Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news to our world TV
Speaker 1: and radio audiences. Hi, welcome you back to Bloomberg Tech
Speaker 1: outside the New York Sock Exchange sat with the latest listing.
Speaker 1: The CEO of Figma, Dylan Field, joins me now and
Speaker 1: to your thirteen million users, to the thousands of global
Speaker 1: employees worldwide, how's it feel about?
Speaker 2: It feels surreal And just thank you for having me
Speaker 2: and for being here with us today. It's just amazing
Speaker 2: to see the community turn out and also just to
Speaker 2: be with the team. The contributions of fig Mates past present,
Speaker 2: and also just all the things we've learned and contin
Speaker 2: to learn from our community. They all just kind of
Speaker 2: show up today in physical manifestation and I can be
Speaker 2: more grateful.
Speaker 1: I mean, the vibes, there's a like DJ. There's so
Speaker 1: many of your employee base, as you say, your fig mates,
Speaker 1: those who are batch you early.
Speaker 3: Why this, why this?
Speaker 1: What does that show about your community?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean what we really wanted to do is
Speaker 2: involve the design community in this experience today that we're having,
Speaker 2: because I think it's not just that Figma's going public today.
Speaker 3: Design is going public today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And if you think back several decades, you know, back,
Speaker 2: you know, twenty years ago, the sort of mindset was
Speaker 2: that design was lipstick on a pig, This is how
Speaker 2: you make it pretty, and maybe a decade ago it
Speaker 2: was design is how it works. And then today, you know,
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, in a world where software accomplish is
Speaker 2: increasing so much, it's easier than ever to create software. Yes,
Speaker 2: I think we're now in a world where design is
Speaker 2: the differentiator. That's been our thesis for ten years. We've
Speaker 2: seen it play out, but it's even more clear now
Speaker 2: the design craft point of view, that's what sets companies apart,
Speaker 2: and so we're just trying to be this engine for product.
Speaker 3: Sign and development.
Speaker 2: And to be able to celebrate design today with all
Speaker 2: of our friends and community is such a privilege.
Speaker 1: What sets you apart to be able to enable design
Speaker 1: versus the whole plethora of generative AI startups that is
Speaker 1: suddenly here and on these seat and making things very
Speaker 1: cheap to build.
Speaker 2: To say, as you say, design, yeah, I think that
Speaker 2: there's such an opportunity for us with Pigma Make to
Speaker 2: be able to help people go from prompt all the
Speaker 2: way to app and we're very focused on that and
Speaker 2: improving that surface area.
Speaker 3: We have so much more to come there.
Speaker 2: But already you can not only do things through prompting,
Speaker 2: but you can also copy and paste things in from
Speaker 2: your Pigma design, your canvas into Figma make. And there
Speaker 2: are times you want to edit via prompt there are
Speaker 2: also times you want to edit in a more direct
Speaker 2: manipulation way where you go in to the canvas and
Speaker 2: you're able to see many different options in the option space.
Speaker 2: We think both are important and both have to work
Speaker 2: really well together, and so that's something we're excited to
Speaker 2: uniquely enable. And I just think in general, we're kind
Speaker 2: of in this ms dos era of AI and if
Speaker 2: we're able to get to the point where we really
Speaker 2: was true and if we're able to get to the
Speaker 2: point I mean I used to say tellnet era and
Speaker 2: people like, let's tell net so you know, stop for
Speaker 2: that and went down as das. But if we're able
Speaker 2: to get to this point where people can really explore
Speaker 2: the latent space of these models and what we generated
Speaker 2: and see the entire option space of what they can do,
Speaker 2: then humans designers can add that craft yeah, and really
Speaker 2: figure out how to differentiate and also the systems their head,
Speaker 2: not just the design and the technology system, but also.
Speaker 3: The business constraints.
Speaker 2: And that's why it's important to over the floor ceiling
Speaker 2: bring more people into the design process.
Speaker 1: So that one point two billion dollars that you raise
Speaker 1: through this process.
Speaker 3: How does that go?
Speaker 1: Where does that get allocated to ensure that you're building well.
Speaker 2: So one thing that was unique by the transaction was
Speaker 2: because of the cash balance we have at Pigma uh
Speaker 2: you know, due to rounds we've raised but never really
Speaker 2: used cash that we've generated, and also the breakup fee,
Speaker 2: we had quite a cash balance. And so it's a
Speaker 2: transaction that is a lot of secondary and then there's
Speaker 2: some primary, but mostly for the release of ursus and
Speaker 2: so it's more synthetic primary and the uh so, I
Speaker 2: mean we already have quite the cash balance. It's more
Speaker 2: or less what we're exiting the transaction with. And when
Speaker 2: we think.
Speaker 3: About the future of how to deploy.
Speaker 2: That, First of all, we want to be good schoo
Speaker 2: stewards of capital always. But I did put my founder
Speaker 2: letter in the s one. Yeah, expect us to make
Speaker 2: old moves and I want people to know that in
Speaker 2: investment the community, because we're going to invest in AI
Speaker 2: we're going into an investment cycle here, and it's important
Speaker 2: people are aware of that.
Speaker 1: You all go to invest you're not going to be
Speaker 1: focusing on profitability, You'll be focusing on growth.
Speaker 2: We are focusing on growth, and we're focusing on all
Speaker 2: the great things that we can do right now and
Speaker 2: enable for our users. The value we can create for
Speaker 2: our customers.
Speaker 1: Using the public markets are going to give you that.
Speaker 2: Bandwidth, Well, that's their choice. That's why I want to
Speaker 2: make sure I call it out up front. Yeah, And
Speaker 2: another thing that I think is important to note is
Speaker 2: in terms of big swings, I can't say when or if,
Speaker 2: but my intention is to do big swings when it
Speaker 2: comes to scaled M and A and.
Speaker 1: Well a lot of companies.
Speaker 3: Well, when I.
Speaker 2: Think about how we approach the process, we're always surveyed,
Speaker 2: we're always trying to learn, and there's so much that
Speaker 2: can be applicable of FIGMA when you think of the
Speaker 2: breadth of product design and development and that entire process
Speaker 2: which we're really trying to cover. And not all the
Speaker 2: gaps we have will be filled with us building our
Speaker 2: buy and a lot of them will be partnerships.
Speaker 3: But I wanted to call it out because for.
Speaker 2: Scaled M and A, as you you, that is often
Speaker 2: misinterpreted by markets. It creates volatility, people get, you know,
Speaker 2: sometimes they don't understand the really good stuff and obviously
Speaker 2: will be prudent. You know, it has to be an
Speaker 2: amazing team, an amazing asset has to be something that
Speaker 2: we think that the team is culturally consistent the least,
Speaker 2: but preferably culture ad Yeah, and they're going to create
Speaker 2: new dimensionality to our culture that we didn't.
Speaker 3: Have before and we're gonna learn from them Andy.
Speaker 2: But third and most importantly, it has to be a
Speaker 2: main priority going forward. That's the minimum, and we will
Speaker 2: hold a high bar for what if, we if and
Speaker 2: when we do that to.
Speaker 1: Our TV and radio audiences. We're with Dylan Field, the
Speaker 1: CEO of Pigma, which has just gone public, and if
Speaker 1: we cast our minds back, the valuation that you're currently
Speaker 1: at looks at about twenty million dollars and that was
Speaker 1: the amount that Adobe wanted to pay to buy you
Speaker 1: that didn't work out. So, just talking about M and A,
Speaker 1: was this the right path to be independent?
Speaker 3: How does that make you feel?
Speaker 2: I mean, we've been so focused on this path for
Speaker 2: years now and I'm just really excited to be here today.
Speaker 2: The Adobe stuff kind of feels like so long ago now. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and yeah, just as we look forward, I mean, there's
Speaker 2: so much to build in, such a breadth of opportunity.
Speaker 3: We have, like I gues said the funeral letter, more
Speaker 3: ideas than ever.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's all about prioritization, and it's all about
Speaker 2: clarity for the team. And that's what we're trying to do,
Speaker 2: is to create that clarity.
Speaker 1: I mean talking about demand, you are forty times over
Speaker 1: subscribed to those retail investors that want to get in
Speaker 1: on this, what do you say the short term if
Speaker 1: the shares popped?
Speaker 2: The only message I can give you, if you're on
Speaker 2: the retail side is understand what we do. We have
Speaker 2: our s one out there. We've done our best to
Speaker 2: present it in a really readable way of read the
Speaker 2: document and look at our numbers. Understand where we're headed
Speaker 2: and what we offer. Play with a product, you know,
Speaker 2: become a designer. I think you know that's true for
Speaker 2: a lot of people and a lot of companies. If
Speaker 2: designs how you win or lose, you should be part
Speaker 2: of the process too. But the more you can dive
Speaker 2: in and the better you can understand it, the better
Speaker 2: you can make a decision on things. And that's the
Speaker 2: best advice I give anyone, whether they're joining Figma, trying
Speaker 2: to invest in Figma, those are both investments of time
Speaker 2: of money, and that's important.
Speaker 3: Is so deeply understand it.
Speaker 1: Dylan Fields, CEO of Figma, on the day of their
Speaker 1: IPO from the New York Look Exchange