Figma bears are basically saying “who needs blueprints?”
I think the AI bear case on Figma is kind of backwards. A lot of it seems to be “AI can generate code now, so who needs designers / design tools?”
But that feels like saying “We have better construction tools now, so who needs architects or blueprints?” Like imagine building a house and saying, “Don’t waste time on drawings. Just get the contractors out there and start pouring concrete.” Sure, you can do that. But you’re probably going to find out pretty quickly that the kitchen is in the wrong place or the hallway makes no sense, and the person paying for the house had something completely different in mind. And at that point, fixing it is way more expensive than if you had just figured it out upfront. Also, if you think architects are suddenly going to throw on a hard hat and start nailing floorboards because power tools got better, I have some news for you....
To expand on the analogy, designers are the architects. engineers are the builders. PMs, execs, marketing, customers, etc. are all the people arguing about what the house should be. Figma is where the blueprint gets made before everyone starts building. so when people say AI makes Figma less important, I kind of think the opposite. If AI makes it easier to build software, then knowing what to build matters even more. You can generate code faster, but that doesn’t mean you’re building the right thing.
The latest earnings call seemed to support that too. Maybe I’m wrong, but I just don’t see “companies will skip design” as a serious long-term thesis.