us, because we had a bad experience with it in the past. But consider this: it's possible what you experienced was a very limited sample size of what this thing is or could be."

  • “How does this apply to sharpening your mental models? The purpose of mental models is to have shortcuts that help you make sense of a noisy world without having to think from scratch.”

  • “For mental models to be useful, they should help you make smarter decisions. But the outside world is constantly changing. Your inner world is constantly changing. Something you once believed might not apply anymore.”

Breaking Your Own Rules to Sharpen Mental Models

• Point: Test your rules, boundaries, hunches, intuition, and hypotheses to ensure your mental models remain accurate and useful.

  • “That’s why I believe you should break your own rules once in a while. You should constantly be testing your rules, boundaries, hunches, intuition, and hypotheses.”

  • "When you test or break your own rules, there are two things that can happen: You'll have a bad experience. You'll say, 'Wow I'm so glad I have this rule.' Then you can re-subscribe to your rule and continue on your merry way. You'll realize the result was better than expected. Maybe your rule was overly broad. Maybe in certain situations, the rule doesn't apply. Then you can come up with a more accurate, nuanced rule that better serves you."

Updating Your Mental Models Based on New Experiences

• Point: Be willing to admit that your knowledge may be limited and update your mental models accordingly.

  • "You might say to yourself, 'I thought X didn't work for me. But now, I realize it could work in certain situations. Therefore, I'll update my mental model, which should lead to better decisions over time.'"

Balancing Heuristics and Openness to Change

• Point: Use heuristics to limit thinking, but hold them lightly and stay open to changing your mind when presented with new information.

  • "To be clear, from a practical perspective, I get that you can't constantly update your mental models because the whole point of heuristics is to limit thinking. If you had to think from first principles each time, what's the point of a rule? So you have to use your wisdom and judgment here. You can have heuristics, but hold them lightly. You should have a point of view, but stay open to changing your mind and admitting that what you know might be limited."

  • “What are some “scallops” in your life? The next time you reflexively say “no,” think about whether you could be more nuanced with your approach.”

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