Index Ventures

Dylan Field’s journey in tech began early. As a kid growing up in Sonoma, he was obsessed with math and computers. He saw that building something from scratch wasn’t just a possibility but a viable career path. In college, he met his co-founder Evan Wallace, and they began exploring the potential of WebGL to revolutionize creative tools. Dylan took a leap and started Figma before he had even graduated. Dylan’s approach to leadership has evolved alongside his company. From his early days of learning management on the fly, to building a global design community, he’s always prioritized trust and empowerment. His success is a combination of both parents’ influence — his mom’s care for others, his dad’s deep curiosity — and his own drive to create something meaningful, no matter the risks. Explore more perspectives from our founders at indexventures.com

🇫🇮 Heading to Slush? Don’t miss the chance to join a small group of founders for exclusive, off-the-record conversations with two remarkable founders from the Index family: Dylan Field from Figma and Nik Storonsky from Revolut. This is a unique opportunity to connect and learn from leaders who’ve scaled category-defining companies. 🎟 Register your interest here https://lnkd.in/eUkRjWEC See you in Helsinki!

Congratulations to Printify and Printful on today's exciting merger! We're inspired by the visionary leadership of Anastasija Oleinika and James Janis Berdigans as they open new chapter for the global creator economy, redefining what's possible for creators everywhere 🎉 At Index, we’re passionate about the potential of creator communities and thrilled to see how Printify + Printful will empower people everywhere to build unique brands, while giving the world’s biggest companies new ways to connect with fans through creative, customized merchandise 🎨 This merger is also a landmark moment for the Baltic region, celebrating both companies’ shared origins in Riga while highlighting their unique journeys to success. It’s a powerful reminder that groundbreaking startups can emerge from anywhere – and that there’s no one-size-fits-all path to achieving transformative growth 🗺️ https://lnkd.in/emY3tqkS

Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing DraftWise CEO & co-founder, James Ding, and Vizcom CEO & co-founder, Jordan Taylor, at TechCrunch Disrupt in SF! We discussed how AI is impacting two very different industries – legal and industrial design. It turns out there’s far more overlap than you’d expect! A few themes jumped out to me in this conversation: 📈 Striking a balance between hype and practicality: Whether you’re in a more “pen and paper” industry like legal, or highly creative industry like design, it’s likely you’ve had a conversation about *how* to best use AI in your business. Jordan and James found that building with AI to solve a specific problem was the best place to start — and that focusing less on AI from a marketing perspective has even been helpful to open doors. 🤖 The idea of AI as an “intern” vs. “coworker.” As AI assistants become more ingrained in our work, both Jordan and James hoped to see a future where they’re seen less as a tool with limited functionality, and more like a trusted colleague that has context on your projects, goals, and can act as a collaborative resource. 🤝 The enduring need for human touch alongside AI: Lawyers and large firms are hired for their advice and expertise (not their contract-drafting abilities), and creative problem-solving is ingrained in a designer’s DNA. Automation via AI is powerful, and crucially it’ll enable humans to do the best human-driven work. Check out more from the session below! 👇

At such a critical time for AI startups, Captions CEO Gaurav Misra believes curiosity is king for today’s founders. “Millions of ideas are just sitting out there… and so many people haven’t done them because there are too many. You want to explore as quickly as possible all the different areas where there’s real value. Some of it may be real, some may not be real -- so you want to get to know what the landscape actually looks like.” Chatting with Index Partner Damir Becirovic, Gaurav shares his advice for fundraising, taking advantage of new opportunities, and his leadership approach in today’s AI startup environment. https://lnkd.in/gHZHejX7

Captions is one of TIME's Best Inventions 2024! Congratulations, team! 🏆

🌎 Expanding to the US? Share Your Insights! 🌎 We are updating our popular book Destination USA: The Founder's Guide to US Expansion and we would love to hear from you. ✅ ✅ ❌Whether you've successfully expanded to the US, are in the midst of doing so, or even if things didn’t go as planned, your experiences are invaluable. By sharing your insights, you’ll be helping other founders as they embark on their own US journey. 📌 A few questions we're exploring: What is the mindset you need to succeed in the US? How do you build a hiring network in the US? How do you localize your product and brand? Join founders from companies like Adyen, Spotify, Unity and UiPath in contributing to Destination USA with real, actionable advice for future founders. 👉Have your say here: https://lnkd.in/ekxRhgyD Thank you for helping build out the next iteration of this essential resource!

Startup founders are no strangers to chaos. That doesn’t mean their talent strategy has to be, too. “We kept getting asked the same questions, and the main topic was the team. ‘Who do I hire next, at what level, in what role, and how do I organize them?’” Index Partner Martin Mignot remarked in a conversation with Steve Rosenbush at The Wall Street Journal. Thus, Scaling Through Chaos was born. One of the companies that best understands the concept of scaling through chaos is Wiz. Founded in 2020, the cybersecurity leader employs more than 1,200 people and has its sights set on achieving $1 billion in annual recurring revenue within the next year. The company’s CEO, Assaf Rappaport, notes that the key to this growth is the careful development of his team, ensuring existing leadership can make room for new, strategic hires as the company scales. Launched earlier this year, Scaling Through Chaos: The Founder’s Guide to Building and Leading Teams From 0 to 1,000 gives founders a window into how previous successful founders have navigated the most common – and challenging – people-related matters. Steve’s latest column delves into top lessons learned from our guide, such as the value of performance over loyalty, initially deprioritizing hiring too many executives and exercising caution with titles in the early days. https://lnkd.in/g9Nam3k3

Long before most enterprises saw AI’s potential, Alexandr Wang had a vision. As a kid growing up in Los Alamos, New Mexico, Alex was surrounded by science and technology. After enrolling at MIT, he began experimenting with AI by tackling small, everyday problems. What started as a personal side project — trying to track when his fridge needed restocking — sparked a realization: data was the key to unlocking AI’s future. In 2016, he founded Scale AI to help companies harness the power of high-quality data. Today, Scale provides the data infrastructure that powers AI models for some of the world’s largest AI enterprises, helping them build customized AI agents using their proprietary data. Index Ventures partner Mike Volpi caught up with Alex at Scale’s new San Francisco office. They discussed the evolution of AI, the challenges of moving projects from prototype to production, the geopolitical dynamics shaping the future of AI, and more. https://lnkd.in/gPw4-YU6

Long before most enterprises saw AI’s potential, Alexandr Wang had a vision. As a kid growing up in Los Alamos, New Mexico, Alex was surrounded by science and technology. After enrolling at MIT, he began experimenting with AI by tackling small, everyday problems. What started as a personal side project — trying to track when his fridge needed restocking — sparked a realization: data was the key to unlocking AI’s future. In 2016, he founded Scale AI to help companies harness the power of high-quality data. Today, Scale provides the data infrastructure that powers AI models for some of the world’s largest AI enterprises, helping them build customized AI agents using their proprietary data. Index Ventures partner Mike Volpi caught up with Alex at Scale’s new San Francisco office. They discussed the evolution of AI, the challenges of moving projects from prototype to production, the geopolitical dynamics shaping the future of AI, and more. https://lnkd.in/gPw4-YU6