Key Takeaways

  • The Adobe deal cost Figma 16 months of regulatory reviews across the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom before collapsing.
  • Regulators evaluate market concentration through historical data, ignoring how technology shifts like generative AI rapidly expand product categories.
  • Extended regulatory purgatory kills weaker companies: while Figma survived, Amazon's blocked purchase of Roomba pushed the vacuum maker into bankruptcy.
  • Field announced the abandoned merger on the first day of winter break, finding that employees felt relief simply because the ambiguity ended.
  • Figma offered a clean exit package granting departing employees several months of pay with only one condition: waiting six months before reapplying.

Why 16 Months of Regulatory Limbo Destroys Companies

Long regulatory reviews freeze operational momentum. Figma spent 16 months answering questions from competition authorities in the US, EU, and UK before Adobe called off its $20 billion buyout. Field pointed out that this drag is deadly for fragile businesses: “16 months of regulatory review for any company is punishing and in an actual anti-competitive situation that could be like very destructive for one of the parties, right? Or both.”

When regulators step in to block deals, they often believe they are protecting domestic competition. In practice, long delays can kill the acquisition target. Field pointed directly to iRobot as the cautionary case: “They wanted to punish Amazon and so they did not let it go through and because of that Roomba went bankrupt and the entire market at the time basically went to China.” Figma survived because its software engine generated cash, but hardware companies with high burn rates cannot outlast a year of legal interrogations.

Regulators Look Backward While Tech Moves Forward

The dispute between Figma and international antitrust bodies exposed a basic philosophical gap. Antitrust attorneys define a market by looking at historical sales records and static product definitions. Technologists see tools evolving in real time.

Field framed the split plainly: “Like you define the market looking back at the history which is like the only logical way you do it as a regulator or do you do it as a technologist looking forward and that could be very different in terms of how you think about markets sizes.” Regulators viewed Figma and Adobe as two design suites dividing up a static pie. Field argued that AI was already rewriting software creation, lowering barriers to entry, and pulling non-designers directly into product workflows. By treating software categories as permanent territories, regulators misjudged how fast modern tech stacks evolve.

Killing Ambiguity on Day One

When the deal officially collapsed, Field scheduled an all-hands meeting on the first day of winter break. He expected anxiety. Instead, he found catharsis. As Field described the room: “First of all so much of the company showed up that was awesome just to see the turnout you know first day of break really and secondly I'd say just like the mood was relief because it wasn't about relief of not Adobe it was relief of not having ambiguity.”

To rebuild an independent company culture, Field avoided golden handcuffs or retention guilt trips. He offered anyone who wanted out an immediate financial ramp: “If you want to leave, here is a few months pay. And you're welcome to just let us know. We'll make it super easy. And from there, you know, 6 months before you can reapply. That's the only condition.” Anyone who stayed chose to be there.

What to Do With This

Audit your company for unresolved strategic questions that have stalled hiring or product priorities for over a month. Kill the limbo by setting a hard decision deadline for Friday, communicate the outcome openly to your entire team, and give hesitant employees a clean, voluntary offramp to leave without stigma.