Side quest: get good at Figma

Being a startup marketer is like having erectile dysfunction.

You can talk a big game, but when it comes to building products and laying the pipes down (pun intended), you can’t do jackshit. Figma helps with this.

If you have an idea for your startup, it’s 1 thing to tell somebody the idea; it’s a whole other thing to show them a prototype. Even if it’s not pretty, showing is still better than talking. That’s why I’ve embarked on a new side quest: to get good at software design tool Figma.

After spending a bunch of late night grind sessions working on Figma, I’ve already seen how valuable this skill is.

You know how I run a daily newsletter with the newest trending memes called Meme Alerts? Well, I had so many paid signups I’m building it into a SaaS! So I’ve been designing it in Figma to pass off to the real designers and engineers.

Like I said, I’m new to Figma—so I didn’t even try to make it pretty. I just created a basic moodboard, stole some images of good UI/UX off another app, manipulated a few shapes, and then wrote down a user workflow with words and arrows. When I showed it to the engineers, they knew exactly what to do with it! My engineers are almost done with my first SaaS! WOO. INSANE.

Another example.

2 weeks ago, I had an idea for software for us to build at Product Hunt, so I spent a couple hours designing something very ugly and basic to show our CEO Rajiv. It was ugly, but it was clear. “Compelling start” was the best possible response. I was so hype. I knew my design wasn’t pretty or finished, but it was clear and “compelling” enough to call a meeting.

BOOM.

See that’s the thing about being an idea guy in software.

You don’t need to know how to make the software pretty or make the software work. You just need to have a clear vision, and then you can hand it off to pro designers and engineers to make it come to life. I know plenty of VC-backed founders who raised money off nothing more than a crap Figma prototype.

Let the professionals handle the sexy. You just start.

Btw, if your startup needs sexy design, my best friend Shane runs a product studio for startups called Turbo Design. You can trust him (Shane designed StockX’s $3B+ sneaker marketplace and was best man at my wedding!)

2 more quick thoughts on Figma for marketers

1. Use all available resources.

When I first tried Figma, I tried building apps by dragging rectangles around.

I soon realized Figma has thousands of free templates and components. You don’t ever need to start from scratch. There’s templates for every app there imaginable from marketplaces to meatspin.

Also, using AI ain’t cheating, it’s efficient. You’re not an app artist, you’re an idea guy and a marketer.

I’ve been using AI tools like Claude and Vercel v0 to design the basic UX for app ideas. I type in whatever I want and boom you have the UX for an app. Then you can take a screenshot, throw it in Figma, make some edits, and boom you’ve got your concept. Then you take it to a real designer and engineer.

Also obviously there’s tons of courses out there. Shane recommended me this Beginners Concepts from Figma. Rajiv recommended a free Figma course called Figma Ninja. It’ll help you with all the weird keyboard shortcuts. Just press “Open in Figma” and follow the directions. I feel like a ninja already.

Use all available resources.

2. Start by making something stupid.

Personally I don’t learn best in the classroom (I’m a dropout).

I learn best by building shit and playing around. I’ve always been like this. While the teachers were yapping, I was tweeting, designing on Photoshop, or thinking up YouTube videos (what I now get paid to do).

Figma is the same as anything else.

A few weeks ago, my little brother was in town and I want to get him learning Figma, so we stayed up and built a prank app. We were laughing our asses off. Since we were both Figma noobs, we were figuring it out together. He was finding stuff I didn’t know existed and I was helping him out too.

Try designing a dumb app.

Seriously think up something dumb af, it doesn’t matter if you’re gonna do anything with it or if it already exists. A fart detection app, a version of Tinder where it’s only AI girlfriends, a Joey Chestnut diet subscription service so you can eat hot dogs everyday. It doesn’t matter. Imagine what it would look like (you can do it, you’re on your phone all day dude) and then try making it. Just do something dumb because something dumb is better than nothing. By playing, you’re practicing—and you naturally improve.

Watch out though: If you play hard enough, you may just end up going from an “Ideas Guy” to a “Product Guy” 😈

My adventures this week

😂 Got 1M views on a post about Zuck’s transformation

💰 I wrote about Paid Ads Addiction for startups

👀 Shared a conspiracy theory about the Morning Brew Mafia

🙀 Celebrated Notion hitting 100M users thanks to Product Hunt

Tech Memes of the Week

JD Vance couch memes are elite

TRUE STORY

Good question

Thanks for reading nerds.

Create some cool shit this week.

Jason “The Memelord” Levin

Head of Growth @ Product Hunt, Author of Memes Make Millions