Funnel teardown: Figma (Design and prototyping)
Founder(s): Dylan Field and team

Figma's funnel turns viewers into ads. Every shared design file is a Figma demo running on someone else's site.

TL;DR: Figma's funnel works because viewers, commenters, developers, and clients all encounter Figma at zero cost when designers share files. Per-editor pricing means the high-multiplier role (viewer) is free and the value-capture role (editor) pays. The lesson for indie founders: if your product has a high viewer-to-editor ratio, freeing the viewer turns shared output into a permanent acquisition channel.

What they sell: Collaborative design and prototyping in the browser, plus FigJam whiteboard and Slides.
Who it's for: Designers, product teams, agencies, and developers who collaborate on design.
Pricing: Starter free; Professional ~$15/editor/mo, Organization ~$45/editor/mo, Enterprise ~$75/editor/mo (verified 2026-05-17). Viewers free.

Hook pattern: Network-effect-as-demo
The hero shows a design file with multiple cursors moving — real-time collaboration as the differentiator. Designers who have used the older generation of design tools (Sketch, Adobe XD) recognize the move from file-based to browser-native instantly. The hook is a single visual: many people in one file. Compression beats explanation.

Story pattern: Customer-roster authority borrow
Story is told through visible logo bar of design teams at well-known companies. Each logo borrows authority into the platform; design-conscious buyers recognize the pattern (if Spotify, Airbnb, and GitHub use Figma, the question shifts from 'is this credible' to 'why are we not using this'). Borrowed authority compresses trust-building when the logos are credible to the buyer.

Offer pattern: Per-editor with viewer-free leverage
The structural pricing decision is the entire funnel: viewers, commenters, developers, and clients all access files for free; only editors pay. This makes every shared file a viral acquisition asset. Editor-tier pricing (Professional, Organization, Enterprise) creates a clear value ladder; the Enterprise anchor at $75/editor/mo makes Professional at $15/editor/mo feel reasonable.

What's working:
Viewer-free model turns every shared file into a free demo on someone else's site.|Per-editor pricing aligns revenue with value-capture role and frees the discovery role.|Triple-anchor pricing (Enterprise high, Organization middle, Professional accessible) makes the most-purchased tier feel like the deal.|Real-time collaboration as hero compresses category-recognition for designers who have used file-based tools.|Visible customer roster borrows authority from credible design-conscious companies.|FigJam and Slides expansion into adjacent use cases captures revenue without disturbing the core design pricing.

What to adapt:
If your product has a high viewer-to-editor multiplier, free the viewer and price the editor. The viewers become your acquisition channel.|Use Enterprise-tier pricing as a visible anchor even if few buyers reach that tier; anchoring works on visible price, not on revenue mix.|Visible customer rosters work when the logos are credible to your buyer's category. Mismatched logos hurt more than they help.

What to avoid:
Do not free viewers if your viewer role IS the buyer (e.g. analytics dashboards where the executive viewing is the one paying).|Do not seek a customer-logo bar before you have customers; empty grids signal absence more than presence.|Do not assume per-editor pricing works for non-collaborative products. The multiplier model requires shared output.

Brunson lens:
Hook: Visual-differentiation hook (real-time collaboration as the entire visible category difference) executed in a single screenshot.
Story: Borrowed-authority story (Brunson Expert Secrets 'Authority Hack') executed through visible customer logos in the buyer's own category.
Offer: Four-rung Value Ladder with viewer-free acquisition rung that does not count toward seat revenue.
Value ladder tier: Front-end lead funnel (viewer-free) plus three-tier per-editor subscription core (Professional, Organization, Enterprise).