Dylan Field

CEO & Co-Founder at Figma

CEO and co-founder of Figma, one of the most beloved products in tech; led the company through the failed Adobe acquisition; launched FigJam and Figma Make; known for his product taste, craft obsession, and 13 years of leadership evolution.

The Operator The Craftsperson 2 appearances

Dimension Profile

Strategic Vision 76%

Execution & Craft 86%

Data & Experimentation 44%

Growth & Distribution 56%

Team & Leadership 66%

User Empathy & Research 80%

Key Themes

product taste and intuition intuition as hypothesis generator operationalizing simplicity future of product management design as differentiator in AI era keeping products simple at scale

Episode Summary

Dylan Field, in the first-ever live recording of Lenny's Podcast at Figma Config, discusses how product taste and intuition work as hypothesis generators rather than decision-makers, how to operationalize simplicity as products scale, and why AI creating more software makes design and craft more important as differentiators, not less. He shares early Figma stories and his vision for the future of product management.

Leadership Principles

→ Intuition is a hypothesis generator, not a decision-maker — use it to generate ideas quickly, then validate with data and user feedback
→ In a world of more software being created by AI, design becomes more important as a differentiator, not less
→ Operationalizing simplicity means constantly fighting complexity creep — at Figma, keeping things simple is an active process, not a passive one

Notable Quotes

"In a world of more software being created by AI, what does that mean for the impact on craft and quality and the need to have more unique design? Design is a differentiator."
— On why AI makes design more important, not less

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