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He believes designers will be just as important, or even more essential, in the era of AI models.
Y Combinator President & CEO Garry Tan sits down with Dylan Field, co-founder and CEO of Figma, to discuss the evolving world of design in the age of AI, the challenging early days of the company, and how his team forever changed the way designers and engineers collaborate. Chapters (Powered by https://bit.ly/chapterme-yc) - 0:00 Intro 0:56 How does Dylan view AI changing design? 5:19 Are founders still not focused enough on design? 6:09 Evolution of models (image, codegen etc.) 10:48 What SOTA interfaces Dylan is seeing right now 13:24 How Figma was started 20:53 First prototype to V1 23:48 Figma’s first features 28:31 Countering the initial hate for the product 31:00 Design culture inside Figma 33:27 What to do after 0 to 1 35:25 What’s the future of Figma? 37:00 Outro
Dylan Field is the co-founder and CEO of Figma, the collaborative design platform that has revolutionized how product teams work. In my first-ever live podcast, recorded at Figma Config, Dylan and I dig into: • How intuition and product taste drive Dylan’s decision-making • The challenge of keeping things simple • Dylan’s thoughts on the future of product management • Lessons from Figma’s early days • How Figma built their initial user base • Dylan’s journey from intern to CEO of a 1,000+-person company • The future of design tools and AI — Brought to you by: • WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs: https://workos.com/lenny • Anvil—The fastest way to build software for documents: https://www.useanvil.com/lenny • User Testing—Human understanding. Human experiences: https://www.usertesting.com/lenny Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/dylan-field-live-at-config Where to find Dylan Field: • X: https://x.com/zoink • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanfield/ Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Introduction (01:11) Welcoming Dylan Field (02:36) Highlights and surprises from Config (06:58) The philosophy of design (08:01) Raccoon feet and muffin hands (09:57) Building and refining intuition and product taste (12:50) How to influence leadership (16:14) The role of product managers (21:12) The future of product management (22:20) The importance of simplicity in design (26:10) The long road to Figma’s launch (27:44) Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs (29:07) Knowing when it’s time to ship (30:39) Early user acquisition strategies (35:50) Spotting trends and future innovations (39:20) Reflections on leadership and growth (43:16) Lightning round Referenced: • Mihika Kapoor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mihikakapoor/ • Rick Rubin on the Creative Act—60 Minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE1teB5bN-w • Figma pages: https://help.figma.com/hc/en-us/articles/360038511293-Create-and-manage-pages • Leading through uncertainty: A design-led company—Brian Chesky (Config 2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkfijg7s76o • An inside look at how Figma builds product | Yuhki Yamashita (CPO of Figma): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/an-inside-look-at-how-figma-builds • Vision, conviction, and hype: How to build 0 to 1 inside a company | Mihika Kapoor (Product at Figma): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/vision-conviction-hype-mihika-kapoor • An inside look at Figma’s unique GTM motion | Claire Butler (first GTM hire): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/an-inside-look-at-figmas-unique-bottom • Zigging vs. zagging: How HubSpot built a $30B company | Dharmesh Shah (co-founder/CTO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-30-years-of-building • Nadia Singer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadiasinger/ • Sho Kuwamoto on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shokuwamoto/ • FigJam: https://www.figma.com/figjam/ • Tim Van Damme on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-van-damme-maxvoltar/ • Coda: https://coda.io/ • Shishir Mehrotra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shishirmehrotra/ • Websim: https://websim.ai/ • eToys.com commercial (from Dylan’s childhood acting career): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3Y92aCmmbU 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.
Dylan Field on June 17th, 2025 at AI Startup School in San Francisco. Dylan Field co-founded Figma to bring the design process online and make it multiplayer. From a meme maker built on WebGL to a design platform powering millions, Figma’s journey hit a major milestone with its IPO last week. In this conversation, Dylan shares the early challenges of building in the browser, the early risks and pivotal choices that shaped Figma’s growth, the principles that guided its product and community, and how he thinks about building tools that empower creativity at scale. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs Chapters: 01:38 – How Dylan and Evan Started Figma 02:58 – WebGL: From Games to Tools 04:10 – Buying Time to Build 05:48 – Staying Motivated Through Early Exploration 06:10 – Cold Emails, Early Feedback & First Users 08:24 – Launch Timing and Lessons on Shipping Early 10:08 – Culture of Constraints & Creative Problem-Solving 10:50 – Recognizing Product-Market Pull 13:32 – Why Design is the Differentiator in the AI Era 16:34 – Figma’s AI Product Launches & Expanding Beyond Design 18:56 – The Blurring of Design, Development, and Product 21:00 – The “MS-DOS Era” of AI Interfaces & Future Surfaces 23:26 – The Role of Design in AI Research & the Future of Designers 27:36 – Audience Q&A: AI Tools, Open Source, Principles, and Advice
Dylan Field is co-founder and CEO of Figma, a beloved tool used by every modern product team. Founded in 2012, Figma has expanded from a single design tool to a comprehensive platform including FigJam, Slides, Dev Mode, and, most recently, Figma Make. After a $20 billion acquisition by Adobe fell through due to regulatory pushback, Dylan led the company to a successful IPO in 2025. *What you’ll learn:* 1. How Dylan kept internal morale up after the Adobe acquisition fell through 2. His approach to maintaining pace and a sense of urgency 13 years in 3. How to systematically develop taste 4. How Figma decides which product lines to add 5. Why Dylan obsesses over “time to value” 6. How AI is making design more valuable *This entire episode is brought to you by:* Stripe—Helping companies of all sizes grow revenue: https://stripe.com/ *Transcript:* https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/why-ai-makes-design-craft-and-quality-the-new-moat *My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers):* https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/175569466/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation *Where to find Dylan Field:* • X: https://x.com/zoink • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanfield/ *Where to find Lenny:* • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ *In this episode, we cover:* (00:00) Introduction to Dylan Field (03:58) The Adobe deal fallout (05:50) Maintaining team morale post-deal (09:13) Strategies for sustaining high performance (13:37) Maintaining Figma’s unique company culture (16:22) Dylan’s leadership evolution (21:03) How to improve clarity as a leader (24:40) The controversy behind FigJam (31:06) Lessons from expanding Figma’s core product line (39:32) Time-to-value (45:14) Introduction to Figma Make (48:26) AI app prototyping and the future of Figma Make (53:38) Lessons from Figma’s AI product launch (57:47) The importance of craft (59:54) Developing good taste (01:05:35) The future of product development (01:10:32) Why AI won’t steal your job (01:14:37) AI corner (01:18:32) Lightning round and final thoughts *Referenced:* • Dylan Field live at Config: Intuition, simplicity, and the future of design: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/dylan-field-live-at-config • Figma: https://www.figma.com/ • Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/ • Vision, conviction, and hype: How to build 0 to 1 inside a company | Mihika Kapoor (Product at Figma): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/vision-conviction-hype-mihika-kapoor • Notion’s lost years, its near collapse during Covid, staying small to move fast, the joy and suffering of building horizontal, more | Ivan Zhao (CEO and co-founder): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-notion-ivan-zhao • $46B of hard truths from Ben Horowitz: Why founders fail and why you need to run toward fear (a16z co-founder): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/46b-of-hard-truths-from-ben-horowitz • FigJam: https://www.figma.com/figjam/ • Cursor chat: https://help.figma.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403130802199-Use-cursor-chat-in-Figma-Design • Figma Slides: https://www.figma.com/slides/ • Figma Sites: https://www.figma.com/sites/ • Figma Buzz: https://www.figma.com/buzz/ • Figma Draw: https://www.figma.com/draw/ • Figma Design: https://www.figma.com/design/ • Dev Mode: https://www.figma.com/dev-mode/ • Figma Make: https://www.figma.com/make/ • Zach Lloyd on X: https://x.com/zachlloydtweets • Warp: https://www.warp.dev/ • Dylan’s post on X about Figma on an AI product leaderboard: https://x.com/zoink/status/1968588014935801884 • Kurt Cobain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Cobain • Damien Correll on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/damiencorrell/ • Marcin Wichary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwichary/ • Loredana Crisan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loredanacrisan/ • Amber Bravo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amberbravo/ • Figma’s 2025 AI report: Perspectives from designers and developers: https://www.figma.com/blog/figma-2025-ai-report-perspectives/ • Jevons paradox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox#Energy_conservation_policy • AI prompt engineering in 2025: What works and what doesn’t | Sander Schulhoff (Learn Prompting, HackAPrompt): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/ai-prompt-engineering-in-2025-sander-schulhoff • Pantheon: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11680642/ *Recommended books:* • Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art: https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Comics-Invisible-Scott-McCloud/dp/006097625X • The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War: https://www.amazon.com/Spy-Traitor-Greatest-Espionage-Story/dp/1101904216 • Codex Seraphinianus: https://www.amazon.com/Codex-Seraphinianus-Anniversary-Luigi-Serafini/dp/0847871045 _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.
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