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Figma’s CFO on going public, AI, and working alongside Dylan Field | Praveer Melwani

In this latest episode of Executive Function, Brett sits down with Praveer Melwani, CFO at Figma.

Brett BersonhostPraveer Melwaniguest
May 14, 202643mWatch on YouTube

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At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Figma’s CFO on scaling, AI pricing, and public-company readiness

  1. Praveer Melwani attributed his progression at Figma to timing, supportive leadership, and being candid about gaps while continuously learning through experts, experimentation, and questioning.
  2. He described early step-function growth moments, especially taking on broad operational responsibilities after the COO left and learning how to hire leaders in functions he didn’t yet understand.
  3. He detailed how Figma is navigating a shift from seat-based pricing to consumption-based pricing for AI products, requiring new cost thinking, user behavior learning, and ongoing internal alignment.
  4. He argued that AI is expanding software creation and organizational efficiency, prompting a greater appetite for well-reasoned bets and changing how forecasting, tooling, and the CFO workflow should work.
  5. He explained why Figma started becoming “public-ready” in 2022, built people and processes over time, and then executed the IPO process efficiently once they formally engaged it.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

His growth path relied on candid self-awareness and constant learning, not just experience.

He emphasized being open about what he didn’t know, proactively asking questions, and surrounding himself with advocates and experts so he could keep scaling with the company.

A major career inflection came from volunteering for the operational void left by leadership change.

When Figma’s COO left, he saw the gap as an opportunity to take on broader operational ownership, which forced him to learn how to hire and lead functions where he didn’t yet know what “great” looked like.

Scaling as a CFO depended on learning to influence, not just analyze.

He said influence requires understanding peers’ motivations and constraints, not simply presenting data; he contrasted his earlier “spreadsheet will convince them” mindset with how he operates now.

AI consumption pricing forced cross-functional alignment around an unfamiliar, evolving business model.

He described the shift from seat-based pricing to consumption-based pricing for AI as a new financial model requiring careful thought about costs, user choice, and creating a “new currency,” plus ongoing learning from betas and feedback.

In a “post-ChatGPT” world, he sees both a bigger opportunity and justification for more aggressive investment.

He said the proliferation of coding agents expands software creation and makes design/craft a key differentiator, which changed how Figma thinks about constraints, investment pace, and even willingness to accept lower gross margins to service AI.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

I think so much of it has to do with, like, timing, finding the right company, finding the right, like, set of leaders that are willing to, to invest and bet on you in some respect.

— Praveer Melwani

I think you have to really understand their internal motivations, you know, think about a problem from their seat, uh, and use that to, to help influence.

— Praveer Melwani

If you get stuck staring at a P&L or, you know, set of statements and you don't have the ability to really understand the unique drivers around it, like you're not doing your job. You're being a traffic cop.

— Praveer Melwani

If you're not integrating and leveraging some of these tools, then yes, I, I, I do think you're probably gonna be left behind.

— Praveer Melwani

The more open that I can be about the skeletons that are living in whatever closet, the more likely it is that someone is not gonna be like, "Hey, you pulled a fast one on me."

— Praveer Melwani

Read the available transcript
Career progression from IC to CFOCOO departure as an operational inflection pointHiring leaders in unfamiliar functionsInfluence and exec-team alignmentAI consumption pricing and cost structureLearning with Claude Code and experimentationPeer CFO “internal board” and expert networks CFO role: stewardship, guardrails, compliance, operational depth, IR storytelling Post-ChatGPT capital allocation, risk tolerance, and efficiency Public-company readiness timeline, mock earnings calls, investor engagement

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SPEAKERS

  • Brett Berson

    host

    Partner at First Round Capital and interviewer/host for First Round conversations.

  • Praveer Melwani

    guest

    CFO of Figma, previously in investment banking and at Dropbox, focused on scaling finance and operating cadence.

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