Will Griffith on Figma’s IPO Success and Investor Exit Strategy
▼ Summary
– Will Griffith, a venture investor at Iconiq, met 19-year-old Dylan Field, leading to a seed investment in Figma, which later went public with a $47 billion market cap.
– Figma’s founders, initially untested, had strong early support from Jeff Weiner, who introduced Field to Griffith, helping secure Iconiq’s investment.
– Figma’s browser-based design software was revolutionary, challenging Adobe’s dominance, though early investors like Alexis Ohanian initially passed on the opportunity.
– Iconiq invested in multiple Figma funding rounds, though its stake remained below 5%, and the IPO was oversubscribed, reflecting high investor demand.
– Griffith views Figma’s IPO as a milestone, not an endpoint, and remains focused on supporting the next generation of founders.
Figma’s explosive IPO success story traces back to a bold early bet by investor Will Griffith, who recognized the potential in a scrappy startup led by a teenage dropout. The design software company’s shares surged from their $33 debut to close at $115.50, cementing its $47 billion valuation and rewarding Griffith’s foresight.
Griffith first encountered Figma’s co-founder Dylan Field in 2013 through an introduction by LinkedIn’s then-CEO Jeff Weiner. At the time, Field and his partner Evan Wallace were working out of a Palo Alto apartment, developing what would become a browser-based design tool that challenged Adobe’s industry dominance. “It was two guys and a dog,” Griffith recalls, “but their vision for WebGL-powered creative software was revolutionary.”
Despite skepticism from other investors, including high-profile passes like Alexis Ohanian’s, Griffith’s firm, Iconiq Capital, doubled down. Seed shares priced at less than nine cents each eventually multiplied in value as Figma raised over $330 million in funding. Though Iconiq’s stake remained below the 5% disclosure threshold, the IPO delivered a windfall.
The offering’s unique structure saw existing shareholders, including Field himself, supply most of the shares rather than the company issuing new ones. Griffith praised this approach, calling it “generous” for meeting overwhelming demand, Bloomberg reported the IPO was 40 times oversubscribed. However, he cautioned that limited float can distort valuations, risking post-debut volatility.
For Griffith, Figma’s journey reflects more than financial returns. Watching Field evolve from a teenage intern to CEO has been “incredibly rewarding,” he says, emphasizing the founder’s unwavering vision. As Figma’s stock soared on its first trading day, Griffith was already looking ahead, meeting with new founders who might replicate that success.
Inside Iconiq, the IPO sparked celebration, complete with a stock-price prediction contest offering prizes like cash bonuses or Hawaiian getaways. Yet Griffith insists the real milestone isn’t the public listing but Figma’s ongoing impact: “This isn’t an exit, it’s another chapter.”
(Source: TechCrunch)
