First Round Capital

Most people describe finding PMF as an art, not a science. We're here to change that. Introducing PMF Method. After 20 years and 500+ investments in pre-product-market fit companies, we've drawn on our data and worked with some of the world's most iconic enterprise founders, distilling what they did in their first 6 months into a free 14-week intensive experience that helps sales-led B2B founders build epic companies. In tactical sessions, we help early founders discover what customers really want, build the right v1 product, and close your first sales — all while keeping 100% of your equity. You'll work alongside a tight group of other builders at your same stage, and get to learn from the hard-earned insights from founders of $1B+ B2B companies, like Vanta's Christina Cacioppo, Looker's lloyd tabb, Plaid's Zachary Perret, Ironclad's Jason Boehmig, Lattice's Jack Altman, and Verkada's Filip Kaliszan. The Summer 2024 session of PMF Method runs from 5/29 to 8/28. Any early founder working on a new B2B SaaS company is welcome to apply — just get your application in by 5/7 (or tag a founder friend below!) More details, FAQs, and application link in the comments below 👇

Sub-one-year tenures for first sales hires are ridiculously common. But why do early sales leaders flame out so quickly and how can founders get this crucial hire right? Meka Asonye sat down with folks who have been first hires at Dropbox, Stripe, Figma & more to unpack when a startup is ready for a dedicated sales leader, who to look for, and how to set them up for success. From why you should hire the salesperson from the also-ran startup, to avoiding the Rolodex trap, this is atypical advice you don’t often hear.

Figma built an internal forum to give anyone in the company the chance to pitch a new product. CPO Yuhki Yamashita explains how Maker Week helps leadership spot “starters” who can rally new bets into being. More of Figma’s tactics for scaling products on The Review: https://lnkd.in/dKYh7Ryy 

Patrick Collison wanted a guide to Stripe's culture that convinced 50% of candidates not to join. And Eeke de Milliano was tasked with creating it, calling it "the hardest doc she ever wrote." More from her interview on In Depth: https://lnkd.in/gs3YF8NW

Very few companies get internal comms right like Stripe does. And no one treats internal comms as not just a tool—but a craft—for sharper thinking, better decisions, and company-wide alignment. Brie Wolfson, an early Stripe employee who launched Stripe Press, shared insights into Stripe’s documentation & internal communication practices on First Round Capital’s podcast with Brett Berson. Here's a one-pager for folks who want to uplevel their company's internal comms. Key takeaways: ✍️ Pre-meeting memos were mandatory—no meetings without written context. 📄 Kickoff docs structured every project, defining goals & risks upfront. 📬 Email transparency by default—key decisions documented & CC’d. 📖 Documentation wasn’t bureaucracy—it was a competitive advantage.

The idea for your second product might be hiding in how users are hacking your current product. Yuhki Yamashita shares the backstory behind Figma’s second product, FigJam. The inspiration for the whiteboarding tool came from watching folks take to Figma to hang out virtually during the height of the pandemic. He offers up more tactics from Figma’s multi-product strategy on The Review.

How does Stripe approach exec hiring? We asked Head of Global Product Eeke de Milliano to find out. She shares tons of lessons for startup teams to avoid painful organ rejection. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts: https://lnkd.in/gs3YF8NW

Will people understand your product when they see a screenshot of it? That’s the simple test Figma CPO Yuhki Yamashita uses to push product teams to preserve simplicity when launching new features — especially ones targeted at a completely different user persona, like Dev Mode (screenshot pictured here). On The Review, he shares more of Figma’s product storytelling tactics.

Important ideas on building product post product market fit from Yuhki Yamashita CPO Figma

What happens after you clinch product-market fit? For most startups, the goalpost immediately moves to the next phase of growth: launching new products. Yuhki Yamashita has spent a lot of time in this messy 1 to 10 stretch of a startup’s life. First at Uber and now at Figma, he’s headed up the multi-product strategy, overseeing the rollout of new bets like FigJam, Dev Mode and Figma Slides. On The Review, he shares Figma’s approach to product expansion, with advice for deciding which ideas to pursue, rallying the right resourcing to build them and launching to great fanfare.