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Episode

20Sales: Inside Figma's $1BN ARR Revenue Machine | Why We Do Not Have Customer Success or SDRs | Why I Do Not Believe in Sales Quotas with Shaunt Voskanian, CRO @ Figma

Podcast
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Published
Mar 21, 2026
Duration seconds
3770
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processed
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Summary

Figma's CRO Shaunt Voskanian reveals how the company scaled to $1BN ARR by abandoning traditional SDR and Customer Success roles. The discussion explores the intersection of Product-Led Growth (PLG) and enterprise sales motion.

Topics

  • Product-Led Growth
  • SaaS Sales Strategy
  • Revenue Operations
  • Sales Hiring
  • Enterprise Sales
  • Customer Success
  • Sales Enablement
  • Figma

Highlights

  • Main idea: Figma utilizes a hybrid model where SMB follows a pure PLG motion, while mid-market and enterprise are driven by a specialized sales-led approach
  • Practical takeaway: Use product usage gaps as a proactive education tool rather than relying on traditional customer success interventions
  • Failure mode: Avoid hiring based solely on negotiation skills; look for 'all-in' candidates who demonstrate curiosity and perseverance during the interview process
  • Main idea: Sales quotas are secondary to evaluating a rep's ability to translate enablement into meaningful customer conversations
  • Practical takeaway: In a PLG environment, AEs must take direct responsibility for driving expansion and adoption within their existing accounts

Chapters

  1. 1:00 The Future of Revenue Agents: An exploration of how AI-driven revenue agents are automating the end-to-end sales process from research to opportunity management.
  2. 5:40 The Core of Sales Success: Advice on the fundamental importance of curiosity and understanding the customer persona in a successful sales career.
  3. 10:30 Closing the Usage Gap: How Figma uses the discrepancy between actual and ideal product usage to proactively educate and expand their customer base.
  4. 15:10 The Evolution of the SDR: A debate on whether the SDR role remains valuable in a PLG world and where they add true incremental value.
  5. 20:00 Segmenting the Sales Motion: Defining the boundaries between SMB PLG motions and the traditional SaaS sales approach used for enterprise accounts.
  6. 24:40 Hiring for Personality and Grit: Why training and the right personality traits are more critical than innate talent when building a scalable sales team.
  7. 29:20 Evaluating Sales Talent: Using discovery challenges and product perseverance as key indicators of a candidate's potential success.