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On Adobe acquiring Figma

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Re: On Adobe acquiring Figma

#31

Post by bryanrasmussen »

SpaghettiX wrote: post #9

Regarding the justifications for Figma's price: > most startups cut their valuation by a lot in 2022 Most startups are not used by every single other startup, whereas I would be very surprised if any startup doesn't use Figma for UI design. I've never used Canva and never heard a company using it. The only time I heard of Canva is to create a nice looking CV. Comparing outliers to the average/most isn't very helpful.…

>whereas I would be very surprised if any startup doesn't use Figma for UI design.

have startups stopped using Invision?

>acquirers desperation (very high),

I would think acquirers desperation (very high) would be another word for 'dump this stock' which to me is what the article seems really about. People dumped adobe, why because Figma not worth that unless acquirers desperation (very high). uh oh, who wants to hold a desperate company?

Re: On Adobe acquiring Figma

#32

Post by achow »

alexghr wrote: post #30
bambax wrote: post #11

> Who is David Wadhwani, the person Figma is going to report to? (...) A little further research shows he joined Adobe in June 2021, just over a year ago. His last position prior was Venture Partner at venture capital firm Greylock. (...) Greylock invested in Figma in Series A, B, C, D, and E! Figma Series A’s price was $0.2 per share; it 200x’ed at the acquisition deal. Even if he didn't personally invest in Figma,…

Maybe the author should've opened David Wadhwani LinkedIn profile instead of just linking to it. He worked for Adobe for 13 years until 2015 and rejoined in 2021. PS: not defending the purchase or Adobe but this statement in the article is factually wrong ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The author's main point is he worked at Greylock before Adobe - factually accurate.

Also accurate - conflict of interest if he in anyway was part of acquisition efforts.

Re: On Adobe acquiring Figma

#34

Post by achow »

This rings so true..

..even with Adobe keeping Figma as independent as it can be, it will develop and grow at a much slower pace since there will be no venture capital funds pouring in, and Adobe’s resources drained to pay off the acquisition cost. The only winner is Figma investors. This acquisition is a lose-lose-lose situation for Adobe, Figma, and the design community.

Re: On Adobe acquiring Figma

#35

Post by bmitc »

bambax wrote: post #11

> Who is David Wadhwani, the person Figma is going to report to? (...) A little further research shows he joined Adobe in June 2021, just over a year ago. His last position prior was Venture Partner at venture capital firm Greylock. (...) Greylock invested in Figma in Series A, B, C, D, and E! Figma Series A’s price was $0.2 per share; it 200x’ed at the acquisition deal. Even if he didn't personally invest in Figma,…

Does that qualify as a form of insider trading or some other violation of FTC regulations?

Re: On Adobe acquiring Figma

#36

Post by bmitc »

saos wrote: post #10

I simply believe Apple/Microsoft were circling Figma for an acquisition. That would be serious competition for Adobe and I imagine they got scared and threw the kitchen sink at Figma. If you're Apple or Microsoft PM. Please make internal noise to purchase a Figma competitor like Sketch and give Adobe/Figma a run for it money. Adobe clearly doesn't like competition.

Is Sketch still macOS only? That would seem like a major barrier.

Re: On Adobe acquiring Figma

#37

Post by achow »

SpaghettiX wrote: post #9

Regarding the justifications for Figma's price: > most startups cut their valuation by a lot in 2022 Most startups are not used by every single other startup, whereas I would be very surprised if any startup doesn't use Figma for UI design. I've never used Canva and never heard a company using it. The only time I heard of Canva is to create a nice looking CV. Comparing outliers to the average/most isn't very helpful.…

Think about it this way..

- "Every startup" does not mean big number. Startup are handful if compared against all kind of business that exist (from car dealers to big retailers to IT behemoths...)

- In typical tech company only handful of people use Figma (Design, PMs, Front end engg)

Whereas Canva's addressable market is anyone and everyone who has need to produce documents that are not wall of text (all young, old - resumes, birthday party invitation,...), all companies (newsletters, flyers for their events,...)

Re: On Adobe acquiring Figma

#38

Post by est31 »

bambax wrote: post #11

> Who is David Wadhwani, the person Figma is going to report to? (...) A little further research shows he joined Adobe in June 2021, just over a year ago. His last position prior was Venture Partner at venture capital firm Greylock. (...) Greylock invested in Figma in Series A, B, C, D, and E! Figma Series A’s price was $0.2 per share; it 200x’ed at the acquisition deal. Even if he didn't personally invest in Figma,…

You can also spin it the other way, that Adobe hired an expert on Figma, someone who knew it well, has seen it grow, knew how it looked on the inside, and would probably easily spot any time the Figma team would be bullshitting during negotiations. At least one such person on your team is I think a major asset, but of course someone like that will likely still be connected in some fashion to that company, and create possible conflict of interest situations which means legal risk.

Re: On Adobe acquiring Figma

#39

Post by chx »

Adobe's financial performance has been pretty outstanding.

In 2015, their net income was 630 million dollars with 13,893 employees.

By 2019, through steady growth they have grown their income to 2,951 million dollars with 22,634 employees.

In other words, while in 2015 an employee produced 45347 dollars but in 2019 the same person produced 130739 dollars.

I would be slow to presume they do not know what they are doing.

Does anyone even know when Adobe last had a net loss quarter?

Re: On Adobe acquiring Figma

#40

Post by mike_hearn »

est31 wrote: post #38
bambax wrote: post #11

> Who is David Wadhwani, the person Figma is going to report to? (...) A little further research shows he joined Adobe in June 2021, just over a year ago. His last position prior was Venture Partner at venture capital firm Greylock. (...) Greylock invested in Figma in Series A, B, C, D, and E! Figma Series A’s price was $0.2 per share; it 200x’ed at the acquisition deal. Even if he didn't personally invest in Figma,…

You can also spin it the other way, that Adobe hired an expert on Figma, someone who knew it well, has seen it grow, knew how it looked on the inside, and would probably easily spot any time the Figma team would be bullshitting during negotiations. At least one such person on your team is I think a major asset, but of course someone like that will likely still be connected in some fashion to that company, and create…

Wouldn't that be more of a consultant role, rather than having the entire newly acquired org report to him as a manager?
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