Inside Figma's early days: How to build a world-class sales org

Key takeaways

1. Parrish says to prove the product is business critical, not nice to have, before hiring sales. Otherwise a sales team may convert deals, but the long tail of the business won't hold.
2. Hire for the sales motion you need (product-led or top-down) over industry experience. Parrish also screens for resilience, curiosity about your product, and the ability to work closely with engineers and designers.
3. Interview with a brainstorm on your real customers and situational questions. A good answer to 'what would you do in your first 30 to 60 days' is observing and talking to customers and builders, not closing deals right away.
4. Figma piped product usage data into Salesforce so reps could prioritize the accounts with the most active editors, and Parrish says outreach should lead with the value you provide, not fear.
5. Figma charged for editors and kept viewers free, which spread the product across teams, and it held a no-discount policy that Parrish says kept negotiation simple once the team scaled.