"When my co-founder Evan and I launched Figma in closed beta five years ago, we bet everything on the browser." Dylan Field reflects on a decision that seemed heretical at the time.

The Heretical Bet

"We didn't realize that launching Figma was heresy, a generational assault on top-down, siloed models of decision making." The idea that professional design tools could run in a browser was controversial.

"For one thing, browsers just weren't as fast as native apps. But we knew that wouldn't always be the case. We also knew that online, collaborative editing was the future."

Five Years of Building

Dylan and Evan spent years building the technology before anyone could use Figma: "Building Figma took nearly twice as long as we originally thought. There was so much innovation needed. Like implementing a performant 2D vector graphics engine on top of WebGL."

The Multiplayer Moment

"In 2016, we launched to the public. But once we took multi-player real time editing public? We watched in awe as hundreds of people flooded into a single canvas to draw and experience collaborative design for the first time."

Growth Through Community

"We saw people create wild, vibrant, collaborative worlds. We saw them use Figma to design together in new ways. We saw design itself expand, as non-designers everywhere started to engage with the craft."

The Result

Adobe attempted to acquire Figma for $20 billion in 2022 (deal later terminated). Today, Figma is the dominant design platform used by millions, valued at $12.5 billion as of 2024.