Betting on Yourself, Building From First Principles: Figma CFO Praveer Melwani
In this latest episode of the Lumera Podcast, I sat down for a conversation with Praveer Melwani, CFO of Figma. Praveer joined Figma when the company had only 25 people. Eight years later he leads finance for one of the most iconic product-led companies in tech.
This conversation stuck with me because it is not about playbooks. It is about mindset.
Betting on yourself early
Praveer started in investment banking, then joined Dropbox during its early growth years. What he carried forward was not just technical knowledge, but a habit of first principles thinking and figuring things out in the moment.
After a short stint at another startup ended with layoffs, he decided to bet on himself. That led him to Figma, right at the moment the company was turning on monetization.
“I wanted to be the person who could make a decision. Even without the playbook, I felt I could figure it out.”
Scaling finance with the business
When he started, the company didn’t have revenue and bookkeeping was outsourced. Within months, enterprise customers were asking for invoices and custom payment terms. That forced finance to evolve fast.
A/R and collections were the first bottlenecks. Then global payroll, audits, technical accounting, and building a team that could flex between generalist problem solving and specialist depth.
Today, Figma runs a seven-day close, with a tech stack and set of processes that balance speed, scale, and accuracy. The big lesson is that systems and tools help, but the real unlock is building a team of curious generalists who can adapt as the business changes.
Spreadsheets are still the love language
Even with planning tools in place, Praveer is clear that spreadsheets remain irreplaceable. They are flexible, auditable, and the fastest way to test assumptions.
The dream FP&A system is one that combines the structure of a planning tool with the flexibility and transparency of a spreadsheet. Until then, finance leaders will keep doing both.
AI and the finance team of the future
Praveer is intentional about making AI adoption part of the culture. He carved out space for his org to experiment with ChatGPT Enterprise and celebrated the wins that came out of it. From automating board deck consistency checks to creating internal Q&A tools, the team is finding leverage in real work.
His view is that the future profile is accountant plus. Or finance plus. Core domain expertise combined with data fluency, systems thinking, and product sense.
Watch the full episode here
If you are scaling finance in a high-growth company, or trying to figure out what “AI in finance” actually looks like, this episode is worth your time. We cover:
How to bet on yourself and lean into ambiguity
What it looks like to scale finance from 25 people to global scale
Why spreadsheets will always have a place
How to set the tone for AI adoption across a team
🎥 Watch here: How Praveer runs Figma’s Finance team