Why startups shouldn’t start with Figma

Figma is a really good tool for creating high fidelity designs. Here’s where I think it works:

• If you have a large team and intent can be lost in communication
• You have long product cycles and can take your time to release features
• You’re a just really good at Figma
• You don’t trust your developers to do any design themselves (maybe you have an offshore team)
• You know pretty much exactly what you want to design

These things are often true in larger companies. Startups on the other hand:

• Things move too fast
• You are changing the product as you’re using it
• Things get out of sync between design and reality
• You don’t have the time to become an expert in Figma

Well, what’s the harm in using Figma anyways? Isn’t it a best practice for prototypes?

• It focuses you on pixels, when you should be thinking about users
• The blank canvas is really hard to start with
• It sucks up your time when starting and also to keep it synced with reality

What could startups do instead?

• Go back to old school pencil and paper, or draw on an iPad
• Use low-fidelity tools like Balsamiq
• Build a spec first that focuses on user stories before getting to the design

You need to focus on the right thing: users, their problems, and features. And you need to do this fast.

Try out BrainBuildAI which helps you through the design process and generates an app design for you.