Who invented the Figma service?

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Dylan Field and Evan Wallace, two students at Brown University in California, didn't initially plan to compete with tech giant Adobe. And the idea to create another graphics editor didn't come to them right away either.

Field had been interested in computers and mathematics since childhood. He wanted to create a browser application that would allow anyone to express their creativity online. His friend Wallace, who was studying graphic design at the time, agreed to help develop the idea.


Figma creators Dylan Field and Evan Wallace at the start of their journey. Source: Bloomberg
Not only did working on their project take up time that the friends should have jamaica phone number list spent studying, it also required financial investment. Wallace was close to graduating and already had a part-time job at the university. Field, who was somewhat younger, faced a choice: drop out of school or put his personal project on hold.

The idea of ​​leaving the university did not please Field's parents. They spent almost everything they earned on their son's education at a prestigious university. However, chance intervened.

Field took a break from school to intern at Flipboard, and at the same time applied for the Thiel Fellowship. The grant would award $100,000 to the winner, who would have to devote full time to developing his or her business. Accepting the prize meant dropping out of college for at least two years.

From 500 applications, the jury selected 20 finalists. Field was among them and decided to leave his studies, which by that time had become a burden to him. Under Wallace's influence and after an internship at Flipboard, Field realized that computer science no longer attracted him as it had in his teens. He liked the field of graphic design much more.

In 2012, when Field received the grant, Wallace had finished his studies and was ready to dive head-on into product development with a friend. This is how the story of the service that the world would soon know as Figma began.