u/Interesting_Day6735

As the sole designer in my startup, I go through various design iterations, refine them repeatedly, and only hand things off to the developer once they're finalized. He then completes the work within quick timelines — and honestly, that's making me look slow.

Our founder even remarked that this is the first tech startup where design is slower than the tech team. That hit really hard.

What people don't realize is that good design takes time — interactive graphics, Lottie animations, thoughtful iterations — none of that happens overnight. And yet the expectation is still: great design, fast turnaround.

I also can't help but feel that translating Figma screens to code is largely a solved problem at this point — no offense intended. The real engineering effort should go into building scalable, robust systems, not replicating UI. But here I am feeling like the bottleneck when I'm the one sweating every pixel.

Would love to hear your perspectives. Feeling pretty low these days.

I’ve built multiple SaaS and B2C products, handling everything from end-to-end design to code. I recently joined a new startup where the leadership insists on skiping the 'vibe-coding' phase. They want high-fidelity Figma prototypes with every interaction mapped out before any code is touched, all while maintaining a high shipping velocity.

Coming from an AI background where speed is everything, this feels counterintuitive. My usual workflow is designing screens in Figma and then 'feeling out' the interactions during the implementation phase. Coding the interactions allows for faster iterations and a better final product. I’m not here to rant, but I want to know: am I wrong for feeling this way? How should I handle this? Shipping fast with great taste has always been my motto, and this startup workflow feels like a step backwards in 2026.

I’ve built multiple SaaS and B2C products, handling everything from end-to-end design to code. I recently joined a new startup where the leadership insists on skiping the 'vibe-coding' phase. They want high-fidelity Figma prototypes with every interaction mapped out before any code is touched, all while maintaining a high shipping velocity.

Coming from an AI background where speed is everything, this feels counterintuitive. My usual workflow is designing screens in Figma and then 'feeling out' the interactions during the implementation phase. Coding the interactions allows for faster iterations and a better final product. I’m not here to rant, but I want to know: am I wrong for feeling this way? How should I handle this? Shipping fast with great taste has always been my motto, and this startup workflow feels like a step backwards in 2026.

I’ve built multiple SaaS and B2C products, handling everything from end-to-end design to code. I recently joined a new startup where the leadership insists on skiping the 'vibe-coding' phase. They want high-fidelity Figma prototypes with every interaction mapped out before any code is touched, all while maintaining a high shipping velocity.

Coming from an AI background where speed is everything, this feels counterintuitive. My usual workflow is designing screens in Figma and then 'feeling out' the interactions during the implementation phase. Coding the interactions allows for faster iterations and a better final product. I’m not here to rant, but I want to know: am I wrong for feeling this way? How should I handle this? Shipping fast with great taste has always been my motto, and this startup workflow feels like a step backwards in 2026.