In the savagely satirical HBO series Silicon Valley, the fictional investor Russ Hanneman boasts of being in the “three-comma club” (there are three commas in a billion). Obnoxious, abrasive and totally dismissive of the opinions of others, Hanneman represents the popular perception of a certain kind of west coast tech bro billionaire.
Dylan Field, the 33-year-old co-founder and chief executive of Figma, is also now firmly entrenched in the three-comma club.
His personal shareholding is worth more than $6bn after the share price of his design software company surged following its flotation on the New York Stock Exchange, raising hopes of a lucrative new wave of tech listings. But it seems unlikely that anyone will mistake Field for a real-life Hanneman. “He has no haters. He’s nice, smart, quirky and generous,” says Andrew Reed, a partner at VC firm Sequoia Capital who backed Figma.