Figma: Dylan Field

WebGL is a way to do 2D and 3D graphics in a webpage. This was a revolutionary development that factored into what you would eventually create. WebGL introduced the frictionless ability to see 3D renderings in a webpage. Today, we take this for granted, but in 2011, it was quite radical.

I thought to myself, there's no way I'm going to start something unless I'm doing it with someone I think is amazing. The only person I'd start a company with, and no matter how it goes, I'll learn from them, and it'll be an amazing experience because just being with them will be a gift in itself, is Evan Wallace.

So much happened organically. Anything visual that could be created ended up being created in Figma at some point.

It was pretty wild to see this behavior emerge. At first, it was across companies, with people illustrating virtual studies together to foster a sense of community. Then, it was within teams; we started hearing about how people were brainstorming together and using it as a hangout space. I remember one day, Slack went down, and people were typing in text boxes in Figma for their replacement communications. Obviously, it's not made for that, and we're watching all this behavior and thinking, "Wow."

I believe design will be the differentiator. It's about craft, functionality, and brand. As we look to the future, I think these elements will remain key differentiators for software. Craft will be paramount. The value of good design will likely increase even more in this environment. While you can create software with some design using a prompt, exploring the entire option space and determining what to ship requires human judgment to navigate and identify the right approach.

They kept telling me, "Dan, you need to be more commercial." I asked, "What does that mean?" They just repeated, "You need to be more commercial." I then asked, "Do you mean I need to use more sales terminology? What exactly are you getting at?" I believe what they meant was to price the product. When a design leader came and said we couldn't use it unless we priced the product, I immediately thought, "Everyone, we need to start charging for this product as fast as possible." I was a bit slow to grasp it, but I eventually understood.

It's funny, I was really proud of that essay and I had a lot of fun writing it because I really don't like chocolate, and people have always thought that was the weirdest thing ever. So I thought I was answering the question the purest way possible and maybe even being a bit of a contrarian.

I believe we had a very clear product roadmap, and we all felt there was something significant here. However, I could have done a better job helping people fully grasp it, perhaps through more direct conversations with customers. I was having those conversations and would return to share my notes. What I realized, though, is that if employees aren't directly engaging with users, they don't perceive the situation in the same way. They won't truly understand the pain points people experience unless they can interact with individuals and hear about it firsthand.