What working at Figma taught me about customer obsession

Sho Kuwamoto, Figma's VP of Product, argues that Figma's success comes from putting customer needs first, a philosophy built into its culture from the early private beta. He describes how customer support became everyone's job, how staying close to users (through sales calls, visits, and chats) sped up product learning rather than slowing it. He recommends a service-oriented mindset, treating the product as a tool serving users' higher-level goals rather than a product to perfect. Finally, he stresses that the 'feel' of software drives adoption, especially for frequently used tools and product-led growth, and that a polished core beats a feature-stuffed launch. The lessons matter because they offer a practical, culture-level approach to customer obsession applicable beyond design tools.

01Key takeaways

• Have teams engage directly with customers, such as through support, sales calls, and research, to learn faster and build community.
• Treat support as a learning engine: fix the immediate problem, then change the product so others don't hit it too.
• Invert jobs-to-be-done by focusing on the user's higher-level goals, not just the product's needs.
• Launch with a smaller, polished core rather than many half-finished features, since early feel builds lasting credibility.
• For frequently used products, invest in performance, familiarity with existing expectations, and consistency.
• When someone says a product 'feels clunky,' investigate rather than dismiss, and share raw customer reactions to build buy-in.

02Key sections

Customer support is everyone's job

Figma's early engineers and designers answered customer requests directly, which made them learn what mattered faster. The team's rhythm was to understand the problem, unblock the customer, then fix the product for everyone.

Software as a service

Sho frames the company as a hotel or restaurant serving guests, shifting focus from product improvement to solving users' real problems. He uses this to weigh feature trade-offs by asking what best serves the most people.

The importance of feel

Designers judge tools by how they feel, so Figma launched with a small, polished feature set and prioritized performance, familiarity, and consistency. Credibility earned at launch let users trust the product would keep improving.

Evaluating when feel matters

Feel matters most for frequently used products, where users bring expectations from other tools. If unsure, ask users whether they like the product and why, and use quotes and videos to persuade stakeholders.

03From the post

“1. Your startup idea probably isn’t venture-scale 2. How Notion builds product 3. How Ramp builds product 4. How Miro builds product Subscribe to get access to these posts, and every post. Figma is the business every business wants to be when they grow up: net dollar retention of over 150%, gross margins of 90%, generating $400m+ in ARR, and, 10 years in, still growing more than 2x year over year. Also, they’re the 1 fastest-growing enterprise software product in the world (according to Okta’s Businesses at Work 2023 report). And have you ever met someone who doesn’t love Figma? I don’t think so. To help us all learn what Figma has done so right, I’m excited to bring you a special guest post by Sho Kuwamoto. Sho was the first product leader at Figma, and for the past seven years, as VP of Product leading the editor experience, has helped shape the special product and culture of Figma. Below, he shares his biggest lessons about building a product that’s beloved by people the world over. For more from Sho,…”

04Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.