Figma

first 4 years with no revenue, now $20B exit

Author

Stan Rymkiewicz
August 03, 2023

Welcome to the Category Surfers where we break down go-to-market strategies so you can build the best SaaS growth engine.

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How Figma built an ecosystem to $20B exit

Figma is an all-in-one design platform that grew to a $20B valuation by bringing design software online to improve collaboration between designers, engineers, and product managers. They raised $330M to build the most popular design software in the world.

Figma GTM strategy

Product

Product is the reason Figma gained traction in the first place. They used a new variable in the field and build one of the first cloud-based design software. This is a prime example of a great product, matched with world-class distribution.

Figma editor

Distribution

Figma followed so many great GTM strategies, here are a few that drove growth:

  • Product-led (let users signup then enter the sales process)

  • Usage growth (going viral within the design org)

  • Ecosystem (let users build templates & plugins to strengthen the moat)

A trend I’m seeing researching the best companies: they all execute more than one GTM tactic to get customers.

Figma’s template gallery

Market

Figma is going after an application development market that is worth $145B and growing 23% annually.

Additional resources

That’s it!