Evan was Dylan's classmate at Brown and became Figma's technical genius. He built the insanely complex rendering engine that made Figma work in the browser. WITHOUT Evan, Figma literally doesn't exist - Dylan had the vision but Evan had the technical chops to make it real. They've worked together for over a decade.

Timeframe: 2011-present

John was the former CEO of Mozilla and a partner at Greylock. He bet on Dylan when Dylan was just a 20-year-old college kid with no track record. John didn't just write a check - he mentored Dylan on product strategy, hiring, and company building. When Figma almost ran out of money in 2014-2015, John convinced Greylock to keep funding them.

Timeframe: 2012-present

Dylan won a Thiel Fellowship in 2012, which gave him $100,000 to drop out of Brown and work on Figma. Thiel's philosophy of contrarian thinking and long-term bets influenced Dylan's willingness to spend YEARS building before launching. The fellowship also connected Dylan to other ambitious founders and Valley insiders.

Timeframe: 2012-2014

David joined Figma in 2020 and helped scale the design org and community strategy. He was instrumental in building Figma's massive community following and expanding the platform beyond just design tools. Helped position Figma as a cultural movement, not just software.

Timeframe: 2020-2024

Mike advised Dylan on scaling engineering teams and product development. His experience building products used by millions helped Dylan navigate Figma's hypergrowth phase. Mike was particularly helpful during the 2018-2020 period when Figma went from scrappy startup to enterprise software company.

Timeframe: 2017-2021