The Rundown – Figma CFO on OpenAI Integration, AI Monetization, and Global Growth Catalysts

Podcast: The Rundown
Host: Zaid Admani, Public.com
Guest: Praveer Melvani, CFO of Figma
Date: October 19, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode delivers an engaging, in-depth interview with Praveer Melvani, Figma's CFO, exploring the company's transformative IPO, the aftermath of the failed Adobe acquisition, Figma’s global growth plans, new product launches, AI innovation and monetization strategies, and how Figma approaches M&A and internal productivity. Melvani also addresses the pressures of running a newly public company, discusses Figma’s partnership with OpenAI, and ends with some rapid-fire personal questions—including NBA and baseball fandom.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Life as a Public Company CFO & IPO Rollercoaster

• Transitioning to Public Markets

  • The first days were a "roller coaster," but things "get back to normal" after the first earnings call (01:11).
  • Deep in “2026 planning,” still focused on product innovation.

• Surprises in the IPO Process

  • Surprise at "how much our team was able to accomplish… in a short time period" (01:50).
  • The post-IPO price surge (from $33 to over $100/share) was unexpected:

    “We did not anticipate the stock to do what it did… the stock market is more of a weighing machine than a short-term voting machine” — Praveer Melvani (02:46, 03:11).

• Managing Employee Emotion

  • On employees experiencing the volatility: "There's only so many things that we can control. Shipping great product, listening to our customers…" (03:46).

2. Balancing Innovation and Public Market Pressures

• Investor Alignment

  • Figma focused on attracting “long-only investors... along for this ride for not just what’s happening in any one particular quarter, but what’s going to happen years from now” (04:20).
  • Willingness to “invest in the short term for the benefit of the long.”

• AI Investment Impact

  • Ongoing AI investments “potentially create a headwind on our gross margin” but are necessary for long-term growth (04:50).

3. Figma’s International Growth Engine

• Global Reach

  • 85% of users are outside the US, but only ~50% of revenue is international (05:22).
  • Growth involves localizing products (French, German) and expanding offices globally (Europe, APAC) (05:46).

    "Design is a global phenomenon..." (05:46).

• Collaboration as Differentiator

  • Figma enables "multiplayer collaboration"—likened by the host to “Google Docs for design” (06:52, 07:11).
  • Core philosophy: “Design truly has a seat at the table at this point. It’s the key set of interfaces that are the front door to your customers” (07:11).

4. Product Expansion and Platform Vision

• Recent Product Launches (2025)

  • Figma Buzz: For marketers/brand designers.
  • Sites: One-click static site publishing and hosting by Figma.
  • Figma Make: Prompt-based generation of full applications.
  • Figma Draw: Advanced vector drawing for “hands-on craft” (08:20).

• Power of Community

  • Hackathons and community plugins unlock creative use-cases beyond design (20:27).

5. AI Strategy: Monetization, OpenAI Integration, and Defining the ‘System of Record’

• AI as Platform Layer

  • “It’s just the way we expect… our products to be built in this kind of new age and new future” (09:21).

  • Focus right now is on growth and “ubiquity of our new solutions,” with monetization models still being explored:

    “We’re still focused on finding use cases and workflows that are really resonating… then we’ll figure out monetization” (10:06).

  • Possible monetization will combine embedded usage with a consumption model for “power users” (10:30).

• OpenAI & ChatGPT Partnership

  • Figma can now be used inside ChatGPT: users create diagrams/workflows in Chat, open and edit them in Figma (11:32).
  • Melvani: “You want to be where folks are … as people are discovering tools in different ways, starting in ChatGPT is going to be an interesting way for our users to find Figma in the future.” (11:32)

• On AI-Powered Competitors

  • Confident in Figma as “the system of record for folks that are building any sort of digital product or experience… It doesn't necessarily take just one tool, one prompt” (13:22).
  • AI will create more software, not less, but “well-crafted, well-designed software” with strong team collaboration is essential (14:00).

• AI and Internal Productivity

  • AI is not just a product feature but also shaping how Figma works internally: "Harder today to say I need an additional person... prove you've tried other solves before" (16:47).
  • Focused on deploying AI to boost internal efficiency (17:31).

6. Market Size, Developer Focus & Ubiquity

• Total Addressable Market

  • Identified as $33 billion at IPO (18:16).
  • 2/3 of Figma users are now non-designers; roughly equal split between designers and developers, but seeking to expand developer usage (18:40).

  “Excel is not just used by finance professionals... We think there’s going to be use cases with Figma where you want to communicate visually… that’s just going to be part of the visual language we all are going to want to communicate around.” (19:20)

• Expanding Usage

  • Hackathons demonstrate users innovating—e.g., creating games or even a "handwritten poem creator"—with the Figma platform (20:30).

7. M&A as a Growth Lever

• Recent Acquisitions
  • Modify (vector graphics startup), Payload (content management system) (21:12).
• M&A Criteria
  • Needs “fantastic team, fantastic product, fantastic business,” cultural alignment, and needs to be a top priority for Figma moving forward (21:48).

  “Most M&A doesn’t necessarily work out the way you planned… building teams and infrastructure to digest in a thoughtful way” (22:30).

  • 95% of the Fortune 500 already use Figma’s platform (23:04).

8. Adobe Acquisition and $1B Breakup Fee

• Handling the Adobe Breakup Fee
  • It’s a legal agreement—when triggered, “the number hit and here’s a screenshot… oh wow, that’s a big number” (24:53).
  • Spoke highly of Adobe’s team and emphasized that “deal or no deal, we had to continue to run” (25:40).
  • The failed deal led to Figma staying focused, launching new products, and ultimately going public (26:10).

9. Earnings Calls, Reporting Cadence, and Business Transparency

• IPO Week vs. Earnings Call

  • Both stressful, but emphasized the “marathon” nature of the investor/analyst conversations (27:03).

• Calls for Semi-Annual Reporting

  • Open to less frequent reporting due to workload, but prioritizes transparency for investors (28:33).

10. Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• “We have to kind of keep heads down and keep building because… the stock market is more of a weighing machine than a... short-term voting machine.” — Praveer Melvani (03:11)

• “Design is the, it’s a global phenomenon…not something that is only going to be felt here in the US... it’s felt by folks across the world, across all sorts of industries.” (05:46)

• On Figma’s goal: “We think that we can be that tool of ubiquity that brings them all together. In the same way that Excel is not just a tool that's used by finance professionals...” (19:20)

• “If you’re closed off to [ways in which people are working are changing], that could potentially leave you behind.” (17:40)

• On the Adobe deal: “I remember getting a ping from someone on our accounting team being like, ‘Hey, the number hit and here's a screenshot and I was like, oh, wow, that's a big number.’” (24:53)

11. Lightning Round – Fun and Miscellaneous

• Underrated Feature: Uses FigJam “to run all of our meetings”—AI-backed templates are helpful, as is automatic summary/categorization of sticky notes (27:42).
• NBA/MLB Fandom: Praveer is a Toronto Raptors and Blue Jays fan (29:00).
• Making Earnings Calls Less Boring: Open to making them more like a podcast; welcomes feedback (27:26).

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:57] – Life as a CFO post-IPO
• [01:46] – Biggest IPO surprises
• [02:21] – IPO pricing, stock price jump, market mechanism
• [03:59] – Quarterly earnings vs. long-term vision, investor communication
• [05:22] – Figma’s global user and revenue breakdown
• [08:20] – New product launches: Buzz, Sites, Make, Draw
• [09:41] – AI-first design, monetizing AI
• [11:32] – OpenAI & ChatGPT partnership details
• [13:22] – On AI competition and system of record
• [17:31] – AI transforming Figma’s internal workflow
• [18:16] – Market size and the evolution of user personas
• [21:12] – M&A strategy, recent deals
• [24:53] – Adobe breakup fee and acquisition experience
• [27:42] – Most underrated Figma feature
• [28:33] – Views on semi-annual financial reporting
• [29:00+] – Blue Jays/Raptors fandom, NBA season hype

Summary Takeaways

• Figma’s CFO sees international and non-designer growth as key, supported by new products and platform advances—particularly in AI—while carefully managing public company pressures and a strong post-Adobe balance sheet.
• AI underpins both their product innovation and internal operations, with monetization models in exploration.
• Partnerships (like with OpenAI) serve both growth and user acquisition.
• M&A is disciplined, with strict criteria; integration and company fit are as important as product.
• Figma is positioning itself for ubiquity in design collaboration, much as Excel is for data.
• Leadership brings authentic, plainspoken optimism about the company’s resilience and ambition, reflected across the episode.

For listeners pressed for time or curious about Figma’s direction, this episode offers a fast-paced, insightful window into the company's strategic thinking, culture, and ambitious trajectory.