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Figma's Dylan Field: We Knew We Had Product-Market Fit When a User Sent Us 12 Pages of Feature Requests

By Dylan Field · Leadership · 2 min read

Field brought wine to a user study because the text editing was so slow. Two days later, the user sent 12 pages of everything he wanted them to build. Field's regret: not hiring faster the moment he saw that signal.

Key Points

Figma pivoted constantly for 10 months before committing to a thesis
A user study required a bottle of wine because the product was so slow — they finished the entire bottle
The user sent 12 pages of feature requests — that was product-market pull, and Field wishes he'd acted on it faster

I should have taken something like that and gone: this is clear product-market pull. The market's pulling the product out of us. Let's go hire faster.

Ten Months of Pivoting, Then a Thesis

Field: From August 2012 to May-June 2013, that was a period where we were pivoting constantly, trying lots of things. But then okay, we had a thesis. We went for it. It felt like there was an opportunity and we started to build it out more.

It was going to take a while. In retrospect, we were lucky to have raised money and have resources. I should have hired faster once we started to get signal from the market around product-market fit.

The Wine-Fueled User Study

Field: I went to a user study with a friend at Coursera. Showed up at 6:00 after he finished work. Offices were pretty empty. I brought a bottle of wine with me because the text editing experience in Figma was so slow — just writing things out took a long time.

I knew we'd have to drink some wine to get through the user study. We finished the entire bottle.

12 Pages of Pull

Field: The next day or two days later, he followed up with me and sent me like 12 pages of a doc. Here's all the stuff I want you to build and why.

I should have taken something like that and gone — okay, this is clear product-market pull. The market's pulling the product out of us. I should have then gone — let's go hire faster, let's figure out how to inflect growth of our internal team. I think instead I was still very cautious. That's something I wish — if I could have gone back in time, I wish we could have gone a little faster there.

He sent me 12 pages of what he wanted us to build. I should have taken that as clear product-market pull.

There Were Signs

Field: That was early, before we even shipped it. We didn't know. But I think now I look back and there were signs that there was fit here, even if the product wasn't ready yet.