Neural Networks, Figma, and the Future of Design Tools

A few words about Figma and why I'm skeptical about its prospects. Well, first of all, I'm a skeptic!)

Figma went public at the end of this week (July 31, 2025). The initial price per share was $33—the upper limit of the expected range. After the opening bell, the price quickly soared to $85, peaking at around $130. That's three times the initial estimate!

Let me remind you that in 2022, Figma was supposed to be sold to Adobe—and it's a good thing they didn't, because there's a perception that Adobe, like monopolists and sluggish mammoths, does everything slowly, stupidly, and not in the best interests of the end user. I was glad the deal fell through. The deal was valued at $20 billion at the time.

And now, after the start of trading, Figma's market capitalization has exceeded $50 billion. Impressive! Although Figma is truly cool, with an annual revenue of $600 million.

The company is preparing for an IPO, and it's wise to maintain confidentiality. Now let's look at the dates:
→ 2024 is a year of neural network hype. Lovable, Bolt, Midjourney, Cursor, Krea, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Grok, Gemini… companies are implementing neural networks everywhere, all riding the hype. Models are getting more advanced, prices are rising, and investments are skyrocketing.
→ May 6-8, 2025 — Figma is holding its annual Figma Conf, which will focus on a variety of tools and the implementation of neural networks into work processes.
→ July 1, 2025 — Figma files for an IPO.
→ July 31, 2025 — IPO, start of trading.

In my opinion, it's quite clear who the real audience for Figma Conf 2025 is. They're jumping on the hype train because everyone is investing and still believes in AI tools to maximize share prices and trading volumes in a month.

Make the lives of interface designers more convenient? Investors don't know what designers need; it's harder to sell: Let's tweak the tool a bit, let's finish the tokenization— our users need that. That needs to be reasoned well and contextualized. But to someone without context, it's easier to sell: We'll make more tools and implement AI everywhere. Buzz words and it's all immediately obvious; if there's more hype, then there's definitely more money.

What does this mean for us, designers? That starting July 1, 2025, Figma's target audience will no longer be us, but traders and investors. Figma will make money from capitalization growth.

Anyone who works in corporations or has commissioned a large business knows what it's like when we want to create a cool and user-friendly design, but are faced with edits and restrictions from the owner or marketing: Well, designer, slap on a feature the user doesn't need. Monetization, gamification, retention, and loot boxes. It hurts but this is the game.

The conclusion is probably clear: a designer should invest not in a tool, but in their thinking and speed of work in order to remain sustainable in the market.