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Figma files for proposed IPO
121–130 of 255 posts
Re: Figma files for proposed IPO
#122So much negativity in this thread. I thought we’d be able to celebrate this one. Figma provided an alternative to the evil Adobe empire that was actually better. It’s powered by some amazing tech built originally by one of the founders. It’s still got a generous free plan. I’m happy the employees will get to cash out.
I like Figma. My disappointment is that I know it's a transient tool. I grew up learning Photoshop, a tool which I now never use because it is expensive and neutered. And Sony Vegas, which is also expensive and pointless when free alternatives do the same thing. And now I can add Figma to the list of tools I learned but will likely never touch for even a free project. Which makes me sad! I like it.
This business model isn't sustainable for individuals, so they're going to naturally be upset. If the B2B market is more lucrative for Figma then they have every right to optimize for it, but they're going to pay the cost in user goodwill. Many startups go through this process.
Re: Figma files for proposed IPO
#123Don't forget how Figma bullied Loveable from being able to use "dev mode" [1]. [1] https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/15/figma-sent-a-cease-and-des...
That’s how trademark works. You lose it if you have it and don’t protect it.
I think the point the parent comment is making is that companies shouldn't be able to trademark common phrases with their usual spelling. 'Dev mode' is a common short form for 'developer mode' which has extensive use.
Re: Figma files for proposed IPO
#124So much negativity in this thread. I thought we’d be able to celebrate this one. Figma provided an alternative to the evil Adobe empire that was actually better. It’s powered by some amazing tech built originally by one of the founders. It’s still got a generous free plan. I’m happy the employees will get to cash out.
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Re: Figma files for proposed IPO
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a former figma engineer, let me be the first to say that Evan Wallace is, in fact, a legend. A true 100x-er. There's still parts of the codebase basically no one at Figma really understands that Evan wrote back in the day. One example of that is something like he adapted a shader we use internally to render font glyphs, which no one has touched ever since. The engineer who told me this had spent a few days trying…
I don’t know anything about shaders and this is not personal against Evan, but if someone wrotes code that nobody understands, isn’t it bad thing and not good thing? I thought similarly (admired) many years ago, that those people are wizards and that is cool, but the older I get, less I think so. You often can write the same thing so that it is also easier for others to understand. In most cases, when we talk about c…
The first startup I worked at was in typography. Writing a full typographic rendering engine in webGL shaders is going to result in code that is difficult for others not experienced in webGL and typography.
It’s inherently (and likely irreducibly) difficult, not accidentally/gratuitously difficult.
Re: Figma files for proposed IPO
#126Congrats to the team here. Let it be a lesson for anyone worried that “their idea has been taken” or “there already solutions for this” out there.
> Let it be a lesson for anyone worried that “their idea has been taken” or “there already solutions for this” out there.
I have nothing but respect for Figma's tech, but I'm not really sure this lesson is generalizable to 99.9% of other people. By all accounts Evan Wallace has skills and talent the vast majority of software developers don't have and never will have. The reason Figma was able to succeed in this space is that their engineering team was like the 90s-era Chicago Bulls of software development.
And to emphasize, that's one reason I'm very happy for Figma's success. Figma didn't succeed because they "got lucky", or just happened to be in the right place at the right time, or had great marketing. They succeeded because they were able to create a brilliant technical solution to a problem that lesser engineers and engineering teams were simply not able to solve.
Re: Figma files for proposed IPO
#127So much negativity in this thread. I thought we’d be able to celebrate this one. Figma provided an alternative to the evil Adobe empire that was actually better. It’s powered by some amazing tech built originally by one of the founders. It’s still got a generous free plan. I’m happy the employees will get to cash out.
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Re: Figma files for proposed IPO
#128They don't link to the Form S-1 prospectus from their announcement, but it's publicly available at https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1579878/000162828025... Their highlighted metrics page: $821M LTM revenue, 46% YoY revenue growth, 18% non-GAAP operating margin, 91% gross margin. It's an incredible success story, and the engineering they did upfront (primarily led by co-founder Evan Wallace) that set the stage…
As a former figma engineer, let me be the first to say that Evan Wallace is, in fact, a legend. A true 100x-er. There's still parts of the codebase basically no one at Figma really understands that Evan wrote back in the day. One example of that is something like he adapted a shader we use internally to render font glyphs, which no one has touched ever since. The engineer who told me this had spent a few days trying…
Do you think AI could take a crack at understanding it for you?
Re: Figma files for proposed IPO
#129So much negativity in this thread. I thought we’d be able to celebrate this one. Figma provided an alternative to the evil Adobe empire that was actually better. It’s powered by some amazing tech built originally by one of the founders. It’s still got a generous free plan. I’m happy the employees will get to cash out.
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Re: Figma files for proposed IPO
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't forget the incredible lock in Figma has in the design space. Figma just has to jack up the price in order to appease Wall Street quarterly. Business wise it's got a great margin, but the avaricious nature of Wall St. will force them to enshittify the entire product, the engineering doesn't matter unless Wall St. is satisfied.
> Figma just has to jack up the price in order to appease Wall Street quarterly Aren't designers mad at Adobe for doing exactly this?
Yes. Now you can offer something similiar for less than $55 per seat per month, then to quote Bezos: “your margin is my opportunity”.