20Product: Figma CPO on How Figma Builds Products: What Works, What Does Not | How Figma Does Testing and Product Reviews | The Future of Design, Engineering and Product with Yuhki Yamashita
Yuhki Yamashita is the Chief Product Officer at Figma, where he leads the development of one of the world’s most beloved design platforms. Previously, he was Head of Product at Uber, overseeing the core rider experience used by millions globally. A master of product storytelling and team-building, Yuhki has redefined how world-class digital products are built and scaled.
Items Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
04:30 – "Simple is Lazy?" — Yuhki Challenges Product Dogma
07:45 – The Secret Behind Figma’s New Product Ideas (Hint: Users Hack It First)
09:00 – From Hack Week to Roadmap: How New Figma Products Are Born
10:00 – Are PRDs Dead? Yuhki's Spicy Take on the Death of Specs
12:30 – The ‘Screenshot Test’: Can Your Product Explain Itself in 1 Frame?
14:15 – Code Layers and ‘Living Designs’—This Demo Blew Everyone’s Mind
15:30 – Designers vs Coders: Who Really Owns the Future of Product?
17:45 – The Most Controversial Product Decision Inside Figma
19:00 – Why Figma’s Org Structure Could Kill the PM Role (For Real)
21:00 – Should Everyone Be a Designer and a Builder Now?
23:15 – Will Figma Have Fewer Engineers in 5 Years?
24:00 – Cursor, Windsurf & AI Coding Tools—What Figma Engineers Really Use
25:30 – AI’s Dual Power: Lowering the Floor, Raising the Ceiling
27:00 – Figma’s Biggest Product Flop? Yuhki Owns It
29:30 – The Magic of Product Storytelling—Even for Boring Compliance Tools
31:00 – Why Joy Must Be in the Product (and How Figma Bakes It In)
33:00 – Does Product Market Fit Even Mean Anything in 2025?
35:30 – Is Great Design Enough? Or Is It ALL About Distribution?
37:15 – Dylan’s Secret to Early Growth: Hacking Design Twitter
39:00 – Community Mistakes Startups Keep Making
41:00 – The One Thing Yuhki Wishes He Could Change at Figma
43:00 – Should They Have Launched 4 Products at Once? Time Will Tell
45:00 – When Do You Know a New Product Is Doomed?
46:30 – Why Designers Still Don’t Ship What They Design (and How to Fix It)
48:00 – From Uber to Figma: Yuhki’s Playbook for Massive Product Swings
53:00 – The Adobe Deal Breakup—How Figma Rallied
56:00 – What Yuhki Needs to Improve as a Leader (His Own Feedback Review)
58:00 – The Product Leader He Admires Most—and Why
59:30 – What Figma Still Gets Wrong About Product Culture
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The Twenty Minute VC (20VC) interviews the world's greatest venture capitalists with prior guests including Sequoia's Doug Leone and Benchmark's Bill Gurley. Once per week, 20VC Host, Harry Stebbings is also joined by one of the great founders of our time with prior founder episodes from Spotify's Daniel Ek, Linkedin's Reid Hoffman, and Snowflake's Frank Slootman.
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