Why Figma Wins

Part of this, I believe, is about bringing back an opinionated approach to software design, where the tool asserts itself. For instance, Linear’s sleek, luminous feel and decisive approach to how work should be done shows how an unwavering commitment to a specific measure of pixel-perfect quality can be incredibly compelling. Similarly, a product l... See more

Come for the tool, stay for the network” is one of the most famous strategies for launching and scaling networks. Start with a great “tool”—a product experience that is useful even for one user as a utility. Then, over time, pivot the users into a series of use cases that tap into a “network”—the part where you collaborate, share, communicate, or o

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AdobeXD, Figma, InVision and Sketch are now the three main platforms in the design category. The four players are all going in the same direction: (i) more collaboration between designers and with other functions in the company, (ii) easing the handover between designers and developers, (iii) building an open ecosystem of plugins to augment the exp... See more

No one was clamoring for a multiplayer design tool — if anything, people hated the idea. Designers worried that live collaborative editing would result in “hovering art directors” and “design by committee” catastrophes.

Designers and developers are willing to collaborate but are facing key challenges:

• Their tools are not connected (Figma for designers | Microsoft Visual Studio and Github for developers)


• They don’t speak the same language


• Design tools produce images that developers have to translate into code


• It’s impossible to preserve a brand identity across all its

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When it comes to platform vs tools, we prefer companies that start as a tool and then develop as a platform. These are startups that solve a complete business problem. They figure out how to get the data and then how to build a loop to learn from that data and create a user experience that solves a specific business problem.