Dylan Field
InvestorUnicorn founderCo-founder & CEO at Figma
San Francisco, CA
Writes $10K – $500K checks · typically $100K
FoundedFigma$56.3B
Find your path to Dylan
152 people in our graph share verified history with Dylan — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.
About
Dylan Field walked away from Adobe's $20 billion offer — collecting a $1 billion break fee when regulators killed it — and took Figma public instead: the July 2025 NYSE debut priced at $33 and closed its first day at $115.50, a 250% pop that valued the design company near $68 billion. He was a 20-year-old Thiel Fellow when he founded Figma in 2012 with Brown classmate Evan Wallace, betting that design belonged in the browser and that collaboration, not files, was the product. He remains CEO and board chair with about 74% of the voting power; in August 2026, with the stock near $27, he voluntarily forfeited a $46 million share grant.
Beyond investing
- Founded
- Co-founded Figma, a collaborative design platform. Co-founded Figma in 2012 with Brown classmate Evan Wallace, who served as CTO until leaving in 2021 and transferred his voting rights to Field in 2022. Field co-founded Figma, a web-based vector graphics editing software company, in 2012 with Evan Wallace.
- Education
- Awarded a Thiel Fellowship in May 2012 — the $100,000 grant that seeded Figma and required him to leave Brown. Studied at Brown University (Computer Science)
- Boards
- Serves as board chair as well as CEO, controlling roughly 74% of voting power through Figma's dual-class structure.
- Awards
- Field was named an Inc. Rising Star in 2019. Field received a Thiel Fellowship in 2012, a $100,000 grant conditioned on leaving college.
- Hobbies
- Field is an NFT collector who purchased his first CryptoPunk in January 2018 and in 2021 sold a CryptoPunk for $7.5 million.
- Family
- Field is married to Elena Nadolinski, and in April 2021 they were expecting their first child. Field grew up in Penngrove, California, as an only child and was named after the poet Dylan Thomas.
- More
- Adobe agreed to acquire Figma for about $20 billion in September 2022; the deal was terminated in December 2023 over EU and UK objections, and Adobe paid Figma the agreed $1 billion break fee. In August 2026 he voluntarily forfeited about 2.4 million Class B shares — roughly $46 million — with no replacement award. Interned at O'Reilly Media in high school and at LinkedIn, Microsoft Research, and Flipboard during college before dropping out. Field participated in FIRST Robotics and took an interest in design starting in middle school.
Mentioned above: the Brown University mafia → · the Flipboard mafia → · the O'Reilly Media mafia →
From Dylan's own website — common ground for a warm intro.
Co-founder & CEO at Figma
Intro paths
In turn, Dylan can intro founders to Figma's investors below.
Figma's investors · 33
Co-founders at Figma
Experience
- Figma, Inc.CEO & Co-foundercurrent2012 — presentPalo Alto, CA
- Flipboard Inc.Product Design Intern2012Palo Alto, CA
- FlipboardSoftware Engineering Intern2011
- LinkedInData Analytics Intern2010
- MicrosoftResearch Assistant2009 — 2010
- IndineroIntern2009
- O'Reilly MediaOnline Marketing Intern2008 — 2009
Skills & more
+8 more
Software EngineeringGitNode.jsHTML 5C++HTMLCSSMapReduceLanguages English
From Dylan's professional profile.
Investments
Investor
GatherLoomNetlifyOpenSeaSunday RoboticsWarp
Per curated public sources.
Podcasts & interviews
featuring Dylan FieldConfig 2026 Keynote with Dylan Field
Figma Config
An Interview with Figma CEO Dylan Field About Design and AI
Stratechery · stratechery.com
Figma CEO Dylan Field: How AI Will Transform Design
AI Startup School
The Future Of Design With Figma's Dylan Field
How to Build the Future
Intuition, simplicity, and the future of design
Lenny's Podcast · lennysnewsletter.com
Network20
▶8 more connections
Emil Michael · scoutEthan Daly · scoutMiles Grimshaw · scoutRamtin Naimi · scoutJohn DoerrAmin MirzadeganNina AchadjianVijay Chattha
Investors connected to Dylan in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Dylan Field?
- Dylan Field walked away from Adobe's $20 billion offer — collecting a $1 billion break fee when regulators killed it — and took Figma public instead: the July 2025 NYSE debut priced at $33 and closed its first day at $115.50, a 250% pop that valued the design company near $68 billion. He was a 20-year-old Thiel Fellow when he founded Figma in 2012 with Brown classmate Evan Wallace, betting that design belonged in the browser and that collaboration, not files, was the product. He remains CEO and board chair with about 74% of the voting power; in August 2026, with the stock near $27, he voluntarily forfeited a $46 million share grant.
- Where does Dylan Field work?
- Dylan Field is Co-founder & CEO of Figma.
- What check size does Dylan Field write?
- Dylan Field typically writes checks of $10K – $500K.
- What companies did Dylan Field found?
- Dylan Field founded Figma.
- What companies has Dylan Field invested in?
- Investments tracked here include Gather, Loom, Netlify, OpenSea, Sunday Robotics, Warp.
- Where did Dylan Field go to school?
- Dylan Field studied at Brown University (ScB, Computer Science and Mathematics); Sonoma State University (Mathematics); Technology High School (High School Diploma, Mathematics and Engineering).
- What awards has Dylan Field received?
- Field was named an Inc. Rising Star in 2019. Field received a Thiel Fellowship in 2012, a $100,000 grant conditioned on leaving college.
- What podcasts and interviews feature Dylan Field?
- Tracked appearances include "Config 2026 Keynote with Dylan Field", "An Interview with Figma CEO Dylan Field About Design and AI", "Figma CEO Dylan Field: How AI Will Transform Design", and 2 more.
Founder mafias
Brown University mafia266
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
+ 259 more
Flipboard mafia10
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
+ 3 more
O'Reilly Media mafia9
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
+ 2 more
inDinero mafia6
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Sonoma State University mafia3
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Same school
Also attended Brown University647
+ 641 more
Also attended Sonoma State University13
+ 7 more
Shared employers
Also worked at Figma, Inc.46
+ 40 more
Also worked at Flipboard Inc.15
+ 9 more
Also worked at LinkedIn272
+ 266 more
Also worked at Microsoft1,853
+ 1,847 more









































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