Why Figma is selling to Adobe for $20 billion, with CEO Dylan Field

Decoder with Nilay Patel

Dylan Field is the co-founder and CEO of Figma, which makes a very popular design tool that allows designers and their collaborators to all work together right in a web browser. You know how multiple people can edit together in Google Docs? Figma is that for design work. We just redesigned The Verge; we used Figma extensively throughout that process.

So for years, people have been waiting on the inevitable Figma vs. Adobe standoff since Figma was such a clear upstart competitor to Photoshop and Illustrator and the rest. Well, buckle up because in September, Adobe announced that it was buying Figma for $20 billion. Figma is going to remain independent inside Adobe, but you know, it’s a little weird.

So I wanted to talk to Dylan about the deal, why he’s doing it, how he made the decision to sell, and what things he can do as part of Adobe that he couldn’t do as an independent company.

Dylan’s also a pretty expansive thinker, so after we talked about his company getting the “fuck you” money from Adobe, we talked about making VR Figma for the metaverse and AGI, which is artificial general intelligence, or the kind of AI that can fully think for itself. This episode takes a turn. I think you’re going to like it.

Okay, Dylan Field, CEO of Figma. Here we go.

Links:

Welcome to the new Verge

Adobe to acquire Figma in a deal worth $20 billion

A New Collaboration with Adobe

Designers worry Adobe won't let Figma flourish

WebGL - Wikipedia

How big companies kill ideas — and how to fight back, with Tony Fadell - Decoder

Dylan Field on Twitter: "Our goal is to be Figma not Adobe"

College Dropout Turns Thiel Fellowship Into a $2 Billion Figma Fortune

Generative adversarial network (GAN) - Wikipedia

GPT-3 - Wikipedia

Is VR the next frontier in fitness? - Decoder

Artificial general intelligence - Wikipedia

Transcript:

https://www.theverge.com/e/23209862

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

It was produced by Creighton DeSimone and Jackie McDermott and it was edited by Jackson Bierfeldt.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Editorial Director is Brooke Minters and our Executive Director is Eleanor Donovan.

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