9 Best Product, Design, and Startup Lessons From Figma

Most people think design tools are about pushing pixels. They’re not.

The real challenge in design isn’t creating pretty mock-ups. It’s collaboration. It’s getting your team on the same page without wanting to strangle each other in the process.

Think about it:

How many times have you emailed a file named “final_v2_FINAL_for_real_this_time.psd”?

How often do you play archaeological digs through your hard drive, searching for that one crucial mockup?

It’s madness. And for years, we just accepted it as the cost of doing business.

Enter Figma.

Figma looked at this mess and asked a simple question: What if design tools actually cared about how designers work?

It sounds obvious in hindsight. But that’s the thing about great ideas—they always do.

Figma’s approach was so effective that they went from an unknown startup to a $20 billion acquisition target in what felt like the blink of an eye.

How’d they pull it off?

By solving real problems.

They didn’t just make a prettier Photoshop clone. They reimagined the entire workflow. They made collaboration as easy as breathing. They turned the design into a multiplayer game.

Figma’s success isn’t just about design tools. It’s a masterclass in product development and startup growth.

In the next few minutes, we’re going to break down the 9 key lessons from Figma’s journey.

You’re about to get a crash course in turning user headaches into billion-dollar opportunities.

Figma’s Journey

Image source: The San Francisco Standard

It’s 2012, and two plucky youngsters, Dylan Field and Evan Wallace, decide they’re going to revolutionize design (source).

Fast-forward to late 2015, and Figma’s ready to show its face to the world. But here’s the kicker – they didn’t wait for perfection.

Nope, these mad lads went for buzz instead.

• Threw their beta out there.
• Let the tech nerds have at it.
• Ballsy move? You bet. But it paid off.

Key Move: Started “Three Things” – no, not a weird drinking game, but a way to build their company culture.

Image source: Figma Community

By 2016, Figma was on fire.

They brought in their first design advocate and started hosting design battles. “Pixel Pong,” they called it.

Then came the community push:

• Opened up file publishing and remixing.
• Created a GitHub-like ecosystem for designers.
• The result? 87% of newbies joined via friend invites (source).

But Figma wasn’t done. They looked at code and design and said, “Why not both?”

New Additions:

1. Plugins
2. FigJam (collaborative whiteboarding, ’cause why not?)

Suddenly, they weren’t just a design tool. They were a whole damn ecosystem.

The money folks took notice:

• 2019: Snagged $83 million in funding.
• 2021: Worth a cool $10 billion.

And then, in September 2022, Adobe came knocking with a $20 billion offer. That’s right, the OG design giant decided if you can’t beat them, buy them (source).

Just like that, Figma went from underdog to top dog.

If that fired you up, let’s now see what we can learn from Figma’s success.

1. Prioritize User-Centric Design

Figma didn’t just build a better design tool. They reimagined what a design tool could be by obsessing over one thing: the user.

Take their real-time collaboration feature. Figma didn’t just add it because it sounded cool.

They added it because they watched designers work and saw how much time was wasted sending files back and forth.

But here’s where it gets interesting. Figma didn’t just solve obvious problems. They challenged assumptions about how design tools should work.

• Why should design files be stuck on one person’s computer?
• Why can’t the whole team work on the same file at once?
• Why should developers have to wait for designers to export assets?

These questions led to Figma’s browser-based approach and their focus on seamless collaboration.

It wasn’t just about making a better tool. It was about making the entire design process better.

So ask yourself:

Are you really building for your users? Or are you building for yourself?

The answer to that question might just determine whether you become the next Figma or just another forgotten startup.

2. Foster a Collaborative Design Culture

Most people think great design comes from lone geniuses sketching away in isolation. It doesn’t.

The best designs emerge from messy, collaborative processes.

Just look at Figma. They’ve built their entire platform around the idea that design is a team sport.

They’ve made real-time collaboration dead simple. Multiple designers can work on the same file simultaneously. It’s like Google Docs, but for design.

When designers can riff off each other in real time, magic happens. Ideas evolve faster. Feedback is immediate. The entire design process accelerates.

But Figma didn’t stop there. They realized that formal design tools can be intimidating for non-designers.

So they created FigJam, a digital whiteboard for early-stage collaboration. It’s like the back of a napkin, but better.

Figma doesn’t just provide tools. They’ve thought deeply about the behaviors that drive effective collaboration.

They’ve identified five key behaviors:

• co-creation
• rapport
• role clarity
• feedback
• and reflection.

This is where most companies go wrong. They focus on tools and processes, forgetting that collaboration is fundamentally about people.

Figma gets it.

Want proof?

Look at companies like Patagonia and Spotify. They’ve adopted Figma’s tools and practices and transformed their design processes.

Patagonia integrates design discussions into daily workflows.

Image source: Figma

Spotify has dramatically sped up its product iterations.

Image source: Spotify Design

HP has broken down silos between design and development.

Image source: Figma

So here’s something worth taking home:

In startups, as in design, the best ideas rarely come fully formed. They emerge through iteration, collaboration, and a willingness to challenge assumptions.

3. Embrace an iterative, data-driven approach

Most companies talk about being data-driven.

Figma actually does it.

And not in the half-hearted way you often see, where data is just a buzzword tossed around in meetings.

No, Figma’s entire product development process is built around iteration and data.

They collect two types of data:

1. functional
2. and analytics.

Functional data is the basic stuff they need to run the service. But the real magic is in the analytics data.

Figma’s data science team doesn’t just crunch numbers in isolation. They’re embedded in the product development process.

Take their share modal, for example. That’s the thing you use to invite others or publish to the community.

Most companies would just design it based on what they think is best. Not Figma. They ran experiments, tested different versions, and measured the results. It’s like A/B testing on steroids.

Image source: Figma Learn

But here’s where it gets really interesting: their work on comments.

Over two years, they ran a series of experiments. They started small, testing hypotheses. As they learned, they expanded.

The result?

A major product launch that tripled usage among Figma employees and got non-designers more involved.

Image source: Figma

The real lesson from Figma isn’t just “use data.” It’s “create a culture where data, design, and product are all speaking the same language.”

4. Leverage Community Engagement for Product Growth

Most startups launch with a finished product. Figma launched with a conversation.

They reached out to designers at places like Microsoft before they even had a polished product.

Think about it.

How do most companies approach product development?

They guess what users want, build it, and pray.

Figma flipped this on its head. They said, “Let’s not guess. Let’s ask.”

But they didn’t stop there. Figma turned its user base into a product development army.

They introduced a template-sharing feature that lets users showcase their work. Every shared template became a masterclass. Every user became a potential teacher.

Then they launched “Friends of Figma”—local user groups that met in person. In the age of digital everything, Figma went analog.

Image source: Friends of Figma

The next time you’re planning your product strategy, ask yourself: “Am I just building features, or am I building a community?”

Because if Figma has taught us anything, it’s that the community might just be the most important feature of all.

5. Balance Innovation With Accessibility and Ease of Use

The real magic happens when you make something both cutting-edge and easy to use. That’s what Figma’s been doing, and it’s a big reason for their success.

Their real-time collaboration feature is a perfect example.

It’s innovative, sure. But it’s also dead simple.

There are over a billion people in the world with some form of disability. That’s a massive market most companies ignore. Figma saw an opportunity whereas others saw a challenge.

Image source: Figma

They built features like robust keyboard navigation and color contrast tools.

But perhaps the most impressive thing about Figma is how they’ve made complexity accessible.

Using Figma for the first time feels like picking up a pencil. It just works. Yet under the hood, it’s incredibly powerful.

This balance – between power and simplicity, innovation and accessibility – that’s the secret sauce. It’s a lesson every startup should learn.

6. Leverage AI and Automation to Enhance Design Capabilities

AI isn’t just changing design; it’s redefining what it means to be a designer. And that’s a good thing, mostly.

Figma gets this. That’s why they launched Figma AI.

Figma AI can generate design mockups and content based on prompts.

Now, before you start panicking about AI taking your job, take a breath. That’s not the point here.

The point is that Figma recognized something fundamental: designers are at their best when they’re, well, designing. Not organizing files or searching for assets.

And that’s lesson number one from Figma: Identify the tasks that slow your users down, then ruthlessly automate them.

But Figma didn’t stop there. They looked at the entire design process and asked, “How can AI make this better?”

That’s how we got AI-powered collaboration tools and accessibility insights.

Lesson two: Don’t just automate tasks. Use AI to enhance the entire workflow.

Every AI feature Figma has introduced is about giving designers more time and tools to be creative. It’s about elevating the role of the designer, not diminishing it.

And that’s the final lesson: Use AI to augment your users’ capabilities, not replace them.

7. Build a Strong Brand and Evangelize the Product

When was the last time you saw designers get excited about a software update?

For most tools, updates are met with groans. For Figma, they’re met with tweets, blog posts, and virtual high-fives.

Figma invited designers in. They demoed unfinished products. They asked for brutal feedback. They made designers feel like they were part of something bigger than just another app.

Figma understood something most startups miss: your early users aren’t just customers. They’re your marketing team, your product managers, and your future employees.

Take Brent, Figma’s first design advocate (source).

He started as a user, got pulled into these quirky events, and ended up shaping the company’s entire community strategy. That’s not luck. That’s brilliant brand building.

When Dropbox or Twitter talked about how Figma changed their design process, it wasn’t just a testimonial. It was a blueprint other teams could follow.

8. Navigate Fundraising and Scaling the Business

Most people think you need revenue to raise money. Figma proved them wrong.

They raised $17.8 million before they made a single cent. $3.8 million seed round, $14 million Series A, all pre-revenue (source).

This flies in the face of conventional startup wisdom. “Show me the money,” investors usually say.

It’s like selling tickets to a movie that hasn’t been made yet. You need a hell of a trailer.

Figma’s trailer was their product. They spent years perfecting it before even thinking about monetization. From 2012 to 2016, they were all product, no profit.

By 2017, the payments started rolling in. $700,000 that year. By 2021, $210 million. That’s not growth. That’s a rocket ship.

Image source: LinkedIn

How’d they do it?

Two words: freemium model.

Let people play with your toy for free, then charge them when they want the deluxe version.

9. Maintain a Strong Company Culture as the Team Grows

Figma’s founders, Dylan Field and Evan Wallace, made culture a top priority from the get-go.

They defined their core values – helpful, humble, hungry – and then lived by them. Really lived by them.

Figma doubled down on their culture as they scaled.

They created a robust onboarding program to immerse new hires in the Figma way. They trained people on how to give and receive feedback, and how to resolve conflicts.

They created new programs like mentorship as they scaled. They constantly surveyed employees to get feedback on the culture and then – get this – actually made changes based on that feedback.

The next time you hear a founder say they’ll focus on culture “once they’ve scaled,” ask them this: would you wait until your product is successful before you start caring about its quality?

When Tools Become Movements

Remember when Google made search not suck?

Or when Airbnb made travel feel local?

That’s what Figma did for design.

It’s like that old saying about writing:

“Easy reading is damn hard writing.”

Figma made complex design feel easy. That’s hard.

Now, you might be thinking, “Great, but I’m not building a design tool.”

Doesn’t matter.

The principles are the same whether you’re building the next Figma or a better mousetrap.

Figma’s journey from a crazy idea to a $20 billion acquisition target isn’t just a Silicon Valley fairy tale. It’s a blueprint.

So the next time you’re hunched over your laptop, trying to figure out your MVP, remember:

You’re not just building a product. You’re shaping how people work, create, and collaborate.

Get that right, and you might just change the world.

Or at least make it a bit prettier.