College Dropout Turns Thiel Fellowship Into a $2 Billion Figma Fortune

Dylan Field started software startup Figma a decade ago
Adobe’s $20 billion deal makes Field richest Thiel fellow

Dylan Field
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Provide news feedback or report an error

Confidential tip?

Send a tip to our reporters

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

By Brody Ford, Tom Maloney, and Katie Roof

September 16, 2022 at 5:17 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Dylan Field dropped out of an Ivy League school in 2012 to take a grant from the billionaire Peter Thiel and start a software company called Figma. A decade later, Field’s stake in the company is now worth over $2 billion.

This week’s sale of Figma to Adobe Inc. for $20 billion makes Field, 30, by far the wealthiest person to go through the Thiel Fellowship. The controversial program was designed by the PayPal co-founder to undermine the value of traditional education by encouraging young adults to leave college and start companies with $100,000 grants.