Inside Figma's $1B ARR Machine | Shaunt Voskanian
Shaunt Voskanian, Chief Revenue Officer at Figma, discusses how to build a scalable sales organization on top of a product-led growth (PLG) motion. Rather than relying on traditional sales structures like SDRs and customer success teams, Figma has evolved into a sales-led expansion engine that proactively identifies untapped potential within its existing customer base and converts it into revenue, currently operating at a $1B ARR scale.
Key takeaways
- • Sales remains critical in PLG businesses—the job simply shifts from acquiring new customers to strategically expanding within an existing, massive customer base through outbound prospecting and account penetration.
- • Eliminate traditional SDR roles and instead make Account Executives fully responsible for pipeline generation; this forces accountability and clarifies the value each function adds rather than creating ambiguity between two overlapping roles.
- • Structure teams around focus and specialization as early as possible—isolate distinct motions (self-serve, SMB PLG, mid-market, enterprise, strategic) so reps excel at one job rather than juggling conflicting priorities.
- • Quotas are philosophies, not mathematical formulas; set them based on the work difficulty and required talent pool rather than top-down revenue targets, and index toward rewarding strategic, high-value work with more aggressive commission structures.
- • Measure rep performance through behaviors and competencies (discovery ability, pipeline management, collaboration) rather than relying solely on lagging quota metrics; this drives real-time coaching and prevents lazy leadership.
- • When hiring, prioritize deal experience and grit over industry knowledge; someone who has successfully managed complex, multi-stakeholder sales cycles can learn your vertical faster than teaching complex sales execution to an industry expert.
More from these creators
OpenAI Kills Sora & Hits $100M ARR on Ads | Oura Going Public & Whoop Raises at $10BN
Why Margins Don't Matter for Early-Stage Startups | Gili Raanan
Why You Need a $1B Fund To Do Series A | SpaceX at $2TRN & Data Centers in Space | Groq's $20BN Deal
99% of Drone Companies Will Die & Why Anduril’s Products Aren’t an Ethics Debate | Matthew Steckman
NVIDIA Predicts $1TRN in Revenue: Everything You Need to Know From GTC & Anduril Lands $20B Contract
Gokul Rajaram: How to Analyse for Durability and Defensibility in a World of AI