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☆ Robo-lawyer startup DoNotPay did something almost unheard of in Silicon Valley: It paid a dividend.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

In January, the legal startup DoNotPay sent more than $1 million to employees and investors in its first-ever dividend. He got the idea from one of his own angels, Sahil Lavingia, whose startup Gumroad issued a dividend last year. The expectation is that when a company sells or goes public, employees will cash in their shares for untold riches. Last year, the digital commerce startup Gumroad paid a dividend of $1 million across employees, investors, and thousands of crowdfunding backers. Cash rewardsBrowder said he wanted to offer a dividend to reward those employees and investors who bet on the startup early.

Persons: Joshua Browder, Browder, DoNotPay, it's, Sahil Lavingia, Josh Seidenfeld, Cooley, Steve Huffman, Spencer Platt, Seidenfeld, Lavingia, Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock, Dylan Field, Scott Belsky, Daniel Dines, Balaji Srinivasan, Cash, there's Organizations: Business, Big Law, Employees, Founders Fund, Adobe Locations: San Francisco

☆ After Its $20 Billion Windfall Evaporated, a Start-Up Picks Up the Pieces
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Erin Griffith | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Dec. 18, a $20 billion deal by Adobe, the software giant, to buy Figma, a San Francisco start-up darling, fell apart after more than a year of regulatory scrutiny. In a blog post that day, Dylan Field, Figma’s chief executive and co-founder, painted an optimistic picture of what would come next. Behind the scenes, the start-up, a design platform, is picking up the pieces. In recent weeks, Figma said it had reset its internal valuation to $10 billion — half of what Adobe planned to pay for it. Figma is also grappling with a tech industry that has been changed by a frenzy over artificial intelligence.

Persons: Dylan, “, ”, Figma, Michael Amodeo Organizations: Adobe Locations: San Francisco

☆ Orchid tests embryos for genetic diseases. It just raised $12 million with this 11-slide pitch deck.
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Orchid, a startup that tests embryos for genetic diseases, has just raised $12 million. "The way that IVF and embryo screening works today is the amount of information available is really limited," Orchid CEO and cofounder Noor Siddiqui said. Genetic testing has been around for years, but it has been usually limited in the diseases it can identify, which include cystic fibrosis, Bloomberg reported. Orchid produces reports with two types of genetic testing: monogenic and polygenic. The cost of the test depends on the number of embryos that Orchid tests.

Persons: Noor Siddiqui, Siddiqui, Orchid, Dylan, Anne Wojcicki, Fidji Simo, Peter Kraft Organizations: Business, Bloomberg, Prometheus Fund, Starbloom Capital, One Ventures, Los Angeles Times Locations: San Francisco, Pebblebed

☆ The Adobe exec behind the Figma deal expresses frustration over slow pace of regulatory approval
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Adobe has said it expects to close the Figma deal in 2023. Adobe has agreed to pay Figma $1 billion if regulators reject the deal, or if it isn't completed by mid-March 2024. Tools for creative expression, documents and marketing all represent growth opportunities for Adobe, and Figma is the fourth leg of the stool, Wadhwani said. Since revealing its intent to buy Figma, Adobe has been busy releasing and promoting tools for generative artificial intelligence that can develop images and other content in response to a few words of human input. Adobe replied that "in an innovative and dynamic market XD cannot be considered a 'material' competitor to Figma."

Persons: David Wadhwani, they've, Wadhwani, there's, Dylan, Figma's, Adobe Organizations: Adobe, WSJ Tech, U.S . Department of Justice, European Union, Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, United Kingdom's, Markets Authority, Figma Locations: Laguna Beach, Calif, United Kingdom, San Francisco

☆ Cash App creator and former Square CTO Bob Lee has died after a reported stabbing in San Francisco
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Bob Lee died after a stabbing on Tuesday morning, NBC Bay Area reports. He created Cash App while working as Square's CTO, before moving on to MobileCoin. "Bob was a force of nature," said MobileCoin CEO Joshua Goldbard. It was there that he created Cash App, the mobile payment app which rivals Venmo. "Bob was a force of nature," MobileCoin CEO Joshua Goldbard told Insider.

☆ Bob Lee, Cash app founder, dead after apparent stabbing attack in San Francisco
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Bob Lee, the former chief technology officer of Square who helped launch Cash App, has died after an apparent stabbing attack in San Francisco. We love you.”Tech entrepreneur CashApp founder Bob Lee. San Francisco has been grappling with an apparent uptick in crime as it still attempts to bounce back from the pandemic. In total, there were 56 homicides in San Francisco in 2022, which is the exact same number of homicides the city saw in 2021. Prior to joining Square, Lee was at Google, where he helped lead the team that launched Android.

☆ Microsoft looked at buying Figma but declined to put in an offer as Adobe deal was nearing
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Dylan Field, co-founder and CEO of Figma, speaks at the startup's Config conference in San Francisco on May 10, 2022. As Figma was in talks about an acquisition with Adobe last year, the design software startup's CEO, Dylan Field, approached another public company to gauge potential interest, according to a regulatory filing. That company was Microsoft , CNBC confirmed with a person familiar with the matter. Adobe ultimately agreed to buy Figma in September for $20 billion, the software company's biggest purchase ever. Prior to the Adobe deal, CNBC reported on Figma's growing popularity inside Microsoft.

☆ Hot startups like Miro and Canva are racing to dominate virtual whiteboards, an emerging category of workplace tools that sparked Adobe's $20 billion bid for Figma
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Virtual whiteboards are becoming essential workplace tools, as evidenced by Adobe's bid for Figma. The $20 billion price tag only further signaled the boom around virtual whiteboards, which allow users to collaborate visually and are quickly becoming essential tools alongside videoconferencing and workplace messaging. Besides Figma, Miro has gained momentum over the past two years, growing to 40 million users from 5 million users. But industry insiders think virtual whiteboards will become just one piece of a visual-collaboration arena. As a result, companies like Miro, Canva, and Lucid are on similar paths toward becoming larger visual-communications platforms.

☆ After leading $20 billion Figma deal, Adobe's David Wadhwani is in prime spot to be next CEO
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +15 min

The business Wadhwani oversees is roughly three times the size as Chakravarthy's in terms of revenue. For Wadhwani, Figma represents a risky bet on growth at a time when Wall Street is telling tech companies to tighten their belts and preserve cash. The make-or-break betIn his 15-year tenure as CEO, Narayen hasn't been shy about dealmaking, just at a smaller size. And it might be Wadhwani's make-or-break opportunity to prove he should be CEO of the fourth-biggest U.S. business software company by market cap. Shantanu Narayen, CEO, Adobe Mark Neuling | CNBCThe revenue became more predictable and less closely associated with product releases.

☆ Designers say Figma gave them 'superpowers.' With Adobe's $20 billion takeover, some think the beloved startup is as good as dead.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | Jessica Xing | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

When Adobe announced its $20 billion bid for Figma, the design community was immediately concerned. When Adobe announced it was acquiring the design startup Figma for $20 billion, designers were quick to express their discontent over the blockbuster deal. So when Adobe announced its intention to buy Figma, much of the design community was immediately concerned. Designers worry Figma will become less accessibleWhile Field's committment to keeping prices the same for now may reassure some, others are skeptical. And some designers Insider spoke to say the acquisition could even benefit companies that have been paying a hefty bill for both.

☆ Meet Dylan Field, the 30-year-old college dropout who built Figma, one of Silicon Valley's most beloved companies, and then will become a billionaire when it sells for $20 billion to Adobe
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

When design-software startup Figma had just started out, cofounder and CEO Dylan Field and his colleagues would pitch potential customers' design teams, but they struggled with one major problem. While customers were excited about Figma's product, they hesitated to switch from existing tools. Now, Adobe's $20 billion bid to buy the design software startup makes Field's stake in the company worth $2 billion. Field's rise to successEvan Wallace and Dylan Field are the cofounders of Figma. After taking time off to do a product design internship at news-sharing service Flipboard, he decided not to return to school.

☆ Meet Dylan Field, the 30-year-old college dropout who built Figma, one of Silicon Valley's most beloved companies, and is set to become a billionaire when it sells for $20 billion to Adobe
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Adobe's $20 billion bid to buy Figma makes CEO Dylan Field's stake worth $2 billion. When the design-software startup Figma was just starting out, Dylan Field, its cofounder and CEO, and his colleagues would pitch prospective customers' design teams, but they struggled with one major problem. While customers were excited about Figma's product, they hesitated to switch from existing tools. Now, Adobe's $20 billion bid to buy Figma makes Field's stake in the company worth $2 billion. Field's rise to successEvan Wallace and Dylan Field are the cofounders of Figma.

☆ Laid-off Snap employees are fielding dozens of messages from TikTok, Facebook, and Netflix recruiters
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Well now, some of those laid-off employees are having trouble keeping up with demand from recruiters — and some say they've received reachouts from more than 70 companies. Laid-off Snap employees describe "overwhelming" recruiter outreach. After the company laid off a staggering 20% of its staff, some former workers' inboxes are filled with messages from Facebook, Netflix, and TikTok recruiters. As former employees found themselves without jobs, some told Insider they've fielded dozens of messages from recruiters. What laid-off Snap employees told us.

☆ Peter Thiel's fellowship program has birthed power players worth more than $220 billion collectively, including design software firm Figma that Adobe said it was acquiring for $20 billion
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( Katie Canales | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Peter Thiel's fellowship program has been doling out $100,000 checks to young entrepreneurs for 11 years now. Adobe plans to acquire the design software firm Figma in a deal worth about $20 billion, the company announced Thursday. Figma was founded in 2012 by Dylan Field with the help of Peter Theil's fellowship program. The famed Silicon Valley investor and former Trump adviser founded his Thiel Fellowship program through his foundation for students aged 22 or younger. Here are some of the projects that have come out of Thiel's fellowship.

☆ Adobe's product chief sees its $20 billion bet on Figma as a way to fast-track into virtual-whiteboarding tools, which he says will soon become as important as PowerPoint
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Adobe's $20 billion bid for Figma would bring one of its own biggest competitors on board. Adobe's $20 billion bid to buy the design-software company Figma shocked many in the design community, especially as IPOs and acquisitions have slowed amid the downturn. Since Dylan Field, the CEO of Figma, founded the company in 2012, it quickly became one of Adobe's biggest competitors. Belsky said that right now, there's no clear integration between Figma and Adobe's tools like Photoshop or Illustrator, but joining forces brings the opportunity to do that. Belsky said he sees whiteboard tools becoming as important as PowerPoint or other slide-presentation tools.

☆ Adobe, Figma Deal Signals New Era in Collaboration, Productivity
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-15 | by ( Steven Rosenbush | Isabelle Bousquette | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

The purchase of Figma, whose tools are used by designers and developers, is Adobe’s largest-ever acquisition and extends its reach into new areas. The rising popularity of social networks helped fuel interest in an earlier wave of collaboration technology companies, including Jive Software and workplace chat company Yammer, later acquired by Microsoft Corp. in 2012 for $1.2 billion. Startups that employ concepts of collaboration, including digital work-space company Notion, document company Coda and app platform Airtable, took off among software, design and product teams. Adobe is best-known by consumers for software programs—including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Acrobat—used for graphic design, video editing and more. The fact that Adobe was willing to pay so much for Figma reflects that belief that its software was fundamentally different, according to Mr. Saper.

☆ Adobe's $20 billion deal to buy Figma is one of the biggest ever for a venture-backed startup. Early VC investors like Index Ventures, Greylock, and Kleiner Perkins stand to win big.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-15 | by ( April Joyner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Adobe is buying the design-software startup Figma for $20 billion. Its early backers, including Index Ventures and Greylock, are likely to see big returns as a result. In a sleepy period for initial public offerings and blockbuster acquisitions, Adobe's $20 billion deal to acquire the design-software company Figma stands out. The acquisition is likely to be a sweet deal for early investors such as Kleiner Perkins, Index Ventures, and Greylock Partners. And now, Adobe is paying $20 billion, a combination of cash and stock, which is twice Figma's last known valuation.

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