Item 1A. Risk Factors
Investing in our Class A common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with the other information in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face, but reflect our beliefs and opinions as to factors that could materially and adversely affect our business in the future. References to past events are provided by way of example only and are not intended to be a complete listing of such events or a representation as to whether or not such factors or similar events have occurred in the past or their likelihood of occurring in the future. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of or that we deem immaterial may also become important factors that adversely affect our business. If any of the following risks occur, our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects could be materially and adversely affected. In that event, the market price of our Class A common stock could decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
We have experienced rapid growth which may not be indicative of our future growth, and if we do not effectively manage our future growth, our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects may be adversely affected. Our rapid growth also makes it difficult to evaluate future prospects.
We have experienced rapid growth and we expect to continue to invest broadly across our organization to support our growth. Although we have experienced rapid growth historically, we may not sustain our current growth rates, and we cannot assure you that our investments to support our growth will be successful. Even if our revenue continues to increase, we expect our revenue growth rate to decline in the future as our business matures and our platform achieves more widespread adoption. Accordingly, our historical growth makes it difficult to evaluate our business and future prospects and you should not rely on the revenue growth of any prior quarterly or annual period as an indication of our future
performance. Overall growth of our revenue will depend on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, our ability to:
•compete with other companies in our industry, including, but not limited to, those with greater financial, technical, marketing, sales, and other resources, as well as with startup companies with innovative products and novel solutions that compete with ours;
•retain and increase adoption of our products and services by existing customers, as well as attract new customers and grow our customer base;
•develop new offerings and functionality for our platform and successfully optimize our existing products and services, including through integration of AI into our platform;
•successfully expand our business domestically and internationally;
•effectively expand our sales force and leverage our existing sales capacity;
•attract, retain, and train service partners and expand product integrations;
•successfully hire and retain personnel, including product, design, engineering, and sales personnel;
•successfully introduce and sell our platform in new markets and for new use cases;
•increase awareness of our brand;
•protect against security incidents;
•successfully price and package our platform in a rapidly changing software industry, including due to advancements and increasing use of AI; and
•successfully identify and acquire or invest in businesses, products, offerings, or technologies that we believe could complement or expand our platform and successfully integrate such businesses, products, offerings, or technologies into our business.
We may not successfully accomplish any of these objectives and, as a result, it may be difficult for us to accurately forecast our future operating results. If the assumptions that we use to plan our business are incorrect or change in reaction to fluctuations in our markets, we may be unable to maintain consistent revenue or revenue growth, the value of our Class A common stock could fluctuate, and it may be difficult to achieve and maintain profitability. In addition, changes in the global macroeconomic environment, including, but not limited to, the imposition of trade barriers, tariffs, and other protectionist measures, volatile interest rates and inflation, actual or perceived global banking and finance related issues, labor shortages, high unemployment rates, labor displacement, supply chain disruptions, changes in investment and spending environments, geopolitical instability, warfare and uncertainty, including, but not limited to, the effects of geopolitical conflicts, weak economic conditions in certain regions, or a reduction in software spending regardless of macroeconomic conditions, may impact our growth.
As we have grown, our number of customers has also increased, and we have increasingly managed more complex deployments of our platform. The rapid growth and expansion of our business places a significant strain on our management, operational, engineering, and financial resources, and rapid development cycles have also created technical debt within our platform. Addressing technical debt requires engineering resources that could otherwise be devoted to new features or enhancements. If we fail to properly manage technical debt, our platform performance may suffer, we may face increased downtime, and our business, operating results, and financial condition could be harmed. Additionally, as we further integrate AI capabilities and expand our product offerings, technical complexity has and may
continue to increase, potentially exacerbating these challenges. To manage any future growth effectively, we must continue to improve and expand our infrastructure, including information technology and financial infrastructure, our operating and administrative systems and controls, and our ability to manage headcount, capital, and processes in an efficient manner. If we do not manage future growth effectively, our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects would be adversely impacted.
If we continue to experience rapid growth, we may not be able to successfully implement or scale improvements to our systems, processes, or controls in an efficient, timely, or cost-effective manner. As we grow, our existing systems, processes, and controls may not prevent or detect all errors, omissions, or fraud. For example, we have experienced instances of credential sharing, abuse of our Figma for Education offerings, credit card fraud, and other instances of misuse or fraud on our platform that resulted in bad debt, chargebacks, or other losses to us. Such incidents may increase in scale, frequency, or both as we grow. Any future growth will continue to add complexity to our organization and require effective coordination throughout our organization. Failure to manage any future growth effectively could result in increased costs, cause difficulty or delays in deploying our platform to new and existing customers, reduce the quality of, customer satisfaction with, and demand for our platform, or cause difficulties in introducing new offerings or cause other operational challenges. Any of these difficulties would adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects.
Our operating results may fluctuate significantly, which could make our future results difficult to predict and could cause our operating results to fall below expectations.
Our operating results have varied significantly from period to period in the past, and we expect that our operating results will continue to vary significantly in the future such that period-to-period comparisons of our operating results may not be meaningful. Accordingly, our financial results in any one quarter should not be relied upon as indicative of future performance. To the extent that fluctuations in our quarterly results lead us to underperform relative to market expectations, such fluctuations may negatively impact the trading price of our Class A common stock. Our quarterly financial results may fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, many of which are outside of our control and may be difficult to predict, including, but not limited to:
•the amount and timing of investments and expenditures related to the expansion of our business;
•impacts on our cost structure, including, but not limited to, any decrease in our gross margins and operating margins associated with AI-related products and features;
•the impact of AI on the software creation industry and more generally within the software industry, and on the demand for our platform, products, and services;
•general macroeconomic and political conditions, both domestically and in foreign markets where we operate, including, but not limited to, changes in U.S. federal spending, the imposition of trade barriers, tariffs, and other protectionist measures, global economic slowdowns, actual or perceived global banking and finance related issues, increased risk of inflation, uncertainty with respect to the U.S. federal debt ceiling and budget and potential U.S. federal government shutdowns related thereto, interest rate volatility, supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and potential global recession;
•the impact of natural or man-made global events on our business, including, but not limited to, wars and other geopolitical conflicts;
•market acceptance of our recent changes to our pricing, packaging, and billing models and any further changes in our billing models or those of our competitors;
•our ability to attract new customers and retain and increase adoption of our products by existing customers;
•changes in user or customer requirements or market needs;
•the budgeting cycles, seasonal buying patterns, and purchasing practices of our customers and potential customers;
•the timing and length of our sales cycles;
•the timing of revenue recognition;
•the timing and success of new product and service releases by us or our competitors or any other competitive developments, including consolidation among our customers or competitors;
•our ability to convert users of our free product offerings into subscribing customers;
•our ability to successfully expand our business domestically and internationally;
•decisions by organizations to purchase competitive products and services from other vendors;
•insolvency, credit difficulties, or other financial issues affecting our customers or potential customers that affect their ability to purchase or pay for our products and services;
•significant security breaches of, technical difficulties with, or interruptions to the use of our platform, or other cybersecurity incidents;
•extraordinary expenses such as litigation or other dispute-related settlement payments or outcomes, taxes, regulatory fines, or penalties;
•changes in the market value of our investments, including in our marketable securities, in particular as a result of volatility related to our investments in Bitcoin and a Bitcoin exchange traded fund or any future investments in cryptocurrencies or other alternative asset classes;
•significant charges in our financial statements relating to any impairment of goodwill or intangible assets;
•changes in the mix of various aspects of our business, including, but not limited to, self-service and sales led offerings, the proportion of business generated in the United States and internationally, and the adoption rates among our various pricing packages;
•changes to our effective tax rate;
•future accounting pronouncements or changes in our accounting policies or practices;
•negative media and social media coverage or publicity; and
•increases or decreases in our expenses caused by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates.
Historically, we have experienced seasonal fluctuations in our financial results due to increased expenses incurred in connection with our annual user conferences, including Config, which we typically host in the second quarter of each year, as well as in connection with other advertising efforts. We expect that seasonality may become more pronounced in our business in the future, particularly as a greater percentage of our business is attributable to larger customers and deals, due to the annual budget approval process of larger organizations. Moreover, any of the above discussed fluctuations could result in our failure to meet our operating plan or the expectations of investors or analysts for any period. If we
fail to meet such expectations for the reasons described above or other reasons, our stock price could fall substantially, and we could face costly lawsuits, including securities class action lawsuits.
We have a limited operating history at our current scale, which makes it difficult to evaluate our current business and future prospects and increases the risks associated with your investment.
Although we were founded in October 2012, we have evolved our business and platform significantly since publicly launching our initial product, Figma Design, in 2015, including through the introduction of new offerings. For example, we introduced FigJam in 2021, Dev Mode in 2023, Figma Slides in 2024, and Figma Sites, Figma Make, Figma Buzz, Figma Draw, and Figma Weave in 2025. In addition, in March 2025, we implemented significant changes to our pricing, packaging, and billing models. In 2025, we introduced AI credits across all Figma seats. Starting in March 2026, we began enforcing AI credit limits and introduced flexible options for incremental usage, including monthly AI credit add‑ons to existing subscriptions or usage billed under a pay‑as‑you‑go model. Accordingly, we have a limited operating history at our current scale of business, and with our current product offerings and pricing, packaging, and billing models, which makes it difficult to evaluate our current business, future prospects, and other trends. For example, we experienced an expansion in our Net Dollar Retention Rate (as defined in the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Key Business Metrics” contained within this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q) throughout 2024 subsequent to our launch of Dev Mode in 2023. However, we expect our Net Dollar Retention Rate to fluctuate or decline in the future as a result of a number of factors such as the growing level of our revenue base, the level of penetration within our customer base, expansion of products and features, our ability to retain our customers, and any changes to the pricing and packaging of our plans. We expect to continue to make significant expenditures related to the development and expansion of our business, including, but not limited to, expenditures related to acquiring new customers, expanding relationships with existing customers, expanding our global footprint, developing and expanding our platform, growing our sales and marketing investments, expanding our operations both domestically and internationally, and integrating AI, including generative AI, into our platform. We also expect to continue to incur expenditures related to legal, tax, accounting, and other administrative and compliance expenses related to operating as a public company. We have encountered, and will continue to encounter, risks and uncertainties frequently experienced by growing companies in rapidly changing industries and sectors, such as the risks and uncertainties described herein. Any predictions or estimates about our future revenue and expenses, or the assumptions underlying such predictions or estimates, may not be as accurate as they would be if we had a longer operating history at our current scale of business, and with our current product offerings and pricing, packaging, and billing models, or if we operated in more predictable or established markets. If our assumptions regarding these risks and uncertainties are incorrect or change due to changing circumstances, or if we do not address these risks successfully, our operating and financial results could differ materially from our expectations and our business and the trading price of our Class A common stock may be adversely affected. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in addressing these or other challenges we may face in the future.
Changes in our pricing, packaging, or billing models could adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects.
We have made changes to our pricing, packaging, and billing models in the past, and we expect to continue to make changes to our pricing, packaging, and billing models in the future. For example, in March 2025, we moved away from user-driven upgrades. Prior to March 2025, seat upgrades on certain plans were driven by users by default. Administrators reviewed these new seats retroactively to provision the seats. In the new model, any seat upgrade needs to be approved by an administrator before the license is provisioned. We also introduced multi-product seats that include additional functionality with each seat and increased the price of our most expensive offering, which is our Full seat. We made these changes to keep pace with our expanded offerings and features since our platform’s launch and to
provide our customers with more visibility and upfront controls. In 2025, we also introduced AI credits across all Figma seats. Starting in March 2026, we began enforcing AI credit limits and introduced flexible options for incremental usage, including monthly AI credit add‑ons to existing subscriptions or usage billed under a pay‑as‑you‑go model.
We may become unable to attract new customers and retain existing customers at the same price or based on the same seat-based subscription model that we have used historically. We may from time to time decide to make further changes to our billing models due to a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, changes to the markets for our products and services, increased use of AI in the software industry generally, increased implementation and use of AI features in our products, pricing pressures, and the introduction of new products and services by us or by our competitors. If we are unable to implement changes to our billing models in a timely manner or at all, including as a result of delays associated with our billing infrastructure or product development processes, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be negatively impacted. Our new pricing, packaging, and billing models may not accurately reflect the optimal pricing, packaging, and billing models necessary to attract new customers and retain existing customers, which may make it difficult to accurately plan and forecast our operating results. Furthermore, the changes to our pricing and packaging plans introduced in March 2025 and the enforcement of AI credit limits beginning in March 2026 have made, and any further changes to components of our pricing, packaging, and billing models that we may introduce in the future may make, forecasting our operating results more difficult and result in comparisons to periods prior to the updates being less meaningful as some of the drivers underlying our business model will have changed.
In addition, we may offer, or customers may demand, options that change who bears the cost of AI usage or how AI usage is provisioned, including by allowing customers to use their own third-party AI credentials or accounts (for example, bring-your-own-key arrangements), which may reduce the amount of AI usage that is metered through our AI credit programs. Such arrangements may increase certain costs (including, but not limited to, costs relating to engineering, infrastructure, security, compliance, and support), impact our margins, materially change the amount, mix, and timing of our revenue, and make our operating results harder to forecast. The net impact of any such arrangements on our revenue, margins, and cash flows may be difficult to predict and may vary across customers, products, and periods. Any such arrangements could also reduce our ability to meter, price, and control AI usage, and increase billing complexity, support burdens, and disputes.
Our ability to increase or maintain our prices may be constrained by competitive dynamics, customer expectations or pressure to provide discounts, or economic conditions. Pricing pressure may require us to reduce the price we charge our customers for usage of our AI products and features, absorb additional costs, or operate certain AI features at lower or negative gross margins for extended periods in order to remain competitive. Moreover, competitive dynamics may result in customers expecting full AI functionality to be included in baseline subscription pricing, which may lead customers to curtail their use of our products and features subject to AI credit pricing, including Figma Make and other AI features, or to stop using those products and features altogether, and may limit our ability to monetize the usage of our AI products and features in a manner that offsets associated costs. In addition, the unit economics of AI products and features may be volatile and difficult to predict, including due to changes in third-party model pricing, infrastructure costs, usage patterns, and the rate at which customers adopt AI-powered workflows. If we are unable to increase prices to offset rising costs, including costs related to AI inference or otherwise related to providing AI features, or to otherwise update our pricing model, including to better align it with the increased integration of AI into our platform, or if price increases or other changes to our pricing model significantly reduce customer demand, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be negatively impacted.
Further, as AI and its integration into software becomes more prevalent and its use cases become more sophisticated, including with respect to our products and the products of our competitors, there could be a
decrease in the number of designers, developers, and other collaborators that use our platform if such individuals are able to significantly increase their efficiency through the use of AI capabilities alongside or instead of our platform. Such a decrease could reduce the number of seats that customers or potential customers subscribe to, which could lead to a loss of revenue, slower growth, and adversely impact our business, operating results, and financial condition. Our seat-based subscription model may become less aligned with customer value creation as AI automates or consolidates work that historically required multiple users. In response to any industry changes resulting from AI, we may need to make further changes to our billing practices, including potential changes to our seat-based subscription model. If we are unable to adapt our pricing and packaging models quickly and effectively, our revenue growth, margins, business, operating results, and financial condition could be negatively impacted.
Changes to our pricing, packaging, and billing models, including the changes to our pricing and packaging plans introduced in March 2025 and the enforcement of AI credit limits starting in March 2026, and any further changes that we make in the future, may, among other things, result in customer dissatisfaction, lead to a loss of customers, result in customers curtailing or stopping their usage of our products and features subject to AI credit pricing, including Figma Make and other AI features, harm our brand, and negatively impact our business, operating results, and financial condition. For example, following our enforcement of AI credit limits starting in March 2026, we observed elevated customer support volume, instances of customer dissatisfaction expressed through public and social channels, and reduced usage by certain customers. While we are continuing to evaluate the longer-term impact, we may experience further dissatisfaction, dispute resolution costs, or customer churn in the future.
Third-party AI agents and tools that operate on or through our platform may circumvent our pricing and packaging models, increase our costs, and adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects.
In March 2026, we introduced the ability for third-party AI agents to create and modify real design assets directly in Figma files through our MCP server. Customers may also use, or third parties may develop, tools that automate or orchestrate workflows on our platform (including through browser extensions, plugins, scripts, bots, or other third-party tools). The introduction of AI agents or other third-party tools on our platform could reduce the number of paid seats required for a given level of output, circumvent or undermine our intended pricing and packaging controls, increase platform load, or create fraud and abuse risk. If we are unable to detect and effectively monetize such activity, or if we restrict or limit such tools and customers react negatively, our revenue, margins, growth, and reputation could be adversely affected. In addition, we are evaluating consumption-based pricing and metering mechanisms for our developer platform, such as rate limits and usage-based charges for access to certain APIs, MCPs, or other programmatic access to our platform. The introduction, adjustment, or deferral of any such pricing or metering approach may not generate the revenue we expect, may accelerate seat-replacement dynamics rather than offset them, and may cause customer dissatisfaction or contract disputes. Any such approach may also increase complexity for our customers and our sales, finance, and support teams, may create disagreement over whether such usage should be charged to a customer, a third-party agent provider, or a third-party model provider, may not align with customer expectations, and may not generate the revenue or margins we expect.
In addition, third parties have introduced, and we expect they will continue to develop, browser-based, operating-system-based, and other autonomous AI agents that operate software platforms, including ours, on a user’s behalf, including agents offered by providers whose models we license or with which we otherwise integrate. Because these external agents typically interact with our platform using a single user’s authenticated session, our seat-based pricing, billing, administrative controls, monitoring, and terms of service may be less effective at identifying agent activity, attributing usage to the appropriate party, detecting automation, or determining when additional seats, credits, or charges should apply. As external AI agents become more capable, customers may use them to perform tasks that would otherwise
require additional users, seats, or activity on our platform, which could reduce demand for paid seats, accelerate seat-replacement dynamics, or shift workflows away from our user interface and toward third-party agent interfaces, any of which could erode the perceived value or differentiation of our platform. We may need to invest in new identification, attribution, authentication, governance, and pricing mechanisms, and we may face conflicting demands from customers, including enterprise customers seeking to restrict agent activity for governance, security, or compliance reasons and other customers seeking to permit or expand agent activity. We may not be able to address these demands in a timely or commercially reasonable manner, and our decisions to permit, restrict, monetize, or otherwise govern external agent activity, or any technical or contractual measures we adopt or fail to adopt, could result in customer dissatisfaction, contractual or regulatory disputes (including with the operators of such agents), reduced adoption of our platform, or reputational harm. The legal and regulatory framework applicable to external AI agents, including with respect to terms-of-service enforceability, liability for content generated through agent activity, and competition and platform-access requirements, is unsettled and evolving, and adverse developments could increase our costs, limit our ability to control agent activity on our platform, or otherwise adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Over time, we expect to introduce products, features, and services, or otherwise implement pricing and packaging models, that are billed differently than on a per-seat subscription basis, which could adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects.
Over time, we expect to introduce products, features, and services, or to otherwise implement pricing and packaging models, that are billed differently than on a per-seat subscription basis. For example, in 2025, we introduced AI credits across all Figma seats. Starting in March 2026, we began enforcing AI credit limits and introduced flexible options for incremental usage, including monthly AI credit add‑ons to existing subscriptions or usage billed under a pay‑as‑you‑go model.
Credit-based, usage-based, or outcome-based billing models increase the complexity of accurately measuring and charging for product usage, and may increase the risk of billing disputes, reduced collectibility, refunds, chargebacks, and regulatory scrutiny. As we begin enforcing AI credit limits and have introduced flexible options for incremental usage, including monthly AI credit add‑ons to existing subscriptions or usage billed under a pay‑as‑you‑go model, we expect that the mechanisms by which we meter, attribute, and report usage will become more complex. Customer trust in these models may depend in part on our ability to provide clear, accurate, and timely visibility into usage, balances, limits, overages, and applicable charges. If customers, users, or administrators are unable to understand how usage is measured, attributed, pooled, refreshed, invoiced, or enforced across products, plans, billing groups, or time periods, or if our interfaces, systems, or communications do not clearly convey such information, customers may delay purchases, dispute invoices, seek credits or refunds, reduce usage, or decline to renew their subscriptions. Errors or perceived errors in our usage measurement, billing calculations, invoicing, proration, credits, or refund processes could result in customer dissatisfaction, disputes, non-payment, increased customer support costs, and harm to our reputation. In addition, customers may assert claims or seek class-wide relief alleging that our disclosures, user interfaces, or billing practices were misleading or unfair, including with respect to plan changes, renewal terms, cancellation, or downgrade processes, or the timing of enforcement of usage limits. We may become subject to enforcement actions or investigations under consumer protection, subscription, auto-renewal, or unfair competition laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate. Any of the foregoing could adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects.
In particular, customers may react negatively if AI credits are consumed in connection with failed, unstable, or interrupted outputs or if administrators cannot readily determine what users, files, prompts, models, or workflows are driving usage. If we are unable to provide sufficient visibility, controls, alerts, or remediation in such circumstances, customers may perceive our billing as unfair, reduce usage, seek
credits or refunds, delay deployments, or consider alternative products, any of which could adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects.
Further, adoption of AI products and features by larger organizations may depend on our ability to provide enterprise-grade administrative controls, permissioning, governance, transparency, and policy management. Enterprise customers may require the ability to control which users, groups, teams, or business units can access AI features, which models can be used, how usage is allocated or pooled, how spending is capped or approved, and how outputs and prompts are governed for compliance or security purposes. If we do not provide such controls in a timely manner, or if customers determine that our controls are inadequate for their governance, compliance, procurement, or budgeting requirements, they may delay deployment, limit purchases, reduce usage, or choose competitive offerings, which could adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects.
In addition, increased reliance on credit-based, usage-based, or outcome-based billing models could increase the complexity of applying revenue recognition guidance to our contracts, including, but not limited to, with respect to identifying performance obligations and contract modifications, estimating variable consideration (including credits, refunds, disputes, concessions, or other adjustments), and estimating and accounting for any “breakage” or unused credits. If we experience higher-than-expected credits, refunds, disputes, or price concessions, or if we are required to increase reserves for uncollectible amounts, our reported revenue, deferred revenue, operating cash flows, and period-to-period comparability could be adversely affected. Credit-based, usage-based, or outcome-based arrangements may also shift a greater portion of our billings and collections to later periods (including after usage is incurred), which could increase accounts receivable balances, collection risk, and working capital needs and reduce our visibility into near-term results. All of the foregoing may make it more difficult to accurately forecast our operations. Moreover, products, features, and services that are billed differently than on a per-seat subscription basis may be treated differently than seat-based subscriptions for purposes of sales, value-added tax (“VAT”), goods and services tax, or other indirect taxes in certain jurisdictions, or may trigger additional invoicing, documentation, and audit requirements. If we incorrectly calculate, collect, remit, or report applicable taxes, or if tax authorities take positions inconsistent with ours, we could be subject to assessments, penalties, interest, disputes, customer dissatisfaction, and increased compliance costs.
If we are unable to attract new customers or retain and increase adoption of our products and services by existing customers, we may not achieve the growth we expect, which would adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects.
In order for us to improve our operating results and continue to grow our business, it is important that we continue to attract new customers and that existing customers continue to renew and increase their usage of our products. Customers have no obligation to renew a subscription after the expiration of the contract term, and customers may not renew their subscriptions with a similar contract period, with the same or greater number of seats, for the same subscription plan, or at all. In addition, starting in March 2026, we began enforcing AI credit limits and introduced flexible options for incremental usage, including monthly AI credit add‑ons to existing subscriptions or usage billed under a pay‑as‑you‑go model. Customers are under no obligation to purchase monthly AI credit add‑ons to their existing subscriptions or AI usage under the pay‑as‑you‑go billing model, and they may curtail or stop their usage of our AI-powered products and features at any time. If our customers do not renew their subscriptions or if they renew on terms less favorable to us, or if our customers curtail or stop their usage of our AI-powered products and features in light of our AI credit billing model, our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects may be adversely impacted.
Our customer retention may decline or fluctuate as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, their satisfaction with our platform, products, and services and satisfaction with those offered by
competitors, our pricing, packaging, and billing models and changes to such models including our recent and any future pricing changes, and the effects of general economic conditions and uncertainty in financial markets.
Further, our future success depends, in part, on our ability to convert users of our free plan into paying customers on a paid pricing plan and selling additional offerings, including monthly AI credit add‑ons to customers’ existing subscriptions or AI usage under the pay‑as‑you‑go billing model, to existing paying customers. This may require us to incur increased sales and marketing expenses, but it may not result in additional sales. The rate at which our customers convert from our free pricing plan to our paid product plan and the rate at which our customers purchase additional or premium offerings depend on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the features, functionality, and pricing of such offerings, availability of competitive offerings, as well as general macroeconomic conditions. If our efforts to convert users of our free pricing plan to our paid pricing plans or sell additional or premium offerings to customers are unsuccessful, our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects may be adversely impacted.
Historically, a significant portion of our revenue growth has been derived from organic growth that occurs within organizations when new users decide to use our platform based on word-of-mouth recommendations, as opposed to management driven enterprise-wide procurement processes. As we increasingly sell to larger organizations, however, such organizations may have more extensive internal approval requirements that prevent or delay potential users in those organizations from using our platform, which may delay or prevent the organic growth of potential future customers at the same rate as in historical periods and could cause the costs associated with new customer acquisition to increase in future periods. This trend may be even more pronounced due to the changes we made in March 2025 as part of our billing model update, which included administrator controls that may inhibit the number of seat upgrades on our platform in the future.
In recent years, we have released a number of new products and feature enhancements intended to address a broader set of use cases than contemplated by our initial product, Figma Design, and we expect to continue to release additional products and feature enhancements to our platform. Our future success will depend in part on the success of these new products and features and our ability to demonstrate the value of them to a wider set of users, both within current customers and prospective customers. If we are unable to successfully market new products and features to a wider set of customers, we may not achieve the return on our initial investments, or long-term growth, expected by analysts or investors and our business may be adversely affected as a result.
As the markets for our products and services mature, our platform evolves, and competitors introduce lower cost and/or differentiated products and services that are perceived to compete with our platform, our ability to maintain or expand usage of our platform could be impaired. The cost of new customer acquisition and ongoing customer support may prove higher than anticipated, thereby adversely impacting our profitability.
Other factors, many of which are out of our control, may now or in the future impact our ability to retain existing customers, attract new customers, and expand usage of our platform by such customers in a cost-effective manner, including, but not limited to:
•potential customers’ commitments to other existing products or services or greater familiarity or comfort with other products or services;
•our ability to expand, retain, effectively train, and motivate our sales and marketing personnel;
•negative social media, media, industry, or analyst commentary regarding our products and services;
•decreased spending on product design solutions and other products and services that we offer;
•the impact of AI on the markets for our products and services; and
•general macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions.
If we are not able to effectively introduce enhancements to our platform, including new offerings, features, and functionality, that achieve widespread market adoption, or keep pace with technological developments, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be adversely affected.
The markets for our products and services are characterized by rapidly changing technologies, frequent new product and service releases, and evolving industry standards. The rapid growth and intense competition in our industry exacerbate these market characteristics. Our ability to attract new customers and increase revenue from existing customers depends in large part on our ability to enhance and improve our platform and introduce compelling new products and services that reflect the changing nature of our markets. Further, we will need to adapt to rapidly changing technologies by continually improving the performance, features, and reliability of our platform, products, and services, and by selling in new markets and for new use cases. The success of any enhancement to our platform depends on several factors, including, but not limited to, timely completion and delivery, competitive pricing, adequate quality testing, integration with existing technologies and our platform, and overall market adoption. We may experience difficulties that could delay or prevent the successful development, introduction, or marketing of platform updates or new offerings, features, and functionality. Any new product or service that we develop may not be introduced in a timely or cost-effective manner, may contain bugs, or may not achieve the market adoption necessary to generate significant revenue. If we are unable to successfully develop new products, enhance our existing products to meet customer requirements, or otherwise achieve market adoption, our business, operating results, and financial condition would be harmed.
We have made significant investments to develop, launch, and enhance new products and services, such as FigJam in 2021, Dev Mode in 2023, Figma Slides in 2024, and Figma Sites, Figma Make, Figma Buzz, Figma Draw, and Figma Weave in 2025. We intend to continue investing significant resources to develop and launch new products, services, features, and functionality, including enhancements to our platform’s accessibility. If we do not allocate these resources efficiently, effectively, or in an otherwise commercially successful manner, we may not realize the expected benefits of our strategy. There can be no assurance that customer demand for such initiatives will exist or be sustained at the levels that we anticipate, or that any of these initiatives will gain sufficient traction or market adoption to generate sufficient revenue to offset any new expenses or liabilities associated with these new investments. It is also possible that products and services developed by others, including, but not limited to, new technologies integrating AI, or products and services developed by competitors that employ a credit-based, usage-based, or outcome-based pricing model, will render our platform and offerings uncompetitive or obsolete. Further, our development efforts with respect to new technologies, offerings, features, and functionality could distract management from current operations, and would divert capital and other resources from our more established offerings. If we do not realize the expected benefits of our investments, our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects could be adversely affected.
Competitive developments in AI and our inability to effectively respond to such developments could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Developments in AI are already impacting the software industry significantly, and we expect this impact to be even greater in the future. AI has become more prevalent in the markets in which we operate and may
result in significant changes in the demand for our platform, including, but not limited to, reducing the difficulty and cost for competitors to build and launch competitive products, altering how consumers and businesses interact with websites and apps and consume content in ways that may result in a reduction in the overall value of interface design, or by otherwise making aspects of our platform obsolete or decreasing the number of designers, developers, and other collaborators that utilize our platform. Any of these changes could, in turn, lead to a loss of revenue and adversely impact our business, operating results, and financial condition.
While we have made, and expect to continue to make, significant investments to integrate AI, including generative AI, into our platform, AI technologies are rapidly evolving and there can be no guarantee that our products will remain competitive as new AI technologies are developed, adopted, and integrated into software solutions. We expect that increased investment will be required in the future to continuously improve our use of AI technologies. As with many technological innovations, there are significant risks involved in developing, maintaining, and deploying AI. There can be no assurance that the integration of such technologies will enhance our products or services or be beneficial to our business, including, but not limited to, with respect to our efficiency or profitability. Similarly, we cannot guarantee that our investments in the development and integration of AI will be successful or provide an adequate return, including, without limitation, with respect to the amount of time, focus, and staffing directed towards these efforts. Our announced or perceived AI roadmap and product strategy may create heightened expectations among customers and investors, and if we fail to meet those expectations, our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects could be adversely affected.
As AI models and tooling improve, customers may increasingly expect higher quality outputs, faster iteration cycles, greater reliability, and more seamless end-to-end workflows from design and development platforms. More capable general-purpose AI models released by major providers are or may soon become widely accessible, and if we do not keep pace with rising expectations, customers may reduce usage, delay or forgo purchases, or switch to competing products. In addition, customer expectations regarding the speed, availability, and performance of AI features may increase over time, which could require us to incur higher infrastructure and model costs that we may not be able to recover through pricing. Our ability to keep pace with these expectations may depend on our continued access to advanced third-party AI models and sufficient inference capacity, including from a limited number of foundational model providers. If we are unable to secure or maintain such access on commercially reasonable terms, or if such providers impose usage restrictions, experience outages, or face capacity constraints, our AI features may be delayed, degraded, or unavailable, which could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Our AI products and features may depend on a limited number of third-party model providers or other AI technology partners that may at the same time offer competing products, seek to intermediate end-user relationships directly, influence customer preferences through their own platforms or marketplaces, or otherwise reduce the differentiated value of software companies that build on top of their models. If such providers limit our access, change economic terms, prioritize their own products or strategic partners, or otherwise reduce our ability to differentiate or monetize our offerings, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be adversely affected.
Certain third-party model providers, AI platforms, and agent ecosystems may increasingly control user identity, authentication, tool selection, billing relationships, discovery, or workflow routing for activities that incorporate our products or services. If users are encouraged or enabled to access our products or services through such providers’ subscriptions, token systems, marketplaces, or agent frameworks, our ability to control distribution, customer relationships, pricing, and monetization may be reduced. Such providers may also influence which tools agents use, how usage is attributed, and which party bears the cost of inference or other activity, which could increase pricing pressure, reduce our margins, or otherwise adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Competition in AI-enabled products and workflows may be especially intense with respect to pricing and margins. Certain competitors, including larger platform providers, model providers, AI-native companies, or well-capitalized startups, may offer competing AI-powered functionality at very low prices, bundle such functionality into broader offerings, subsidize usage for extended periods, or operate at margins that are lower than those historically associated with our core software products. Such practices may condition customers to expect AI functionality to be included at low or no incremental cost and may make it difficult for us to price our AI products and features, including more AI-native or media-intensive offerings, in a manner that offsets inference, model access, hosting, support, safety, and other associated costs. These risks may be more pronounced for certain newer offerings or workflows that rely more heavily on third-party model usage or that have materially different cost structures than our more established products. If we are unable to compete effectively in this environment or if the economics of our AI products and features are less favorable than those of our historical offerings, our revenue growth, gross margins, operating margins, and financial condition could be adversely affected.
Further, our competitors may incorporate AI into their products more quickly or more successfully than we do, which would impair our ability to compete effectively. Decisions as to if and how to integrate various AI technologies are difficult and we may choose not to adopt certain technologies or take advantage of certain data sets available to us as a result of ethical, legal, regulatory, or reputational concerns, which could put us at a competitive disadvantage and harm our business, operating results, and financial condition. For example, we, or our customers, may choose, or be required, not to use some high-performing or low-cost open-source models due to security, compliance, export control, sanctions, procurement, or reputational considerations. If our competitors use such models and no comparable alternative is available, we could be at a competitive disadvantage and our business, operating results, and financial condition may be harmed as a result. In the future, we may seek to co-train or otherwise customize AI models with third parties or using additional datasets. Efforts to co-train, fine-tune, or otherwise customize AI models may also require significant expenditures on compute, data preparation, evaluation, experimentation, infrastructure, and personnel, and such efforts may need to be repeated as base models, model providers, customer expectations, or legal and regulatory requirements evolve. These efforts may be costly, may not result in durable performance improvements, may become obsolete more quickly than anticipated, may require us to share or process additional data with third parties or in new environments, and could increase risks related to data rights, privacy, security, confidentiality, intellectual property, regulatory compliance, and partner dependency, any of which could adversely affect our business and reputation.
AI technologies are rapidly changing how digital products and experiences are being designed, prototyped, and built. These shifts may be unpredictable and could include new interaction paradigms, devices, or form factors (such as through AI agents or assistants, conversational or voice-driven workflows, mixed reality or other new form factors, AI agent collaboration, or experiences delivered through operating systems or a small number of ecosystems). This may change how people access and interact with digital products in ways that reduce reliance on traditional software applications, websites, and graphical user interfaces. For example, in an interaction paradigm in which AI agents collaborate with other agents or transact directly with digital services on behalf of users, customers may shift workflows away from traditional user interfaces and toward alternative agent-mediated environments. This could also reduce the amount of traditional interface design, prototyping, and front-end development work that organizations choose to perform or maintain, or cause our customers to shift the performance of certain tasks or workflows into other environments or toolchains outside our platform. For example:
•customers may consolidate purchasing decisions around vendors that bundle AI capabilities across broader software suites or purchase from other vendors that provide end-to-end “design-to-code” or “prompt-to-product” experiences;
•organizations may reduce the number of designers, developers, or collaborators required to deliver products, which may lead to them reducing the number of seats purchased or renewed even if output increases;
•customers may shift preferences from per-seat subscriptions to credit-based, usage-based, or outcome-based billing models, which may increase pricing pressure, reduce predictability of revenue, and adversely affect our margins; and
•switching costs may decline as AI tools improve interoperability, automated conversion of files, or automated recreation of design systems across platforms.
If these changes reduce demand for our platform or disrupt our monetization model, this could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Our failure to successfully develop, commercialize, or effectively monetize our products or services involving AI technologies could impact the price of our Class A common stock and impair our ability to raise capital, expand our business, improve and diversify our product offerings, efficiently manage our operating expenses, and respond effectively to competitive developments. Moreover, the use of AI technologies and our investments to integrate AI into our platform may adversely impact our business, operating results, and financial condition. For example, in the short term, we expect that our AI investments and use of AI technologies, including as part of Figma Make and our other AI features, will negatively impact our gross margins and operating margins and, given the newness of and rapid development of these technologies, the impacts on our gross margins and operating margins, and on our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects over the longer term, are currently unknown.
More generally, advances in AI could be transformative and may occur more rapidly than anticipated. The development of highly capable general-purpose or autonomous AI systems, including the potential emergence of artificial general intelligence or superintelligence, could lead to significant economic, societal, political, and geopolitical disruption. Such disruption could reduce demand for our products, change how organizations staff and budget for design and product development, and increase volatility in customer spending. It could also prompt governments to adopt emergency measures or sweeping new regulations, restrictions, or moratoria on the development, deployment, or use of advanced AI systems, or to regulate access to compute, chips, energy, or cloud infrastructure, any of which could increase our costs, delay or limit our ability to offer AI features, or require us to materially modify our products, business model, or operations. In addition, serious harms attributed to advanced AI systems, including widespread fraud, cyberattacks, misinformation, automated reconnaissance, or other safety incidents, could increase litigation risk and reputational harm for companies offering AI-enabled products, even where such harms are caused by third parties or are outside our control. Any of the foregoing could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
We face intense competition and could lose market share to our competitors, which would adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects.
The markets in which we participate are rapidly evolving and highly competitive, and if we do not compete effectively, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be adversely impacted. We face competition from a number of companies, including companies that cater to multiple stages of the design and development process, point tools that address individual parts of the process but can expand to cover more, and design-to-code and AI-driven companies and tools that compress or accelerate steps in the workflow, take a different approach to building digital experiences, or automatically generate and iterate on designs and code through a prompt or with limited human input. We may also face competition from customized or internal solutions used by our customers or potential customers, particularly with AI’s potential to accelerate the ability to develop and deploy new software. Moreover, we expect to continue to
face intense competition from current competitors, as well as from new entrants into the market, including as a result of strategic acquisitions and partnerships, increased use of AI, or evolving user and customer requirements and industry standards. If we are unable to anticipate or react to these challenges, our competitive position could weaken, and we may experience a decline in revenue, reduced revenue growth, or a loss of market share, which, individually or collectively, could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Our ability to compete effectively depends upon numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, including, but not limited to:
•our ability to attract new customers and retain existing customers, expand our platform, or increase adoption of our products and services by new and existing customers;
•market acceptance of our recent, and any future, billing model changes;
•our ability to attract, train, retain, and motivate talented employees;
•the extent of market adoption of our platform, and the timing of such market adoption, which may be influenced by developments and enhancements we introduce to our platform relative to the developments and enhancements made to competitive products available in the market;
•the impact of AI on the markets for our products and services, including, but not limited to, our ability to successfully incorporate AI technologies into our platform and successfully adapt our billing models to the increased use of AI in the software industry generally;
•the budgeting cycles, seasonal buying patterns, and purchasing practices of our customers, including, but not limited to, any slowdown in software spending;
•general macroeconomic and political conditions, both domestically and in foreign markets where we operate, including, but not limited to, changes in U.S. federal spending, the imposition of trade barriers, tariffs, and other protectionist measures, global economic slowdowns, actual or perceived global banking and finance related issues, increased risk of inflation, uncertainty with respect to the U.S. federal debt ceiling and budget and potential U.S. federal government shutdowns related thereto, interest rate volatility, supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and potential global recession;
•changes in user, customer, or market needs or preferences;
•the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of our customer service and support efforts;
•our product pricing strategies, including any pressure to change our product pricing strategies as a result of competition;
•the timing and success of new offerings introduced by us or our competitors or any other change in the competitive landscape of our industry, including, but not limited to, consolidation among our competitors or customers and strategic partnerships entered into by or between our competitors;
•changes in the mix of our overall business, including in subscription plans and products sold;
•ease of use, performance, reliability, and comprehensiveness of our platform relative to competitive products and services;
•our reputation and brand strength relative to our competitors;
•our ability to maintain and grow our community of users and customers both domestically and internationally;
•security breaches of, technical difficulties with, or interruptions to the use of our platform;
•the timing and costs related to the development or acquisition of technologies, businesses, or strategic partnerships;
•our ability to execute, complete, or efficiently integrate any acquisitions that we may undertake;
•increased expenses, unforeseen liabilities, or write-downs and any impact on our operating results from any acquisitions we consummate;
•the length and complexity of our sales cycles; and
•insolvency, credit difficulties, or other financial issues affecting our customers or potential customers, which may be caused or exacerbated by factors including U.S. and global macroeconomic issues, the imposition of trade barriers, tariffs, and other protectionist measures, inflation, and interest rate volatility, and which may adversely affect their ability to purchase or pay for our platform in a timely manner or at all.
Our competitors may have greater financial, technical, marketing, sales, and other resources, greater name recognition, longer operating histories, and a larger base of customers than we do. Our competitors may be able to devote greater resources to the development, promotion, and sale of their products and services than we can, and they may offer lower pricing than we do or bundle certain competing products and services at lower prices or for free. For example, AI-enabled offerings by large platform companies, AI model providers and other technology providers, whether standalone or embedded in broader platforms, could reduce the perceived value of our standalone offerings and pressure our pricing and market position. Our competitors may also have greater resources for research and development of new technologies, customer support, and to pursue acquisitions, or they may have other financial, technical, or other resource advantages. Our larger competitors have substantially broader and more diverse product and service offerings and more mature distribution and go-to-market strategies, which allows them to leverage their existing customer and distributor relationships to gain business in a manner that discourages potential customers from purchasing our platform. Furthermore, our current or potential competitors may be acquired by third parties with greater available resources and the ability to initiate or withstand substantial price competition. Pricing pressures and increased competition could result in reduced sales, lower margins, or financial losses, or hinder our ability to maintain or improve our competitive market position, any of which could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Our product and investment decisions may negatively impact our short-term financial results and may not produce the long-term benefits that we expect.
We make product and investment decisions, which we believe are essential to the success of our platform and in serving the best, long-term interests of Figma and our stockholders. As a result, we may make business decisions that negatively impact our financial results in the short-term when we believe that the decisions are consistent with our goal to improve the user experience on our platform, attract new users and customers, and expand our relationships with our existing users and customers, resulting in the long-term success of our platform and business. These decisions may not result in the outcomes we expect and may not be consistent with the expectations of investors and analysts, in which case our business, operating results, and financial condition could be adversely affected.
The markets for our products and services are relatively new and unproven and may not grow, which would adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects.
Although we launched our initial product, Figma Design, in 2015, the markets for our products and services, and especially those recently introduced, such as FigJam in 2021, Dev Mode in 2023, Figma Slides in 2024, and Figma Sites, Figma Make, Figma Buzz, Figma Draw, and Figma Weave in 2025, remain relatively new and unproven. Because the markets for our products and services are relatively new and rapidly evolving, it is difficult to predict customer adoption, customer and user demand for our products and services, the size and growth rate of these markets, the entry of competitive products and services, or the success of existing competitive services. It is also difficult to predict the impact of AI on our markets. Any expansion or contraction in our markets depends on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the cost, performance, and perceived value associated with our platform and the appetite and ability of customers to pay for and subscribe to our platform. Further, even if the overall markets for the type of offerings we provide continue to grow, we may face intense competition from larger and more well-established companies, as well as new entrants, and we may not be able to compete effectively, or achieve further widespread market adoption of our platform. If the markets for our platform do not grow to the extent that we anticipate or our platform does not achieve further widespread adoption within the markets in which we operate, our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects could be adversely affected.
Our use of AI in our products and services may result in reputational harm, legal liability, competitive risks, and regulatory concerns that could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
We have made, and expect to continue to make, significant investments to integrate AI, including generative AI, and machine learning technology into our platform, including as part of our Figma Make product and Figma AI features. Many AI technologies are relatively new and present ethical, legal, regulatory, and reputational challenges. The use of datasets to develop AI models, the content generated by AI systems, or the application of AI systems may be found to be insufficient, offensive, biased, or harmful, or may violate current or future laws and regulations or contractual commitments. Standards and expectations regarding AI safety, acceptable outputs, and appropriate safeguards are evolving and may differ across our industry, customers, regulators, and the public, including across different geographies, cultures, and political environments, and there may be no consensus on what constitutes safe behavior for a given use case. We may be unable or unwilling to implement controls that satisfy all such expectations, and our decisions about whether and how to restrict or moderate AI outputs could result in customer dissatisfaction, reputational harm, or regulatory scrutiny. Certain AI technologies have come under public scrutiny due to allegations that they generate inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading content, introduce unintended biases, and produce other discriminatory or unexpected results, errors, or inadequacies. Consumer and societal attitudes toward AI are evolving and there is a risk that regulators or the public may perceive AI technologies negatively. Concerns about automation, automated decision-making, privacy, security, transparency, and other ethical considerations could deter AI adoption. The insurance coverage we maintain may not extend to all AI-related risks we may face, and may not cover us for all losses for errors or omissions caused by AI.
Further, we generally rely on third-party models for the AI features on our platform. Our ability to continue to use such technologies at scale may be dependent on access to certain limited or specific third-party software and infrastructure providers. We cannot control the availability or pricing of such third-party AI technologies, especially in a highly competitive environment, and we may be unable to negotiate favorable economic terms with the applicable providers. Providers may also experience capacity constraints or prioritize other customers, which could limit the availability or performance of our AI features. If any such third-party AI technologies become incompatible with our platform or unavailable for
use, or if the providers of such models unfavorably change the terms on which their AI technologies are offered or terminate their relationship with us, our platform may become less appealing to our customers, and our business, operating results, and financial condition could be adversely impacted. Moreover, the integration of third-party AI models with our platform relies on certain safeguards implemented by the third-party developers of the underlying AI models, including those related to the accuracy, bias, and other variables of the training data used for such models, and these safeguards may be insufficient. In addition, if our AI features do not provide customers with sufficient administrative controls, transparency, documentation, or governance capabilities, customers may determine that such products and features are not suitable for regulated, security-sensitive, or enterprise use cases, which could reduce adoption, increase contractual disputes, or heighten scrutiny by regulators.
If the models underlying our AI technologies, whether developed by a third party or developed by us, are incorrectly designed or implemented; trained or reliant on incomplete, inadequate, inaccurate, biased or otherwise poor quality data, or on data to which we do not have sufficient rights or in relation to which we and/or the providers of such data have not implemented sufficient legal compliance measures; used without sufficient oversight and governance to ensure their responsible use; and/or adversely impacted by unforeseen defects, technical challenges, cybersecurity threats, or material performance issues, the performance of our products, services, and business, as well as our reputation and our customers’ reputations, could suffer, and we could incur liability resulting from the violation of laws, breach of contract claims, or civil claims. For example, we are, and may in the future become, subject to litigation alleging breach of contract and related claims arising from allegations regarding the use of user data in connection with AI training, trade secret misappropriation, and violations of various state and federal statutes. Such claims can be costly to defend, may result in adverse judgments or settlements, may require changes to our products, policies, contracts, or business practices (including limitations on certain AI features or how data may be processed), and could harm our reputation and relationships with users. Further, claims, litigation, or regulatory actions relating to AI data practices may seek remedies beyond monetary damages, including injunctive relief, and could require us to make material changes to our products or business practices. Any such changes could be costly, technically complex, and disruptive to our product roadmap and operations, could reduce the performance or usefulness of our AI features, and could adversely affect customer relationships, revenue, and growth.
In addition, the use of AI applications may result in data leakage or unauthorized exposure of data, including, but not limited to, confidential business information, the personal data of end users, or other sensitive information. Such leakage or unauthorized exposure of data related to the use of AI applications could result in legal claims or liability or otherwise adversely affect our reputation and operating results. The above risks may be increased by the introduction of our Figma Weave product, which contains many AI models, some of which are entirely independent third-party models that are provided to customers “as is.” AI products and features may introduce additional security vulnerabilities and threat vectors beyond traditional software risks (including prompt injection, data poisoning, model inversion, membership inference, latent or hidden behaviors that are difficult to detect in testing and that may be triggered under certain conditions, and other attacks designed to cause models to disclose sensitive information), behave in unintended ways, or produce harmful or misleading outputs. Users or third parties may attempt to circumvent or defeat safeguards (including through jailbreaks, prompt manipulation, or other techniques) to generate prohibited content, extract sensitive information, or drive excessive usage. Such activity could increase our costs (including AI inference and support costs), result in fraud, billing disputes, or chargebacks, and cause reputational harm or liability. In addition, the use of third-party models and toolchains may increase supply-chain risk, including the risk that model weights, safety layers, or dependencies are compromised, misconfigured, or updated in ways that degrade security or performance. If any of these vulnerabilities result in the unauthorized disclosure of customer content, confidential information, personal data, or proprietary information, or if customers believe our AI features are not sufficiently secure for their use cases, we could face contractual claims, indemnity demands, regulatory scrutiny, reputational harm, and reduced adoption of our AI features or platform.
Moreover, our AI technologies could generate output that infringes on third-party intellectual property rights, and we could be subject to claims or lawsuits, including, but not limited to, for infringement of third-party intellectual property rights as a result of the output of such AI technologies. While some providers of AI technologies offer to indemnify their end users for any copyright or other intellectual property infringement claims arising from the output of their AI technologies, such indemnification may be inadequate or we may not be successful in adequately recovering our losses in connection with such claims. Our AI technologies could also generate content that is inaccurate, misleading, or inappropriate, which could harm our reputation, expose us to liability, or cause customers to lose confidence in our platform.
The regulatory framework for AI technologies is rapidly evolving as many U.S. federal, state, and foreign government bodies and agencies have introduced or are currently considering additional laws and regulations. Additionally, existing laws and regulations may be interpreted in ways that would affect the operation of our AI technologies or could be rescinded or amended as new administrations take differing approaches to evolving AI technologies. As a result, implementation standards and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future, and we cannot yet completely determine the impact future laws, regulations, standards, or market perception of their requirements may have on our business and may not always be able to anticipate how to respond to these laws or regulations.
Already, certain existing legal regimes, for example, relating to data privacy, regulate certain aspects of AI technologies, and new laws regulating AI technologies have recently entered into force in the United States and the EEA. In the United States, there is an ongoing tension between the states and the federal government over how best to regulate the use of AI. A number of U.S. states, such as California and Colorado, have proposed or enacted laws regarding automated decision‑making, algorithmic discrimination, and so-called “high‑risk” AI technologies (mandating, among other provisions, requirements for risk management, impact assessments, consumer notices, and human oversight), which may impact our use of AI and AI-powered tools. However, the status of such laws is currently uncertain as the federal government takes steps towards establishing broad federal AI regulation that could preempt all or some state law. Any such additional regulation may impact our ability to develop, use, and commercialize AI technologies in the future.
In Europe, the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (the “EU AI Act”) establishes a comprehensive, risk-based governance framework for AI in the EU market. The EU AI Act will have a material impact on the way AI is regulated in the EU, as it applies to companies that develop, use, and/or provide AI in the EU and, depending on the AI use case, includes requirements around transparency, conformity assessments and monitoring, risk assessments, human oversight, security, accuracy, general purpose AI, and foundation models, and imposes substantial fines for breaches. The EU AI Act, together with developing guidance and/or decisions in this area, may affect our use of AI technologies and our ability to provide, improve, or commercialize our services, require additional compliance measures and changes to our operations and processes, result in increased compliance costs and potential increases in civil claims against us, and could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition. It is possible that further new laws and regulations will be adopted in the United States and in other non-U.S. jurisdictions, or that existing laws and regulations, including competition and antitrust laws, may be interpreted in ways that would limit our ability to use AI technologies for our business, or require us to change the way we use AI technologies in a manner that negatively affects the performance of our offerings and the way in which we use AI technologies. We may need to expend resources to adjust our products, services, or operating procedures in certain jurisdictions if the laws, regulations, or decisions regarding AI technologies are not consistent across jurisdictions. Further, the cost to comply with such laws, regulations, or decisions and/or guidance interpreting existing laws, could be significant and would increase our operating expenses (such as by imposing additional reporting and compliance obligations regarding our use of AI technologies). Such an increase in operating expenses, as well as any actual or perceived failure to comply with such laws and regulations, could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Moreover, any changes to the above discussed existing legal regimes with respect to data privacy and AI technologies within the United States and abroad could require us to expend significant resources to modify our products, services, or operations to ensure compliance or remain competitive.
Existing and future acquisitions, strategic investments, partnerships, or alliances could be difficult to identify and integrate, divert the attention of key management personnel, disrupt our business, dilute stockholder value, and adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects.
As part of our business strategy, we have in the past and expect to continue to make investments in or acquire complementary companies, services, products, technologies, or talent. All of our acquisitions and investments are subject to a risk of partial or total loss of investment capital. Our ability as an organization to acquire and integrate other companies, services, or technologies in a successful manner is not guaranteed.
In the future, we may not be able to find suitable acquisition candidates, and we may not be able to complete such acquisitions on favorable terms, if at all. Our due diligence efforts may fail to identify all of the challenges, problems, liabilities, or other shortcomings involved in an acquisition. Further, current and future changes to the U.S. and foreign regulatory approval processes and requirements related to acquisitions may cause approvals to take longer than anticipated, not be forthcoming, or contain burdensome conditions, which may prevent the completion of the transaction or jeopardize, delay, or reduce the anticipated benefits of the transaction, and impede the execution of our business strategy. For example, in 2022, we entered into an agreement to be acquired by Adobe. However, based on our joint assessment that there was no clear path to obtain the required regulatory approvals for the transaction to close, in 2023 we mutually agreed with Adobe to terminate the agreement. In addition, the process of seeking the regulatory approvals necessary to close an acquisition can be long and burdensome, requiring significant time and attention from the management team and imposing opportunity costs. If we do complete acquisitions, we may not ultimately strengthen our competitive position or ability to achieve our business objectives, and any acquisitions we announce or complete could be viewed negatively by our customers or investors.
In addition, if we are unsuccessful at integrating existing and future acquisitions, or the technologies and personnel associated with such acquisitions, into our company, the revenue and operating results of the combined company could be adversely affected. Any integration process may require significant time and resources, and we may not be able to manage the process successfully. We may not successfully evaluate or utilize the acquired technology or personnel, or accurately forecast the financial impact of an acquisition transaction, causing unanticipated write-offs or accounting (including goodwill) charges. Additionally, integrations could take longer than expected, or if we move too quickly in trying to integrate an acquisition, strategic investment, partnership, or other alliance, we may fail to achieve the desired efficiencies. Further, the companies we acquire could introduce new risks to our business or have vulnerabilities and/or unsophisticated practices (including security or data protection measures), which may expose us to significant cybersecurity, operational, and financial risks.
We have, and may in the future have, to pay cash, incur debt, or issue equity securities to pay for acquisitions, each of which could adversely affect our financial condition and the market price of our Class A common stock. The sale of equity or issuance of convertible debt to finance any such acquisitions could result in dilution to our stockholders, which, depending on the size of the acquisition, may be significant. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased fixed obligations and could also include covenants or other restrictions that would impede our ability to manage our operations.
Additional risks we may face in connection with acquisitions and strategic investments include:
•diversion of management’s time and focus from operating our business;
•the inability to integrate product and service offerings of an acquired company;
•retention of key employees from the acquired company;
•changes in relationships with strategic partners or the loss of any key customers or partners as a result of acquisitions or strategic positioning resulting from the acquisition or strategic investment;
•cultural challenges associated with integrating employees from the acquired company into our organization;
•integration of the acquired company’s finance, accounting, customer relationship management, management information, human resources, and other administrative systems;
•the need to implement or improve controls, procedures, and policies at a business that prior to the acquisition may have lacked sufficiently effective controls, procedures, and policies;
•unexpected security risks or higher than expected costs to improve the security posture of the acquired company;
•higher than expected costs to bring the acquired company’s information technology infrastructure up to our standards;
•additional legal, regulatory, or compliance requirements;
•additional risks associated with acquisitions of companies based outside of the United States, including, but not limited to, exposure to political instability, terrorism, acts of war, security risks, and changes in the public perception of governments, and other risks unique to operating in foreign jurisdictions;
•financial reporting, revenue recognition, or other financial or control deficiencies of the acquired company that we do not adequately address and that cause our reported results to be incorrect;
•liability for activities of the acquired company before the acquisition, including, but not limited to, intellectual property infringement claims, violations of laws, commercial disputes, tax liabilities, and other known and unknown liabilities;
•failing to achieve the expected benefits of the acquisition or investment; and
•litigation or other claims in connection with the acquired company, including, but not limited to, claims from or against terminated employees, customers, current and former stockholders, or other third parties.
Our failure to address these risks or other problems encountered in connection with acquisitions and investments could cause us to fail to realize the anticipated benefits of these acquisitions or investments, cause us to incur unanticipated liabilities, and harm our business generally.
In the event that we were to receive an offer to purchase our company, our Board of Directors, subject to its fiduciary duties, may decide to approve or forego the sale. Certain stockholders may disagree with or challenge such a decision. Moreover, if we were to engage in a sale of our company, we may experience risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, as a result of the closing conditions to the transaction being delayed or not obtained, including due to delay or failure to obtain necessary regulatory approvals; business disruptions due to transaction-related uncertainty or other factors making it more difficult to
maintain relationships with our employees, customers, users, and partners; any litigation resulting from such transaction, and diversion of management’s attention from our ongoing business operations and opportunities as a result of the proposed transaction. For example, after entering into the Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with Adobe in 2022, we mutually agreed to terminate the Merger Agreement in 2023 based on our joint assessment that there was no clear path to obtain the required regulatory approvals.
In addition to our strategic investments, we maintain a portfolio of marketable equity, debt securities, and digital assets. From time to time, we have invested excess cash reserves in alternative assets, such as Bitcoin and a Bitcoin exchange traded fund, and we may continue to invest in cryptocurrencies and other alternative assets in the future. The investments in our portfolio are subject to our corporate investment policy, which focuses on the preservation of capital, fulfillment of our liquidity needs, and maximization of investment performance within the parameters set forth in our corporate investment policy and subject to market conditions. These investments are subject to general credit, liquidity, market, and interest rate risks. In particular, the value of our portfolio may decline due to changes in interest rates, instability in the global financial markets that reduces the liquidity of securities and other assets in our investment portfolio, volatility, and other factors, including unexpected or unprecedented events. Any investments we make in cryptocurrencies and other alternative assets, such as Bitcoin and a Bitcoin exchange traded fund, are further subject to the market prices of such assets, which have been highly volatile and may continue to fluctuate in the future due to market factors, regulatory developments, and other risks that are outside of our control. As a result, we may experience a decline in value or loss of liquidity of our investments, which could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Adverse global macroeconomic conditions or reduced software spending could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Our business depends on the overall demand for software technology and on the economic health of our current and prospective customers. As the landscape for software technology, and for the types of products that we offer, evolves, the purchase of our products may be considered discretionary and involve a significant commitment of capital, implementation, and other resources by an organization and, as a result, prospective customers may decide not to purchase our products and existing customers may reduce their use of our products. Weak global and regional economic conditions — including, but not limited to, U.S. and global macroeconomic issues, actual or perceived global banking and finance related issues, any economic impacts due to changes in U.S. federal spending, the imposition of trade barriers, tariffs, and other protectionist measures, labor shortages, labor displacement, high unemployment rates, supply chain disruptions, fluctuating interest rates and inflation, changes in investment and spending environments, geopolitical instability, warfare, and uncertainty, including the effects of geopolitical conflicts — could result in longer sales cycles, pressure to lower prices for our platform, reduced sales to new or existing customers, or slower or declining growth of our business or negatively impact our ability to attract new customers, retain existing customers, or increase the adoption of our products and services by new and existing customers, any of which would adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition. For example, in 2023, we experienced a decline in usage and consumption patterns from certain customers, especially larger enterprise customers, longer sales cycles and downsizing of renewals by existing customers, especially larger enterprise customers. We believe these trends were due, in part, to uncertainty in macroeconomic conditions and related cost-consciousness around software budgets at the time.
Deterioration in economic conditions in any of the countries in which we do business could also cause slower or impaired collections on accounts receivable, which may adversely impact our liquidity and financial condition.
The imposition of tariffs, border taxes, or other barriers to trade may directly or indirectly impact our business, operating results, and financial condition, including as a result of any impact on our customers that may reduce demand for our platform, products, and services. For example, the United States has announced or implemented tariffs, certain of which have been temporarily suspended or delayed, on imported goods from most countries and select countries have announced retaliatory tariffs in response, contributing to volatility in the markets. There can be no assurance that we will be able to mitigate the impacts of the foregoing or any future changes in global trade dynamics on our business.
Security and privacy breaches may adversely impact our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Our platform hosts, processes, stores, and transmits our and our customers’ proprietary and sensitive data, including personal data about customers, employees, business partners and others, and trade secrets. We also use third-party service providers to help us deliver services to our customers and users. These vendors may host, process, store, or transmit personal and financial data, or other confidential information of our employees, consultants, or our users and customers. We collect such information from individuals located in the United States and abroad and may host, process, store, or transmit such information outside the country in which it was collected. While we and our third-party service providers have implemented security measures designed to protect against privacy and security breaches, these measures could fail or may be insufficient, resulting in unauthorized access to or disclosure, modification, misuse, destruction, or loss of our or our customers’ data or other sensitive information. We have experienced, and may in the future experience, cybersecurity incidents; however, to date, we are not aware of any such incidents that have had a material impact on our business, operating results, and financial condition. Any security breach of our platform, our operational systems, physical facilities, or the systems of our third-party processors, or the perception that a breach has occurred, or other adverse impact to the availability, integrity, or confidentiality of such platform and systems, could result in litigation (including class actions), indemnity obligations, regulatory enforcement actions, investigations, compulsory audits, fines, penalties, mitigation and remediation costs, disputes, reputational harm, diversion of management’s attention, and other liabilities and damage to our business.
We face evolving cybersecurity risks that threaten the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our or our customers’ confidential or personal data and our and our third-party service providers’ information technology systems, which could result from human error, system misconfiguration, or from cyber-attacks, including distributed-denial-of-service attacks, reverse-engineering of AI algorithms, prompt injection attacks, automated reconnaissance, web scraping, ransomware attacks, business email compromises, credential stuffing, computer malware, viruses, and social engineering (including phishing, deepfakes, and voice cloning), software supply-chain compromises, including but not limited to via AI agents, templates, designs, icons, widgets, plugins, or other third party software or content, malicious code embedded in open-source software, or misconfigurations, “bugs” or other vulnerabilities in commercial software that is integrated into our and our third-party service providers’ information technology systems, products or services, which are prevalent in our industry. Recent advancements in AI have demonstrated the potential for AI systems to autonomously discover and exploit software vulnerabilities, including zero-day vulnerabilities, at speeds and scales that exceed previous human capability, which may materially accelerate the timeline and severity of potential attacks. These threats may come from a variety of sources, including nation-state sponsored espionage and hacking activities, corporate espionage, organized crime, sophisticated organizations, hacking groups and individuals, and insider threats. Any security breach or disruption could result in the loss or destruction of, or unauthorized access to, or use, alteration, disclosure, or acquisition of confidential or personal data, which may result in damage to our reputation, termination of customer contracts, litigation, regulatory investigations, or other liabilities. More capable AI models that are or may soon become widely accessible have and will continue to amplify the capabilities of threat actors. Any circumvention or failure of our cybersecurity defenses or measures could compromise the confidentiality or integrity of our customers’ data or other sensitive information. If our, our
customers’, or our partners’ security measures are breached as a result of third-party action, fraud, human error, system misconfiguration, malfeasance, or otherwise, and, as a result, someone obtains unauthorized access to our platform including confidential or personal data of our customers, our reputation could be damaged, our business may suffer loss of current customers and future opportunities, and we could incur significant financial liability including fines, cost of recovery, and costs related to remediation measures.
Our platform is collaborative and includes features that allow users and administrators to configure access controls, sharing settings, and permissions, and we may face claims even where issues arise from customer or user actions or misconfigurations. Customers and users may intentionally or inadvertently misconfigure settings (including link-sharing, external access, guest access, permissions, or integration configurations) or otherwise share content in ways that expose sensitive information. Even if such exposure results from customer or user actions, we could nevertheless be alleged to have failed to provide adequate safeguards, warnings, controls, or default settings, or to have failed to meet contractual or legal requirements, which could result in claims, disputes, regulatory inquiries, reputational harm, and increased costs of mitigation and remediation.
Any security breach could also lead to unauthorized access to, or disclosure of, our trade secrets or proprietary rights to our intellectual property. Unauthorized access to or disclosure of trade secrets or proprietary rights to our intellectual property, including our source code, could result in the loss of critical intellectual property protections, such as trade secret status. If our source code or other sensitive technologies are improperly accessed, copied, or disclosed, third parties may be able to replicate our products or services, which could weaken our competitive position, lower customer demand, and adversely affect our revenue and operating margins. In addition, responding to and mitigating such incidents could require significant management attention and resources, result in costly legal claims or investigations, and cause reputational harm. Any of these outcomes could materially and adversely impact our business and financial condition.
Techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems change frequently, and the emergence of AI-driven offensive cyber capabilities may further compress the time between vulnerability discovery and exploitation. As a result, we may be unable to fully anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures before they are exploited. Further, the incidence of state-supported and geopolitical-related cyberattacks may rise in connection with regional geopolitical conflicts which have increased the risk of cyberattacks on various types of infrastructure and operations. Bad actors are also utilizing AI-based tools, including generative AI-based tools, to execute attacks, circumvent security controls, evade detection, and remove forensic evidence, creating unprecedented cybersecurity challenges. In addition, AI systems have demonstrated the capacity to discover and potentially exploit previously unknown software vulnerabilities across widely deployed operating systems, browsers, and other software on which our platform and infrastructure depend, which could expose us or our customers to attacks before patches or mitigations become available. As a result, we may be unable to detect, investigate, remediate, or recover from future attacks or incidents, or to avoid a material adverse impact to our information technology systems, confidential or personal data, or business. Remote and hybrid working arrangements at our company (and at many third-party providers) also increase cybersecurity risks due to the challenges associated with worker fraud (including through the use of a stolen or forged identity to gain employment) and with managing remote computing assets and security vulnerabilities that are present in many non-corporate and home networks. If an actual or perceived security breach occurs, the market perception of our security measures could be harmed, and we could lose sales and customers. If we are, or are perceived to be, not in compliance with data protection, consumer privacy, or other legal or regulatory requirements or operational norms bearing on the collection, processing, storage, or other treatment of data records, including personal data, our reputation and operating performance may suffer. Any significant violations of data privacy could result in the loss of
business, litigation, regulatory investigations and processes, and penalties that could damage our reputation and adversely impact our business, operating results, and financial condition.
We have certain contractual and legal obligations to notify relevant stakeholders of security breaches. Most jurisdictions have enacted their own laws requiring companies to notify affected individuals, regulatory authorities, and relevant others of security breaches involving certain types of data, including personal data. In addition, our agreements with certain customers may require us to notify them in the event of a security breach. The foregoing mandatory disclosures are costly, could lead to negative publicity, may cause our customers to lose confidence in the effectiveness of our security measures, and may require us to expend significant capital and other resources to respond to or alleviate problems caused by the actual or perceived security breach, any of which could exacerbate the adverse impact of the security breach.
A security breach could lead to claims by our customers or other relevant stakeholders that we have failed to comply with such legal or contractual obligations. As a result, we could be subject to legal action or our customers could end their relationships with us. There can be no assurance that any limitations of liability in our contracts would be enforceable or adequate or would otherwise protect us from liabilities or damages. While we maintain cybersecurity insurance, our insurance may be insufficient or may not cover all liabilities incurred by such attacks and insurance may not be available to us in the future on economically reasonable terms or at all.
Any adverse impact to the availability, integrity, or confidentiality of our data, systems, or physical facilities could result in disputes, claims, or litigation with our customers and impacted third-parties, or investigations by government authorities. These proceedings could force us to incur significant expenditures in defense or settlement, divert management’s time and attention, increase our costs of doing business, or adversely affect our reputation. We could be required to fundamentally change our business activities and practices or modify our platform, products, and services in response to such litigation, which could have an adverse effect on our business. If a security breach were to occur, and the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of our data or the data of our customers and users was disrupted, we could incur significant liability, or our platform, products, and services may be perceived as less desirable, which could negatively affect our business and damage our reputation.
If we do not or cannot maintain the compatibility of our platform with our customers’ existing technology, including third-party technologies that our customers use in their businesses, our business, operating results, and financial condition may be adversely affected.
The functionality and popularity of our platform depend, in part, on our ability to integrate our platform with our customers’ existing technology, including other third-party technologies that our customers use in their businesses. Our customers, or the third parties whose products and services our customers utilize, may change the features of their technologies, restrict our access to their technologies, or alter the terms governing use of their technologies in a manner that makes our platform incompatible with their technologies, which would adversely impact our ability to service our customers. Such changes could functionally limit or prevent our ability to use these third-party technologies in conjunction with our platform, products, and services, which would negatively affect adoption of our platform and harm our business. Moreover, we may decide to restrict or limit the ability of third parties to access our platform, APIs, or other developer resources for various business, privacy, or security reasons, which may negatively impact the functionality of our platform and our brand reputation. If we fail to create or maintain a robust developer ecosystem or otherwise fail to integrate our platform with our customers’ technologies and with third-party technologies that our customers use, we may not be able to offer the functionality that our customers need, which could adversely impact our business, operating results, and financial condition. In addition, customers may require our platform to comply with certain security or other certifications and standards. If we are unable to achieve, or are delayed in achieving, compliance with
these certifications and standards, we may be disqualified from selling our platform to such customers, or may otherwise be at a competitive disadvantage, either of which could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
If our platform fails to perform properly, whether due to material defects with the software or external issues, our reputation could be adversely affected, our market share could decline, and we could be subject to claims for refunds, credits, damages, indemnity, or other forms of liability, including lawsuits.
Our platform is inherently complex and may contain material defects, software “bugs,” or errors. Any defects in functionality or operational procedures that cause interruptions in the availability of our platform, or cause our platform to function other than intended, could result in:
•loss of, or delayed, market adoption and sales;
•loss of or unintended use or disclosure of data;
•inaccurate billing of our customers, including over- or under-billing;
•inaccurate revenue recognition;
•breach of warranty claims;
•sales credits or refunds;
•loss of customers, users, and potential customers;
•diversion of development and customer service resources;
•destruction or compromised integrity of data and/or intellectual property; and
•injury to our brand and reputation.
The costs incurred in correcting any material defects, software “bugs,” or errors in our platform might be substantial and could adversely affect our operating results.
We rely on information technology systems to process, transmit, and store electronic information, including on systems provided by our third-party vendors and service providers. Our ability to effectively manage our business depends significantly on the reliability and capacity of these systems. Our information technology systems, and those of the third parties on whom we rely, may be subject to damage or interruption from telecommunications problems, data corruption, data errors, software defects or errors, fire, flood, acts of war, terrorism, armed conflicts, global pandemics, natural disasters, power outages, systems disruptions, system conversions, system updates, or human error. Our existing controls, safety systems, data backup, access protection, user management, contracts with third-party vendors, and information technology emergency planning may not be sufficient to prevent data loss, long-term network outages, or other negative impacts to the usability of our platform. Our production systems might not be sufficiently resilient against regional outages and recovery from such an outage might take an extended period of time. While we have in place a data recovery plan, our data backup systems might fail and our data recovery plans may be insufficient to fully recover all of our or our customers’ data hosted on our system. In addition, we may have to upgrade our existing information technology systems or choose to incorporate new information technology systems from time to time in order to support the requirements of our growing and increasingly complex business. Introduction of new technology, or upgrades and maintenance to our existing systems, could result in increased costs or unforeseen problems which may disrupt or reduce our operating efficacy.
We may also encounter service interruptions, outages, or disruptions due to issues interfacing with our customers’ information technology systems, including, but not limited to, stack misconfigurations or improper environment scaling, defective updates or upgrades, our customers’ inability to access the internet, the failure of our network or software systems, security breaches, variability in user traffic for our platform, or due to cybersecurity attacks on our or our customers’ information technology systems. For example, if our cloud hosting provider or the hosting provider of any of our third-party technology partners, including AI partners, were to experience interruptions, delays, outages, or other service interruptions, including as a result of customer demand, that may impact our ability to provide service to our customers. We may be required to issue credits or refunds or otherwise be liable to our customers for damages they may incur resulting from certain of these events.
Certain of our customer agreements contain service level commitments, which contain specifications regarding the availability of our platform and our support services. Pursuant to these agreements, if we are unable to meet our stated service level commitments or if we suffer extended periods of poor performance or unavailability of our platform for any reason, we may be contractually obligated to provide certain affected customers with credits, partial refunds, or termination rights. For example, from time to time, we have granted, and in the future may continue to grant, credits, partial refunds, or termination rights to customers pursuant to the terms of these agreements. Our business, operating results, and financial condition would be adversely affected if we suffer performance issues or downtime that fails to meet the service level commitments under our agreements with our customers.
Our AI credit, usage-based, and rate-limiting systems may also contain defects, errors, or ambiguities, including with respect to usage attribution, balance calculations, limit enforcement, refresh timing, pooled allocations, invoices, or customer-facing reporting. If these systems fail to operate as intended, customers may be overcharged or undercharged, unexpectedly lose access, consume credits in connection with failed or interrupted outputs, or be unable to understand or verify usage, which could result in credits, refunds, disputes, litigation, regulatory scrutiny, and reputational harm.
We also have in the past and may in the future experience issues with respect to our billing processes as a result of errors in our code or the implementation of our billing logic, user permissioning systems, internal controls, information technology infrastructure, or any third-party technologies integrated into our billing processes. For example, in February 2023, we became aware of an error in our platform that was erroneously causing certain users to be upgraded from free seats to paid seats whenever they took certain actions on our platform, resulting in the overbilling of impacted customers. Upon discovery, we remediated the error and issued credits to impacted customers. We do not currently have any liabilities accrued on our condensed consolidated balance sheets related to this incident. Although these events have not historically had a material impact on our operating results, any future issues with respect to our billing processes may be substantial and could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
In addition to potential liability, refunds, or credits, if we experience interruptions in the availability of our platform or other issues that impact customer satisfaction with our platform, our reputation and brand could be adversely affected and we could lose customers. While we currently maintain errors and omissions insurance, it may be inadequate or may not be available in the future on acceptable terms, or at all. In addition, our policy may not cover all claims made against us and defending a suit, regardless of its merit, could be costly and divert management’s attention.
If we are not able to maintain and enhance our brand and reputation, our business, operating results, and financial condition may be adversely affected.
We believe that maintaining and enhancing our brand and reputation is critical to continued adoption of our platform, our relationship with our existing customers, and our ability to attract new customers. The
successful promotion and maintenance of our brand will depend on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, our ability to continue to provide reliable products and services that continue to meet the needs of our customers at competitive prices, our ability to successfully differentiate our platform from those of competitors, the effectiveness of our marketing and customer support efforts, and the effectiveness of our communications to our stakeholders. Although we believe it is important for our growth, our brand awareness activities may not be successful or yield increased revenue, and even if they do, any increased revenue may not offset the expenses we incur in building our brand. If we fail to successfully promote and maintain our brand, our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects may be adversely impacted. In addition, our users, customers, employees, or the public at large may, from time to time, disagree with, or find objectionable, organizational decisions, including, but not limited to, pricing, packaging, and billing changes and changes that we make to our platform, or other actions or comments by members of our team. As a result of these disagreements and any negative publicity associated therewith, we could lose users or customers, including loyal members of our community, or we may have difficulty attracting or retaining employees and such disagreements may divert resources and the time and attention of management from our business. Additionally, with the importance and impact of social media, any negative publicity regarding our policies and practices or organizational decisions or actions by members of our team, including those taken in a personal capacity or unrelated to their roles at our company, may be magnified and reach a large portion of our users, customers, and employees in a very short period of time, which could harm our brand and reputation and adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Our public statements, marketing materials, customer communications, and disclosures regarding our products (including AI products and features), privacy and security practices, reliability, and pricing, packaging, and billing models may be subject to differing interpretations and may evolve over time, and alleged inconsistencies could expose us to claims or regulatory scrutiny. In particular, as we rapidly develop and introduce new products and AI features, we may update features, controls, defaults, documentation, and policies, and customers, users, regulators, or plaintiffs may assert that certain statements were incomplete, misleading, or inconsistent with their expectations. Such allegations could result in litigation (including class actions), regulatory investigations, enforcement actions, adverse publicity, or reputational harm, any of which could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
In addition, independent industry and research firms have evaluated and provided, and will continue to evaluate and provide, reviews of our platform, as well as the products and services of our competitors, and perception of our platform in the marketplace may be significantly influenced by these reviews. If these reviews are negative, or less positive as compared to those of our competitors’ products and services, our brand may be adversely affected. Harm to our brand and reputation can also arise from many other sources, including, but not limited to, customer complaints, allegations of violations of law, regulatory investigations, security incidents or allegations of security incidents, allegations of employee misconduct, and allegations of misconduct by our partners, consultants, and third-party service providers. The effect of negative publicity may be exacerbated to the extent it is disseminated via social media. Any unfavorable publicity about us or members of our team, including related to our team members’ activities outside the scope of their roles at our company, could negatively impact our brand reputation or otherwise cause us reputational harm, which could have an adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition. Additionally, negative publicity from, or with respect to, our partners or service providers, including, but not limited to, as relating to any decision to restrict or limit access to our platform or APIs, could negatively impact our brand reputation or otherwise cause us reputational harm, which could also affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
We host our platform on Amazon Web Services. Any disruption in the operations of Amazon Web Services, limitations on capacity, or interference with our use could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Our platform is hosted by Amazon Web Services (“AWS”). Our software is designed to use computing, storage capabilities, bandwidth, and other services provided by AWS. We have experienced, and expect in the future that we may experience from time to time, interruptions, delays, or outages in service availability due to a variety of factors, including issues with service providers like AWS. Depending on severity, future disruptions may also result in data security incidents which are notifiable to stakeholders such as affected individuals and regulators. Capacity constraints could arise from a number of causes such as technical failures, cyberattacks, contagious diseases, terrorist attacks, and natural disasters, fraud, or security attacks. The level of service provided by AWS, or regular or prolonged interruptions in that service, could also impact the use of, and our customers’ satisfaction with, our platform and could harm our business and reputation. In addition, hosting costs are expected to increase as our customer base grows, which could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Furthermore, AWS has discretion to change and interpret its terms of service and other policies with respect to us, including on contract renewal, and those actions may be unfavorable to our business operations. AWS may also take actions beyond our control that could seriously harm our business, including, but not limited to, discontinuing or limiting our access to one or more services, increasing pricing terms, terminating or seeking to terminate our contractual relationship altogether, or altering how we are able to process data on their system in a way that is unfavorable or costly to us. If our current arrangement with AWS were to be terminated and we could not find an alternative provider on favorable terms or in a timely manner, or if we decide to move to self-hosted cloud infrastructure, we could experience interruptions on our platform and in our ability to make our content available to customers, as well as delays and additional expenses in arranging for expansion and transition to alternative cloud hosting and infrastructure services or in establishing our own cloud hosting and infrastructure capabilities. Such a transition could require further technical changes to our platform, including, but not limited to, our cloud service infrastructure which was initially designed to run on AWS. Making such changes could be costly in terms of time and financial resources. Any of these factors could reduce our revenue, subject us to liability, and cause our customers to decline to renew their subscriptions, any of which would harm our business, operating results, and financial condition.
We rely on third-party service providers for critical components of our operations, and disruptions or changes in those services could adversely affect our business.
In addition to AWS, we also depend on other third-party providers for services that are critical to the operation of our platform and business, including content delivery, identity and access management, payment processing, analytics and monitoring, and certain AI-related services. In particular, we have significant purchase commitments with a limited number of foundational AI model providers and a material portion of our AI features currently depend on models from them. Any of these third-party providers may experience outages, capacity constraints, cybersecurity incidents, business interruptions, or financial distress, or may change pricing, service levels, security or compliance requirements, or contractual terms. If any such provider fails to perform as expected, if our access is limited or terminated, or if we are required to transition to alternative providers on short notice, we could experience service degradation or outages, delayed product development, increased costs, billing and collections disruption, and customer dissatisfaction, any of which could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Additionally, certain customers may require us to restrict or replace the use of specific third-party AI models in order to continue using our platform, which could increase our costs, delay product rollouts, or reduce our ability to serve such customers. Customer requirements to substitute or exclude specific third-
party AI models may arise from regulatory or contractual obligations applicable to our customers, government supply-chain or sanctions actions affecting model providers, or evolving customer policies, and may require us to develop, maintain, and operate redundant model integrations or alternative routing arrangements. We may not be able to implement such substitutions on terms that are commercially reasonable, on the timelines our customers require, or while maintaining feature parity, and any inability to do so could result in lost or curtailed sales, customer dissatisfaction, increased costs, or reputational harm.
Our estimates of market opportunity and forecasts of market growth may prove to be inaccurate, and even if the markets in which we compete achieve the forecasted growth, our business could fail to grow at similar rates, if at all.
Our estimates of market opportunity and forecasts of market growth may prove to be inaccurate. Market opportunity estimates and growth forecasts, including those we have generated ourselves, are subject to significant uncertainty and are based on assumptions and estimates that may not prove to be accurate, including the risks described herein. Even if the markets in which we compete achieve the forecasted growth, our business could fail to grow at similar rates, if at all.
Our market opportunity may change over time and there is no guarantee that any particular number or percentage of addressable customers covered by our market opportunity estimates will purchase our platform at all or generate any particular level of revenue for us. Any expansion in the markets in which we operate depends on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the cost, performance, and perceived value associated with our platform and those of our competitors. Even if the markets in which we compete meet the size estimates and growth as forecasted, our business could fail to grow at similar rates, if at all. Our growth is subject to many factors, including, but not limited to, our success in implementing our business strategy, which is subject to many risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, our forecasts of market growth should not be taken as indicative of our future growth.
Key business metrics and other estimates are subject to inherent challenges in measurement and to change as our business evolves, and our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects could be adversely affected by real or perceived inaccuracies in those metrics or any changes in metrics we disclose.
We regularly review key business metrics to evaluate growth trends, measure our performance, and make strategic decisions. These key business metrics are calculated using internal company data and have not been validated by an independent third party. While these numbers are based on what we believe to be reasonable estimates for the applicable period of measurement at the time of reporting, there are inherent challenges in such measurements. If we fail to maintain effective processes and systems, our key business metrics calculations may be inaccurate, and we may not be able to identify those inaccuracies. We regularly review our processes for calculating these metrics, and from time to time we make adjustments to improve their accuracy. We generally will not update previously disclosed key business metrics for any such inaccuracies or adjustments that are immaterial.
We may change our key business metrics from time to time, which may be perceived negatively. Given the rapid evolution of the software market, we regularly evaluate whether our key business metrics remain meaningful indicators of the performance of our business. As a result of these evaluations, we may in the future make changes to our key business metrics, including eliminating or replacing existing metrics. Further, if investors or the media perceive any changes to our key business metrics disclosures negatively, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be adversely affected.
Our business involves hosting user-generated and third-party content, which may present certain legal and reputational risks.
Users of our platform can upload templates, designs, icons, widgets, plugins, and other user-generated and third-party content for use across our platform. In addition, on our Community webpage, we also host both free and paid content uploaded by our users. Hosting such user-generated and third-party content exposes us to certain risks, including, but not limited to, the risk that the content may violate the intellectual property rights of others, or violate other laws and regulations. Moreover, we could be subject to the risk of reputational and brand damage if we are perceived to unfairly moderate, monetize, or otherwise exploit user-generated content, even if such perceptions are inaccurate, which could ultimately harm our business.
As we facilitate the distribution or sale of certain user-generated or third-party content, we may face additional operational, legal, and regulatory risks. Users may upload or offer content that is alleged to infringe on or misappropriate third-party intellectual property rights, violate license terms, or include unauthorized, sensitive, or illegal materials. We may not effectively detect and address user actions that may violate our terms of service and community guidelines, and we may not effectively review, approve, or otherwise screen content uploaded to our platform by users. There have been in the past, and there could be in the future, incidents where users and customers engage in activities on or through our platform that violate our policies or applicable law. Our safeguards may not be sufficient or adequate to ensure the safety of our users and customers and this may harm our reputation and brand. Allegations that we inadequately police infringing content, unfairly moderate content, or benefit financially from content that is alleged to be unlawful or infringing could result in claims, enforcement actions, or adverse publicity, and could require us to change our policies, moderation practices, or product features, any of which could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
We may also face disputes between creators and purchasers, requests for refunds, and increased chargebacks or payment fraud, which could increase our costs and harm our reputation. Depending on the jurisdictions in which we operate and where creators and purchasers are located, we may also become subject to additional requirements relating to taxes (including VAT and similar consumption taxes), marketplace facilitator obligations, payments compliance, and consumer protection and disclosure requirements. To the extent we facilitate payments for paid content or make payouts to creators, we may become subject to additional payment, financial compliance, and tax reporting requirements, including obligations relating to payment processing rules, chargeback and refund practices, sanctions screening, anti-money laundering and “know-your-customer” requirements, information reporting (including creator tax forms and withholding in certain jurisdictions), and consumer protection obligations applicable to marketplaces. If we fail to comply with these requirements, if our payment processors or banking partners impose more restrictive terms, increase fees, delay settlements, or terminate services, or if fraud or disputes increase (including coordinated abuse), we could experience increased losses, higher compliance and support costs, investigations or enforcement actions, reputational harm, and a reduction in the availability or attractiveness of paid content on our platform.
Our long-term success depends, in part, on our ability to increase sales of our platform to customers located outside of the United States and our current, and any further, expansion of our international operations exposes us to risks that could have an adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition.
We conduct our business activities in various foreign countries and currently have operations in North America, South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. In 2025, a majority of our revenue was generated outside of the United States. Our ability to manage our business and conduct our operations internationally requires considerable management attention and resources, including financial resources, and is subject to the particular challenges of supporting a rapidly growing business across multiple
cultures, customs, legal, regulatory and compliance systems, and commercial infrastructures. Our operations in international markets may not be sufficiently commercially successful to justify our level of investment. Operating internationally may subject us to new risks that we have not faced before or increase risks that we currently face, including, but not limited to, risks associated with:
•fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, which could add volatility to our operating results;
•recruiting and retaining talented and capable employees in foreign countries;
•new, or changes in, legal and regulatory requirements;
•tariffs, export and import restrictions, restrictions on foreign investments, sanctions, and other trade barriers or protectionist measures;
•exposure to numerous, increasing, stringent, and potentially inconsistent laws and regulations relating to, among other things, AI, privacy, data protection, online safety, moderation, and information security;
•difficulties in enforcing contracts, including “click-through” terms that are entered into online, which may be subject to legal uncertainty in some foreign jurisdictions;
•costs of, and challenges with, localizing our platform including, but not limited to, data localization and other data privacy requirements;
•challenges in successfully pricing our products in a way that meets local expectations while remaining financially viable to us;
•lack of acceptance of our localized products and services, including due to competition with local products that compete with our products and services;
•the need to make significant investments in people, offerings, services, and infrastructure, typically well in advance of revenue generation;
•challenges inherent in efficiently managing an increasing number of employees over large geographic distances, including, but not limited to, the need to implement appropriate systems, policies, benefits, and compliance programs;
•difficulties in maintaining our company culture with a dispersed and distant workforce;
•treatment of revenue from international sources, evolving domestic and international tax environments, and other potential tax issues, including, but not limited to, with respect to our corporate operating structure and intercompany arrangements;
•different or weaker protection of our intellectual property rights, including, but not limited to, increased risk of theft of our proprietary technology and other intellectual property; economic weakness or currency-related crises;
•longer payment cycles and greater difficulty in collecting accounts receivable;
•our ability to adapt to sales practices and customer requirements in different cultures;
•the lack of reference customers and other marketing assets in regional markets that are new or developing for us, as well as other adaptations in our market generation efforts that we may be slow to identify and implement;
•natural disasters, pandemics, geopolitical instability, warfare, and uncertainty, or responses to these events;
•actual or perceived global banking and finance related issues;
•cybersecurity incidents;
•corporate espionage; and
•political instability and security risks in the countries where we are doing business and changes in the public perception of governments in the countries where we operate or plan to operate.
Our ability to maintain customer satisfaction depends in part on the quality of our customer support. Failure to maintain high-quality customer support could have an adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects.
We believe that the successful use of our platform requires a high level of support and engagement for many of our customers. Increased demand for customer support, without corresponding increases in revenue, could increase our costs and adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects.
There can be no assurance that we will be able to hire sufficient support personnel as and when needed, particularly if our sales exceed our internal forecasts. Additionally, our customer support team uses third-party AI tools to assist them with responding to and resolving customer inquiries. To the extent that we are unsuccessful in hiring, training, and retaining adequate support resources or utilizing AI tools for customer support, our ability to provide high-quality and timely support to our customers will be negatively impacted, and our customers’ satisfaction and their usage of our infrastructure could be adversely affected.
Because we primarily recognize subscription revenue over the subscription term, downturns or upturns in new sales and renewals are not immediately reflected in full in our operating results.
We primarily derive revenue from sales of subscriptions for access to our platform, which is typically recognized on a ratable basis over the term of the contract subscription period beginning on the date access to our platform is granted, provided all other revenue recognition criteria have been met. Our subscription arrangements generally have monthly or annual contractual terms. As a result, much of the revenue we report each quarter is the recognition of deferred revenue from recurring subscriptions. Consequently, a decline in subscriptions in any one quarter, whether as a result of fewer or smaller new subscriptions, downsized subscription renewals, or lower subscription renewal rates in the applicable quarter, will not be fully reflected in revenue in that quarter, and will continue to negatively affect our revenue in future quarters. Accordingly, the effect of significant downturns in new or renewed sales of our recurring subscriptions is not reflected in full in operating results until future periods.
Over time, we may introduce new products and services, or implement new billing models, the revenue for which may be recognized differently than on a ratable basis. We may have reduced visibility into the timing of recognition for such revenue, and may experience volatility in the revenue we recognize from such products and services or under such billing models period-over-period, which may make it more difficult for us to accurately plan and forecast our operating results.
We make our platform available to users free of charge on our Starter plan. If this fails to lead to customers purchasing paid subscriptions, our business, operating results, and financial condition may be adversely affected.
We offer our Starter plan (our free plan), which gives users limited access to our platform. This may not lead to customers purchasing subscriptions to our platform, as usage of our Starter plan may not lead to them or their organization purchasing subscriptions to our platform. To the extent that users do not become paying customers, or we are unable to successfully attract paying customers, our ability to grow our revenue may be adversely affected. In addition, making aspects of our platform available free of charge involves significant expenses, including hosting costs, with no immediate revenue in return. If we fail to convince users of our free pricing plan to purchase paid subscriptions to our platform our profitability may be adversely affected.
Our sales cycles can be long and unpredictable, and our sales and post-sales efforts require considerable time and expense.
Our revenue recognition and operating results may be difficult to predict because of the length and unpredictability of the sales cycle for our platform, particularly as we increasingly sell to larger organizations, governmental entities, regulated entities, and organizations outside of the United States or to the technology industry that may have different procurement requirements than our historical customers. For example, we have observed a lengthening of the sales cycle recently for some prospective customers that we attribute to increased sensitivity to information technology security concerns, particularly with respect to products that include AI features or otherwise incorporate AI technologies, such as our platform. In addition, larger customers frequently have rigorous procurement processes and require considerable time to evaluate, test, and qualify our platform prior to entering into or expanding a relationship with us.
Our direct sales team develops relationships with our customers, and works on account penetration, account coordination, sales, and overall market development. We spend substantial time and resources on our sales efforts without any assurance that our efforts will produce a sale. Sales of our platform may be subject to budget constraints, multiple approvals, security, accessibility, compliance, legal, and other reviews, and unanticipated administrative, processing, and other delays. As a result, it is difficult to predict whether and when a sale will be completed, which, in turn, can make it difficult to accurately plan our business and forecast our operating results. The failure of our efforts to secure sales after investing resources in a lengthy sales process, or a failure to accurately forecast our operating results that causes our actual operating results to fall short of our projections or market expectations, would adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Further, our success depends, in part, on our ability to maintain and expand our relationships with customers by helping them realize value from our products and services over time. If our post-sales and customer success efforts are ineffective, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be adversely affected.
Sales to government entities are subject to a number of challenges and risks.
We sell to U.S. federal, state, and local, as well as foreign governmental entity customers. We also sell to customers in highly regulated industries, such as financial services, defense industries, and healthcare. Although we anticipate that they may increase in the future, sales to governmental entities and highly regulated organizations have not accounted for, and may never account for, a significant portion of our revenue. Sales to governmental entities and highly regulated organizations are subject to a number of
challenges and risks that may adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition, including, but not limited to, the following risks:
•selling to governmental entities and highly regulated organizations can be highly competitive, expensive, and time consuming, often requiring significant upfront time and expense without any assurance that such efforts will generate a sale;
•government certification, software supply chain or cybersecurity requirements applicable to us or our platform may change and, in doing so, restrict our ability to sell into the governmental sector and to highly regulated organizations until we have attained the revised certification or meet other new requirements (for example, although we are currently FedRAMP authorized, such authorization is costly to maintain and subject to rigorous compliance and if we lose our authorization, it will restrict our ability to sell to government entities; further, the U.S. federal government recently identified Anthropic PBC (“Anthropic”) as a supply chain risk and directed all federal agencies to cease use of Anthropic’s products, including Claude, the large language model on which we have built the AI features embedded in our governmental offerings, and, although the implementation of this directive has been the subject of ongoing litigation and may be modified, stayed, or invalidated, if a government-wide ban of Anthropic is upheld and we are unable to find a suitable replacement on a timely basis, on competitive terms, or at all, our sales to governmental entities and highly regulated organizations could suffer);
•government entity demand and payment for our platform may be impacted by public sector budgetary cycles and funding authorizations, with funding reductions or delays adversely affecting public sector demand for our platform, including, but not limited to, as a result of sudden, unforeseen, and disruptive events such as geopolitical instability, warfare, and uncertainty, incidents of terrorism, natural disasters, public health concerns or epidemics, governmental defaults on indebtedness, governmental shutdowns, inflation, changes in interest rates, changes in investment and spending environments, and reductions in the government workforce, which may limit or delay governmental entity spending on our platform and adversely affect our revenue;
•we sell to government entities and certain highly regulated organizations through a third-party reseller that is subject to complex laws, regulations, and contractual requirements applicable to government contractors, and if our third-party reseller fails to comply with such obligations, is suspended, debarred, or otherwise loses the ability to sell to government entities and we are unable to find a suitable replacement on a timely basis, on competitive terms, or at all, our sales to governmental entities and highly regulated organizations could suffer;
•governments routinely investigate and audit government entity contractors’ compliance with government contract provisions and applicable procurement laws and regulations, and failure to comply with these laws, regulations, or provisions in government entity contracts for our platform could result in the government refusing to continue buying our platform, terminating its contracts for our platform, or suspending or debarring us, which would adversely impact our revenue and operating results, initiating breach of contract actions, or instituting fines or civil or criminal liability if an investigation, audit, or other review, were to uncover improper or illegal activities;
•government entities may require certain products to be manufactured, produced, supported, hosted, or accessed solely in their country or in other relatively high-cost locations, and we may not produce or host all products in locations that meet these requirements, affecting our ability to sell these products to governmental entities;
•our governmental entity and highly regulated organization customers may demand contract terms that differ from our standard arrangements and are less favorable than terms agreed with other customers;
•our governmental entity and highly regulated organization customers may have more expansive termination rights than our other customers; and
•refusal to grant certain certifications or clearance by one government entity, or decision by one government entity that our products do not meet certain standards, may cause reputational harm and cause concern with other government entities.
Any pressure on the U.S. federal government’s budget or uncertainty around potential changes in budgetary priorities could adversely affect the funding for individual programs and our existing and future contracts with the U.S. government.
Risks Related to Our People
We rely on Dylan Field, our Chair of our Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer, and President, other members of our management team, and other key employees and will need additional personnel to grow our business, and the loss of one or more key employees or our inability to hire, integrate, train, manage, retain, and motivate qualified personnel, including members of our Board of Directors, could harm our business.
Our future success is dependent, in part, on our ability to hire, integrate, train, manage, retain, and motivate the members of our management team and other key employees throughout our organization. The loss of key personnel, including key members of our management team or members of our Board of Directors, as well as certain of our key marketing, sales, finance, support, product development, legal, people team, or technology personnel, could disrupt our operations and have an adverse effect on our ability to grow our business. In particular, we are highly dependent on the services of Dylan Field, our Chair of our Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer, and President, who is critical to the development of our technology, products, platform, future vision, and strategic direction. Mr. Field is involved in a number of initiatives aside from his work for Figma. For example, Mr. Field actively invests in technology companies. This and other initiatives he is, or may become, involved in could divert Mr. Field’s time and attention from overseeing our business operations, which could have a negative impact on our business, and may result in potential conflicts of interest. Moreover, from time to time there have been and may in the future be changes in our management team. While we seek to manage any such transitions carefully, such changes may result in a loss of institutional knowledge, cause disruptions to our business, and negatively affect our business.
Competition for highly skilled personnel is intense, especially in markets such as the San Francisco Bay Area, London, and New York City where we have a substantial presence and need for highly skilled personnel, and we may not be successful in hiring or retaining qualified personnel to fulfill our current or future needs. More generally, the technology industry, and the software industry more specifically, is also subject to substantial and continuous competition for engineers with high levels of experience in designing, developing, and managing software and related services. This is especially true in the market for AI talent, which remains extremely competitive. We have, from time to time, experienced, and we expect to continue to experience, difficulty in hiring and retaining highly skilled employees with appropriate qualifications at a suitable cost, and this risk may be exacerbated by factors related to, among other things, increased recruiting efforts by other companies. In the past, we have used stock-based compensation to recruit and retain qualified employees. If we were to decrease the amount of stock-based compensation that is granted to employees, or otherwise make changes to our
compensation philosophy, we may have difficulty hiring and retaining qualified individuals. Even if we are able to recruit and retain qualified personnel, the cost of doing so may impact our profitability and our ability to meet the expectations of investors and analysts. We also invest significant time and expense in training our employees, which increases their value to competitors who may seek to recruit them and increases our costs. Further, the labor market is subject to external factors that are beyond our control, including, but not limited to, our industry’s highly competitive market for skilled workers and leaders, cost inflation, overall macroeconomics, and workforce participation rates. Should our competitors recruit our employees, our level of expertise and ability to execute our business plan would be negatively impacted.
Restrictive immigration policies or legal or regulatory developments relating to immigration in any of the global markets in which we have employees may also negatively affect our efforts to attract and hire new personnel as well as retain our existing personnel. For example, we have previously had to make changes to the way we attract and hire personnel in certain jurisdictions due to changes to the framework with which employer-sponsored visa applications are assessed in those regions. Our business may be adversely affected if legislative or administrative changes to immigration or visa laws and regulations (including significantly increased fees) impair our hiring processes.
Moreover, many of the companies with which we compete for experienced personnel have greater resources than we have. Our competitors also may be successful in recruiting and hiring members of our management team, sales team, research and development team, or other key employees, and it may be difficult for us to find suitable replacements on a timely basis, on competitive terms, or at all. For example, we have experienced, and may continue to experience, attrition of product, design, engineering, and other key personnel to companies developing foundational AI models and AI-native products, including companies that are also our commercial partners or third-party model providers, and any prolonged attrition of key product, design, engineering, or other key talent could delay our AI roadmap and impair our competitive position. We have in the past, and may in the future, be subject to allegations that employees we hire have been improperly solicited, or that they have divulged proprietary or other confidential information, or that their former employers own such employees’ inventions or other work product, or that they have been hired in violation of non-compete provisions or non-solicitation provisions.
In addition, job candidates and existing employees often consider the value of the equity awards and other compensation they receive in connection with their employment. If the perceived value of our compensatory package is viewed as below market or declines, it may adversely affect our ability to attract and retain highly skilled employees. Since our IPO, the trading price of our Class A common stock has experienced significant volatility. If the trading price of our Class A common stock continues to be volatile or declines further, it may adversely affect our ability to attract and retain highly skilled employees, reduce the effectiveness of our equity incentive programs, and increase employee attrition. Further, our competitors may be successful in recruiting and hiring members of our management team, or other key employees, and it may be difficult for us to find suitable replacements on a timely basis, on competitive terms, or at all. In recent years, the increased availability of hybrid or remote working arrangements has expanded the pool of companies that can compete for our employees and employment candidates. Although we have entered into employment agreements with our key employees, these agreements are on an “at-will” basis, meaning they are able to terminate their employment with us at any time. If we fail to attract new personnel or fail to retain and motivate our current personnel, our business and future growth prospects would be severely harmed.
Moreover, we have a number of current employees whose equity ownership in our company has resulted in them having substantial personal wealth. As a result, it may be difficult for us to continue to retain and motivate these employees, and this wealth could affect their decisions about whether or not they continue to work for us. If we do not succeed in attracting, hiring, and integrating excellent personnel, or retaining and motivating existing personnel, we may be unable to grow effectively.
If we do not effectively integrate, train, manage, and retain product, design, engineering, and sales personnel, and expand our product, design, engineering, and sales capabilities, we may be unable to increase our customer base and increase sales to our existing customers.
Our ability to increase our customer base, enhance our platform, and achieve broader market adoption of our products and services will depend to a significant extent on our ability to continue to hire, integrate, and retain talented product, design, research, and engineering personnel. We have dedicated, and plan to continue to dedicate, significant resources to our product, design, and engineering programs to enhance our platform, including by investing in developing additional features and products, but there is no guarantee that we will be successful in such endeavors. If we are unable to find efficient ways to deploy our product, design, and engineering investments or if these programs are not effective, our business, operating results, and financial condition would be adversely affected.
Additionally, in recent years, we have made significant investments in our sales and marketing teams and plan to continue expanding our sales force. There is significant competition for sales personnel with the skills and technical knowledge that we require. Our ability to achieve revenue growth will depend, in part, on our success in hiring, integrating, training, managing, and retaining sufficient numbers of qualified sales personnel to support our growth, particularly in international markets.
New hires require significant training and may take extended time before they are productive. Our recent hires and planned hires may not become productive as quickly as we expect, or at all, and we may be unable to hire or retain sufficient numbers of qualified individuals in the markets where we do business or plan to do business. Moreover, our international expansion may be slow or unsuccessful if we are unable to retain qualified personnel with international experience, language skills, and cultural competencies in the geographic markets which we target.
We believe that our company culture has contributed to our success, and if we cannot maintain this culture as we grow, we could lose the innovation, creativity, and teamwork fostered by our culture, and our business may be harmed.
We believe that our company culture has been and will continue to be vital to our success, including in attracting, developing, and retaining personnel, as well as our customers. We have worked to develop our culture, and we strive to empower our employees to continuously learn, evolve, and grow, and treat each other with respect. If we do not continue to develop our company culture as we grow and evolve, including maintaining a culture that encourages a sense of ownership by our employees, it could harm our ability to foster the innovation, creativity, and teamwork that we believe we need to support our growth. We expect to continue to hire as we expand. As our organization grows and is required to implement more complex organizational structures, we may find it increasingly difficult to maintain the beneficial aspects of our company culture, which could negatively impact its future success. Further, maintaining a cohesive company culture may prove difficult as a significant percentage of our employees work fully remote or remotely for at least part of the workweek. If we are unable to maintain our company culture, we could lose the innovation, passion, and dedication of our team and as a result, our business and ability to focus on our corporate objectives may be harmed.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
Failure to obtain, maintain, protect, or enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights could enable others to copy or use aspects of our platform without compensating us, which could harm our brand, business, and operating results.
We rely on a combination of patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secrets laws, and contractual provisions, including confidentiality agreements, to establish and protect our intellectual property and proprietary technology, including from unauthorized use or disclosure by our customers and users, third-party partners, employees, and consultants. However, the steps we take to obtain, maintain, protect, and enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights may be inadequate. We will not be able to protect our intellectual property rights if we are unable to enforce our rights or if we do not detect unauthorized use of our intellectual property rights. If we fail to protect our intellectual property rights adequately, our competitors may gain access to our proprietary technology and develop and commercialize substantially identical products, services, or technologies, and our business, operating results, and financial condition may be harmed.
Valid patents may not issue from our pending or future patent applications, and the claims allowed on any issued patents may not be sufficient to protect our technology or platform. Any issued patents that we have or may obtain may be challenged or circumvented, invalidated, or held unenforceable through administrative processes, including re-examination, inter partes review, interference and derivation proceedings, and equivalent proceedings in foreign jurisdictions (e.g., opposition proceedings) or litigation, and any rights granted under these patents may not actually provide adequate defensive protection or competitive advantages to us. In addition, there may be issued patents held by third parties of which we are not aware, that, if found to be valid and enforceable, could be alleged to be infringed by our current or future technologies or products. There may also be pending patent applications of which we are not aware that may result in issued patents, which could be alleged to be infringed by our current or future technologies or products. Patent applications in the United States are typically not published until at least 18 months after filing, or, in some cases, not at all, and publications of discoveries in industry-related literature lag behind actual discoveries. We cannot be certain that we were the first to make the inventions claimed in our pending patent applications or that we were the first to file for patent protection. Additionally, the process of obtaining patent protection is expensive and time-consuming, and we may not be able to prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. Recent changes to patent laws in the United States may also bring into question the validity of certain software patents and may make it more difficult and costly to prosecute patent applications.
Furthermore, legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability, and scope of protection of intellectual property rights are uncertain, which may lead to increased costs and risks surrounding the prosecution, validity, ownership, enforcement, and defense of our issued patents, patent applications, and other intellectual property rights, as well as uncertainty regarding the outcome of third-party claims of infringement, misappropriation, or other violation of intellectual property rights which may be brought against us and actual or enhanced damages that may be awarded in connection with any such current or future claims. Such uncertainty could have a material and adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition.
In particular, we are unable to predict or assure that:
•our intellectual property rights will not lapse or be invalidated, circumvented, challenged, or, in the case of third-party intellectual property rights licensed to us, be licensed to others;
•our intellectual property rights will be sufficient to protect our products and services or our business or provide competitive advantages to us;
•rights previously granted by third parties to intellectual property rights licensed or assigned to us, including portfolio cross-licenses, will not hamper our ability to assert our intellectual property rights or hinder the settlement of currently pending or future disputes;
•any of our pending or future patent, copyright, or trademark applications will be issued or have the coverage originally sought; and
•we will be able to enforce our intellectual property rights in certain jurisdictions, in particular in foreign countries where the laws may not be as protective of intellectual property rights as those in the United States and mechanisms for enforcement may be inadequate.
Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, it may be possible for unauthorized parties to copy our products and aspects of our platform capabilities or obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary, including to create products that compete with ours. We enter into confidentiality agreements or other agreements that contain confidentiality provisions with our employees, consultants, vendors, users, and customers, and limit access to and distribution of our proprietary information. However, such agreements may not be enforceable in full or in part in all jurisdictions and no assurance can be given that such agreements will be effective in controlling access to, or distribution, use, misuse, misappropriation, reverse-engineering, or disclosure of our proprietary information, know-how, and trade secrets. In addition, any breach of these agreements could negatively affect our business and our remedy for such breach may be limited. Further, these agreements may not prevent our competitors from independently developing technologies that are substantially equivalent or superior to our products and platform capabilities. As such, we cannot guarantee that the steps taken by us to prevent unauthorized access, use, disclosure, and distribution of our proprietary information will prevent misappropriation of our technology.
We pursue the registration of our patents, copyrights, trademarks, service marks, and domain names in the United States and in certain foreign jurisdictions. These application processes are expensive and may not be successful in all jurisdictions or for every such application, and we may not pursue such protections in all jurisdictions that may be relevant, for all our goods or services, or in every class of goods and services in which we operate. Additionally, we may not be able to obtain, maintain, protect, exploit, defend, or enforce our intellectual property rights in every foreign jurisdiction in which we operate. For example, effective trade secret protection may not be available in every country in which our products are available or where we have employees or independent contractors. The loss of trade secret protection could make it easier for third parties to compete with our products by copying functionality. Further, many foreign countries limit the enforceability of patents against certain third parties, including government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, patents may provide limited or no benefit. In addition, any changes in the trade secret, employment, and other intellectual property laws in any country in which we operate may compromise our ability to enforce our trade secrets and other intellectual property rights. The legal systems of certain foreign countries do not favor the enforcement of patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and other intellectual property and proprietary protection, which could make it difficult for us to prevent or stop any infringement, misappropriation, dilution, or other violation of our intellectual property rights. If we fail to maintain, protect, and enhance our intellectual property rights, our brand, business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects may be harmed.
From time to time, legal action by us may be necessary to enforce our patents and other intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets, to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others, or to defend against claims of infringement or invalidity. Protecting our intellectual property rights, both as a defendant and plaintiff, as applicable, through litigation in the United States and internationally
may entail significant time and expense. Such litigation could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and could negatively affect our business, operating results, and financial condition. If we are unable to protect our proprietary rights, including aspects of our software and platform protected other than by patent rights, we will find ourselves at a competitive disadvantage to others who need not incur the expense, time, and effort required to create our platform and other innovative products that have enabled us to be successful to date. Moreover, we may need to expend additional resources to defend our intellectual property rights in foreign countries, and our inability to do so could impair our business or adversely affect our international expansion.
Furthermore, the application of intellectual property law to AI technologies is a new and emerging practice, and there is uncertainty and ongoing litigation in different jurisdictions as to the degree and extent of protection warranted for AI and machine learning systems and relevant system input and outputs. The law is also uncertain across jurisdictions regarding the copyright ownership of content that is produced in whole or in part by AI tools. As a result, our use of AI tools in our product development and engineering processes may make it difficult to assert ownership rights over our technology. If we fail to obtain protection for the intellectual property rights concerning our AI technologies, or later have our intellectual property rights invalidated or otherwise diminished, our competitors may be able to take advantage of our research and development efforts to develop competing products which could adversely affect our business, reputation, and financial condition. In addition, given the long history of development of AI technologies, other parties may have, or in the future may obtain, patents or other proprietary rights that could prevent, limit, or interfere with our ability to make, use, or sell our own AI technologies.
Third parties have claimed and may claim that our platform infringes, misappropriates, or otherwise violates their intellectual property rights and such claims could be time-consuming or costly to defend or settle, result in the loss of significant rights, or harm our relationships with our customers or reputation in the industry.
We have in the past and may in the future become subject to intellectual property disputes. Our success depends, in part, on our ability to develop and commercialize our products and services without infringing, misappropriating, or otherwise violating the intellectual property rights of third parties, including our customers. However, we may not be aware that our products or services are infringing, misappropriating, or otherwise violating third-party intellectual property rights and such third parties have claimed and may bring claims alleging that our current or future platform capabilities, products, and services infringe their intellectual property rights. Such claims may also result in legal claims against our third-party partners and our customers. We cannot predict the outcome of lawsuits and cannot ensure that the results of any such claims will not have an adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition. These claims may be time consuming, costly to defend or settle, damage our brand and reputation, harm our customer relationships, and create liability for us. Contractually, we are obligated to indemnify our partners and customers for certain expenses or liabilities they may incur as a result of any such third-party intellectual property infringement claims associated with our platform. In addition, to the extent that any claim arises as a result of third-party technology we have licensed for use in our platform, we may be unable to recover from the appropriate third party any expenses or other liabilities that we incur. We expect the number of such claims, whether warranted or not, to increase, particularly as a public company with an increased profile and visibility, as the number of products and services and the level of competition in our market grows, as the functionality of our platform overlaps with that of other products and services, and as the volume of issued software patents and patent applications continues to increase.
Companies in the software and technology industries, some of whom may compete with us, own large numbers of patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets and frequently engage in litigation based on allegations of infringement or other violations of intellectual property rights. In addition, many of these companies have the capability to dedicate substantially greater resources to enforce their intellectual
property rights and to defend claims that may be brought against them. Furthermore, patent holding companies, non-practicing entities, and other adverse patent owners that are not deterred by our existing intellectual property protections may seek to assert patent claims against us. From time to time, third parties have invited us to license their patents and may, in the future, assert patent, copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights against us, our third-party partners, or our customers. We have received, and may in the future receive, notices that claim we have misappropriated, misused, or infringed other parties’ intellectual property rights, and, to the extent we gain greater market visibility, we face a higher risk of being the subject of intellectual property infringement claims.
There may be third-party intellectual property rights, including issued or pending patents and trademarks, that cover significant aspects of our technologies or business methods and assets. In the event that we engage software engineers or other personnel who were previously engaged by competitors or other third parties, we may be subject to claims that those personnel have inadvertently or deliberately incorporated proprietary technology of third parties into our products or have otherwise improperly used or disclosed trade secrets or other proprietary information. We may also in the future be subject to claims by employees or contractors asserting an ownership right in our patents, patent applications, or other intellectual property rights as a result of the work they performed on our behalf. In addition, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights or personnel. A loss of key personnel or their work product could hamper or prevent our ability to develop, market, and support potential products or enhancements, which could severely harm our business.
Further, we may use AI technologies, including tools provided by third parties, to develop or assist in the development of our own software code. While use of such tools makes our development process more efficient, AI technologies have sometimes generated content that is “substantially similar” to proprietary or open source software code on which the AI tool was trained. If the AI technologies we use generate code that is too similar to other proprietary code, or to software processes that are protected by patents, we could be subject to intellectual property infringement claims. AI-generated code or other outputs may also introduce security vulnerabilities, compliance failures (including accessibility), or license obligations (including open source notices or attribution requirements). We may not be able to anticipate and detect security vulnerabilities in AI-generated software code, including those that could be induced by a maliciously trained AI model. If our tools generate code that is too similar to open source code, we risk losing protection of our own proprietary code that is commingled with such code. Finally, to the extent we use third-party AI technologies to develop software code, the terms of use of these tools may state that the third-party provider retains rights in the generated code. We may also face similar risks in using AI technologies to develop or assist in the development of other materials, such as advertising or marketing materials.
Any intellectual property claims, whether with or without merit, could be very time-consuming, could be expensive to settle or litigate, and could divert our management’s attention and other resources, even if such claims do not result in litigation or are resolved in our favor. These claims could also subject us to significant liability for damages, potentially including treble damages if we are found to have willfully infringed patents or copyrights, and may require us to indemnify our customers for liabilities they incur as a result of such claims. Although we carry general liability insurance, our insurance may not cover potential claims of this type or may not be adequate to indemnify us for all liability that may be imposed. These claims could also result in our having to stop using technology found to be in violation of a third party’s rights. We might be required to seek a license for the applicable third-party intellectual property rights, which may not be available on reasonable terms, or at all. Even if a license was available, we could be required to pay significant royalties, which would increase our operating expenses, or we could be required to develop alternative non-infringing technology, which may require significant time, effort, and expense, and may affect the performance or features of our platform. If we cannot license or develop alternative non-infringing substitutes for any infringing technology used in any aspect of our business, we may decide to limit or stop sales of our platform and may be unable to compete effectively. Moreover,
there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions, or other interim proceedings or developments, and if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our Class A common stock. Any of these results would adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Some of our technology incorporates “open source” software, which could under certain circumstances materially and adversely affect our ability to sell our platform and subject us to possible litigation.
Certain software used within our products and services is, and certain software of our customers, third-party partners, and vendors, may be, derived from “open source” software that is made generally available to the public by its authors or other third parties. Open source software is made available under licenses that in some instances may subject us to certain unfavorable conditions, including requirements that we offer our proprietary software, or portions of our proprietary software, which incorporates or links to such open source software, for no cost, that we make available source code for modifications or derivative works we create based upon, incorporating, or using such open source software, and that we license such modifications or derivative works under the terms of the applicable open source licenses.
Our platform contains third-party open source software components, and failure to comply with the terms of the underlying open source software licenses could restrict our ability to sell our products and services. The use and distribution of open source software may entail greater risks than the use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide warranties or other contractual protections regarding infringement claims or the quality of the code, which licensors are not typically required to maintain and update, and licensors can change the license terms on which they offer the open source software without notice. In addition, some open source projects have known vulnerabilities and architectural instabilities and are provided on an “as-is” basis which, if not properly addressed, could negatively affect the performance of our platform. Further, the shared nature of open source software means the source code for open source software used in our, or our vendors’, offerings is widely available to the public, and a malicious actor could attempt to identify or create vulnerabilities in this open sourced code and exploit those security vulnerabilities, which may increase the likelihood of a data breach, network interruption, or other type of ransomware attack or cyberattack against us or against third parties who may use open source software, such as our key vendors or technology licensors, any of which could negatively impact our business. Although we monitor our use of open source software in an effort to comply with the terms of the applicable open source licenses, to avoid subjecting our platform and products to conditions we do not intend, and to avoid subjecting our platform and products to security vulnerabilities, many of the risks associated with use of open source software cannot be eliminated and such risks could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects, as well as our reputation, including if we are required to take remedial action that may divert resources away from our development efforts.
Our use and distribution of certain software is subject to open source licenses that may require that we make certain source code publicly available. If we combine and distribute our proprietary software with open source software in a certain manner, we could, under certain open source licenses, be required to release the combined source code of our proprietary software to the public, under terms authorizing further modification and redistribution, or otherwise be limited in the licensing of our offerings, each of which could provide an advantage to our competitors or other entrants to the market, create security vulnerabilities in our platform, require us to re-engineer all or a portion of our platform, and reduce or eliminate the value of our platform. This would allow our competitors to create similar offerings with lower development efforts and in less time and ultimately could result in a loss of sales for us. If we inappropriately use or incorporate open source software subject to certain types of open source licenses that challenge the proprietary nature of our products, we may be required to re-engineer such products, discontinue the sale of such products, or take other remedial actions. Any efforts to re-engineer all or a
portion of our platform could result in potentially prolonged periods of reduced usability and accessibility of our platform, which in turn would adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
There is evolving legal precedent for interpreting the terms of certain open source licenses, including the determination of which works are subject to the terms of such licenses. The terms of many open source licenses have not been interpreted by U.S. courts, and there is a risk that these licenses could be construed in ways that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to commercialize any offerings incorporating such software. Moreover, we may have incorporated or used open source software in a manner that is inconsistent with the terms of the applicable license or our current policies and procedures, and we cannot guarantee that our processes for controlling our use of open source software in our platform are or will be effective. From time to time, we may face claims from third parties asserting ownership of, or demanding release of, the open source software or derivative works that we developed using such software, which could include our proprietary source code, or otherwise seeking to enforce the terms of the applicable open source license. These claims, regardless of validity, could result in time consuming and costly litigation, divert management’s time and attention away from developing the business, expose us to customer indemnity claims, or force us to disclose source code. Litigation could be costly for us to defend, result in our paying damages or entering into unfavorable licenses, have a negative effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition, or cause delays by requiring us to devote additional research and development resources to modify our platform.
We license technology from third parties for the development of our products, and our inability to maintain those licenses could harm our business.
We currently rely on or incorporate, and will in the future rely on or incorporate, technology that we license from third parties, including software and large language models, into our products. For example, Figma’s AI-powered products and features, including our Figma Make product, rely on off-the-shelf foundational AI models. If we are unable to continue to use or license these technologies on reasonable terms, or if these technologies become unreliable, unavailable, or fail to operate properly, we may not be able to secure adequate alternatives in a timely or cost-effective manner, or at all, and our ability to offer our products and remain competitive in our market would be harmed. Further, licensing technologies from third parties exposes us to increased risk of being the subject of intellectual property infringement claims due to, among other things, our lower level of visibility into the development process with respect to such technology and the care taken to safeguard against infringement risks. We cannot be certain that our licensors do not or will not infringe on the intellectual property rights of third parties or that our licensors have or will have sufficient rights to the licensed intellectual property in all jurisdictions in which we may sell our platform. In addition, some of our third-party license agreements may be terminated by our licensors for convenience, or otherwise provide for a limited term. If we are unable to continue to license technology because of intellectual property infringement claims brought by third parties against our licensors or against us, or if we are unable to continue our license agreements or enter into new licenses on commercially reasonable terms, our ability to develop and sell products and services containing or dependent on that technology would be limited, and our business, including our operating results, financial condition, and cash flows could be harmed. Additionally, if we are unable to license technology from third parties, we may decide to acquire or develop alternative technology, which we may be unable to do in a commercially feasible manner, or at all, and may require us to use alternative technology of lower quality or performance standards. This could limit or delay our ability to offer new or competitive products and increase our costs. Third-party software we rely on may be updated infrequently, unsupported, or subject to vulnerabilities that may not be resolved in a timely manner, any of which may expose our products to vulnerabilities. Any impairment of the technologies of or our relationship with these third parties could harm our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Risks Related to Legal and Regulatory Matters
Our business is subject to complex and evolving U.S. and foreign laws, regulations, and industry standards, many of which are subject to change and uncertain interpretations, which uncertainty could harm our business, operating results, and financial condition.
We are subject to many U.S. and foreign federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and industry standards that involve matters central to our business, including laws and regulations that involve data privacy, data security, intellectual property, including copyright and patent laws, AI technologies, antitrust and competition, online safety and moderation, employment, labor, immigration, consumer protection, public health, workplace safety, and taxation. These laws and regulations are constantly evolving and may be interpreted, applied, created, or amended, in a manner that could harm our business.
The introduction of new products, expansion of our activities in certain jurisdictions, or other actions that we take may subject us to additional laws, regulations, or other government scrutiny. In light of our recent geographic expansion, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to comply with all relevant laws and regulations of every jurisdiction in which our platform can be accessed, including, but not limited to, with respect to the data privacy or data localization requirements of various jurisdictions. If we are found to be in violation of the laws, regulations, or standards of any of the jurisdictions where we make our platform available, we could face legal liability, fines, and costly investigations or regulatory processes, and we may decide to restrict access to our platform in such jurisdictions, which would harm our growth, revenue, and operating results.
In certain jurisdictions and situations, we may be subject to consumer protection laws and regulations, including, but not limited to, laws and regulations related to subscriptions, billing, and auto-renewal. Additionally, we have in the past, are currently, and may from time-to-time in the future become the subject of inquiries and other actions by regulatory authorities as a result of our business practices and product decisions that we make, including our policies and practices around subscriptions, billing, auto-renewal, intermediary liability, privacy, data protection, and partnerships and integrations. Consumer protection laws may be interpreted or applied by authorities in a manner that requires us to make changes to our operations or incur fines, penalties, or settlement expenses, which may result in harm to our business, operating results, financial condition, and brand.
In addition, we are subject to evolving laws, regulations, policies, and international accords relating to matters beyond our products and services, including, but not limited to, environmental sustainability, climate change, human capital, and employment matters. In particular, we face challenges inherent in effectively and efficiently managing a workforce across a large number of jurisdictions, many of which have differing labor law requirements, including the need to implement appropriate systems, policies, benefits, and compliance programs. If areas of our workforce were to organize, we may face operational constraints, which could adversely impact our culture, business, operating results, and financial condition. To our knowledge, none of our employees in the United States are currently represented by a labor union. Certain of our employees outside of the United States are, and an increasing number may in the future be, subject to mandatory works council, employee representation, or collective bargaining arrangements in accordance with local laws or sector-wide collective agreements, including in jurisdictions where we have established or are establishing direct employment relationships in place of professional employer organization arrangements. These challenges are accentuated by the use and proliferation of emerging technologies within our business, including AI-related technologies, the regulation of which is becoming increasingly complex, including with respect to labor laws and hiring
practices. Compliance with such laws, regulations, and policies may require significant investment and expense. Further, if we fail to implement the necessary programs, frameworks and principles for compliance, our reputation, business, operating results, and financial condition may be adversely affected.
The costs of complying with these laws and regulations, which in some cases can be enforced by private parties in addition to government entities, are high and likely to increase in the future, particularly as the degree of regulation increases, our business grows, and our geographic scope expands. The impact of these laws and regulations may disproportionately affect our business in comparison to our peers in the technology sector that have greater resources. Any failure or perceived failure of compliance on our part to comply with the laws and regulations may subject us to significant liabilities or penalties, or otherwise adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition. Furthermore, it is possible that certain governments may seek to block or limit our platform or otherwise impose other restrictions that may affect the accessibility or usability of any or all of our platform for an extended period of time or indefinitely.
We are subject to governmental economic sanctions requirements and export and import controls that could impair our ability to compete in international markets or subject us to liability if we are not in compliance with applicable laws.
Our platform and associated products are subject to various restrictions under U.S. and other applicable jurisdictions’ export control and sanctions laws and regulations, including the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Export Administration Regulations and the economic and trade sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”). These U.S. export control and economic sanctions laws and regulations include restrictions or prohibitions on the sale or supply of certain products and services to U.S.-embargoed or sanctioned countries, governments, persons, and entities and require authorization for the export of certain encryption items. In addition, various countries regulate the import of certain encryption items, including through import permitting and licensing requirements, and have enacted or could enact export control, economic and trade sanctions, or import laws and regulations that could limit our ability to distribute our platform or subject us to liability for noncompliance.
Although we take precautions to prevent our platform and associated products from being accessed or used in violation of such laws and regulations, we may have inadvertently allowed some access to our platform and associated products in violation of U.S. economic trade and sanctions laws and regulations, including by users and customers in embargoed or sanctioned countries. As a result, we have submitted to OFAC a voluntary self-disclosure concerning potential violations and the voluntary self-disclosure is still under review. Since becoming aware of the circumstances leading to our voluntary self-disclosure to OFAC, we have completed the implementation of remedial measures that we committed to in connection with the voluntary self-disclosure. These measures are designed to prevent our platform and products from being accessed or used in violation of U.S. economic and trade sanctions laws and regulations. We will continue to evaluate and enhance our compliance controls, but there can be no assurance that these measures will be sufficient to prevent all compliance issues in the future. If we are found to be in violation of U.S. economic sanctions, it could result in substantial fines and penalties for us and for individuals working for us. We may also be adversely affected through other non-monetary penalties, reputational harm, loss of access to certain markets, or otherwise. No loss has been recognized in our financial statements contained herein for any loss contingency relating to the pending OFAC enforcement matter, as we believe it is not probable a loss will be incurred and the range of a possible loss is not yet estimable.
Changes in our platform or future changes in export and import regulations may create delays in or preclude the provisioning of our platform in certain international markets or prevent our customers with
international operations from deploying our platform globally. Any change in export or import regulations, economic and trade sanctions or related legislation, or change in the countries, governments, persons, entities, or items targeted by such regulations, could result in decreased use of our platform by, or in our decreased ability to provision our platform and associated products to, existing or potential customers with international operations. Any decreased use of our platform or limitation on our ability to provision our platform would adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects.
We are subject to anti-bribery, anti-corruption, and similar laws and non-compliance with such laws can subject us to criminal penalties or significant fines and harm our business and reputation.
We are subject to anti-bribery and similar laws, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, (the “FCPA”), the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the USA PATRIOT Act, U.S. Travel Act, the U.K. Bribery Act 2010, and Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, and possibly other anti-corruption, anti-bribery, and anti-money laundering laws in countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption laws are interpreted broadly and prohibit companies and their employees and their agents from making or offering improper payments or other benefits to government officials and others in the private sector. The FCPA or other applicable anti-corruption laws may also hold us liable for acts of corruption or bribery committed by our third-party business partners, representatives, and agents, even if we do not authorize such activities. As we continue to develop our international sales and business, and increase our use of third parties, our risks under these laws will increase. As a public company, the FCPA requires that we keep accurate books and records and maintain internal accounting controls sufficient to assure management’s control, authority, and responsibility over our assets.
We have adopted policies and procedures and conducted training designed to prevent improper payments and other corrupt practices prohibited by applicable laws, but cannot guarantee that improprieties will not occur. Noncompliance with these laws could subject us to investigations, sanctions, settlements, prosecution, other enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, significant fines, damages, other civil and criminal penalties or injunctions, suspension and/or debarment from contracting with specified persons, the loss of export privileges, reputational harm, adverse media coverage, and other collateral consequences. Any investigations, actions, and/or sanctions could harm our reputation, business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects.
Compliance with rapidly evolving U.S. federal, state, and foreign laws relating to the handling of information about individuals involves significant expenditure and resources and if we fail to adequately protect personal data or other information we collect, receive, store, and process under applicable laws, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be adversely affected.
We collect, receive, store, and process personal data from our employees, customers, and the employees of our customers and third-party vendors. Additionally, our users and customers use our platform to create and store their proprietary and confidential data. A wide variety of state, national, and international laws, as well as regulations and industry standards apply to the collection, use, retention, protection, disclosure, transfer, and other processing of personal information and other data, the scope of which is changing, subject to differing interpretations, and may be inconsistent across countries or conflict with other rules. Data protection and privacy-related laws and regulations are evolving and may result in increasing regulatory and public scrutiny and escalating levels of enforcement and sanctions. Failure or perceived failure to comply with U.S. or international laws, regulations, and industry standards regarding personal data or other information could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition. Moreover, complying with these various laws and regulations could cause us to incur substantial costs or require us to change our business practices, systems, and compliance procedures in a manner adverse to our business.
In the United States, there are numerous federal and state consumer, privacy, and data security laws and regulations governing the collection, use, disclosure, and protection of personal data, including security breach notification laws and consumer protection laws. Each of these laws is subject to varying interpretations and constantly evolving. Additionally, the Federal Trade Commission and many state attorneys general interpret federal and state consumer protection laws to impose standards on the collection, use, dissemination, and security of data. On the state level, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (as amended, the “CCPA”) created data privacy obligations for covered businesses and provided privacy rights to California residents, including the right to opt out of certain disclosures of their information and receive detailed information about how their personal data is used. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations as well as a private right of action for certain data breaches that have increased data breach litigation. Over a third of other U.S. states have enacted consumer privacy laws comparable to the CCPA and numerous other states have pending consumer privacy legislation under review, which if enacted, would add additional costs and expense of resources to maintain compliance.
We are also subject to evolving privacy laws on cookies, tracking technologies and marketing, advertising, and other activities conducted by telephone, email, mobile devices, and the internet. Regulation of cookies and similar technologies may lead to broader restrictions on our marketing and personalization activities, as well as the effectiveness of our marketing. Such regulations may have a negative effect on our business. We may also be subject to fines and penalties for non-compliance with any such laws and regulations. The decline of cookies or other online tracking technologies as a means to identify and target potential customers may increase the cost of operating our business and lead to a decline in revenues. In addition, legal uncertainties about the legality of cookies and other tracking technologies may increase regulatory scrutiny and increase potential civil liability under data protection or consumer protection laws.
We also may be subject to various U.S. federal, state, and foreign laws governing how companies provide age-appropriate experiences to children and minors, including the collection and processing of children and minors’ personal data. These laws include, but are not limited to, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, which address the use and disclosure of the personal data of children and minors and impose obligations on online services or products directed to or likely to be accessed by children, such as our Figma for Education offerings. We are subject to similar laws and regulations governing the collection and processing of children and minors’ data in a number of other jurisdictions, including, but not limited to, the UK, EEA, and Japan, and we may be subject to additional similar laws and regulations as we expand our Figma for Education offerings into new markets.
Further, we are subject to the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”), which governs the collection, use, disclosure, transfer, or other processing of personal data of natural persons located in the EEA and the UK, and it applies extra-territorially and imposes onerous requirements on controllers and processors of personal data, including, for example, accountability and transparency requirements, obligations to consider data protection as any new products or services are developed and to limit the amount of personal data processed, and obligations to comply with data protection rights of data subjects. We face increased compliance obligations and risk, including more robust regulatory enforcement of data protection requirements and substantial potential fines for noncompliance. A breach of the GDPR may also result in regulatory investigations, orders to cease or change our data processing activities, enforcement notices, assessment notices for a compulsory audit and we may also face civil claims including representative actions and other class action type litigation (where individuals have suffered harm), potentially amounting to significant compensation or damages liabilities, as well as associated costs, diversion of internal resources, and reputational harm.
The GDPR prohibits transfers of personal data from the EEA or the UK to countries not formally deemed adequate by the European Commission or the UK Information Commission Office, respectively, including
the United States, unless a particular compliance mechanism and, if necessary, certain safeguards, are implemented. The mechanisms that we and many other companies, including our customers, rely upon for European and UK data transfers out of the EEA and the UK are the European Commission Standard Contractual Clauses (the “SCCs”), the UK Information Commissioner’s Office’s Addendum to the SCCs, the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (the “EU-US DPF”), and the UK Extension to the EU-US DPF. We also have the Swiss-US Data Privacy Framework in place to legitimize transfers of personal data from Switzerland to the United States. All of these transfer mechanisms are the subject of legal challenge, regulatory interpretation, and judicial decisions by the Court of Justice of the EU. In particular, we expect the European Commission’s approval of the current EU-US DPF to be challenged, and expect international transfers to the United States and to other jurisdictions more generally to continue to be subject to enhanced scrutiny by regulators.
The EU Data Act imposes requirements regarding data portability, interoperability, and accessibility and unclear data transfer restrictions, any of which could impact our operations. Some countries are also considering or have passed legislation requiring local storage and processing of data, or similar requirements, which could increase the cost and complexity of delivering our products and services if we were to operate in those countries. If we are required to implement additional measures to transfer data around the world or to grant additional portability rights, this could increase our compliance costs, and could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
We may be subject to data privacy laws and similar laws in a number of other jurisdictions where our platform is available, including requirements that may require us to process or store customer data in certain jurisdictions or otherwise restrict our ability to serve customers in certain markets. For example, in certain circumstances, we may be subject to China’s Personal Information Protection Law (the “PIPL”). The PIPL’s requirements include extraterritorial application, data localization, and obligations to provide certain notices and rights to citizens of China. In the event that we are alleged or determined to be not in compliance with the PIPL or the local data privacy laws of any other jurisdiction where we make our platform available, including with respect to the data localization, cross-border transfer, or residency requirements, we may decide to make modifications to our platform, products, and services, increase costs, or cease operating in that jurisdiction, which would negatively impact our business, operating results, and financial condition, and may subject us to claims, investigations, regulatory processes, and penalties.
Further, as we accept debit and credit cards for payment, we are subject to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (the “PCI-DSS”), issued by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. The PCI-DSS contains compliance guidelines with regard to our security surrounding the physical and electronic storage, processing, and transmission of cardholder data. If we or our service providers are unable to comply with the security standards established by banks and the payment card industry, we may be subject to fines, restrictions, and expulsion from card acceptance programs, which could materially and adversely affect our business.
We depend on a number of third parties in relation to the operation of our business, a number of which process personal data on our behalf or as our sub-processor. To the extent required by applicable law, we attempt to mitigate the associated risks of using third parties by performing security assessments and detailed due diligence, entering into contractual arrangements to ensure that providers only process personal data according to our instructions or to the instructions of our customers, and ensuring that they have sufficient technical and organizational security measures in place. There is no assurance that these contractual measures and our own privacy and data security-related safeguards will protect us from the risks associated with third-party processing, storage, and transmission of personal data. Any violation of privacy, data protection, or cybersecurity laws by our third-party processors could have an adverse effect on our business and result in significant fines and penalties.
Our compliance efforts are further complicated by the fact that privacy and data security laws, rules, regulations, and standards around the world are rapidly evolving, may be subject to uncertain or inconsistent interpretations and enforcement, and may conflict among various jurisdictions. Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with our privacy policies, or applicable U.S. and international privacy and data security laws, rules, regulations, standards, certifications, or contractual obligations, or any compromise of security that results in unauthorized access to, or unauthorized loss, destruction, use, modification, acquisition, disclosure, release, or transfer of personal data, may result in requirements to modify or cease certain operations or practices, the expenditure of substantial costs, time, and other resources, proceedings or actions against us, legal liability, governmental investigations, enforcement actions, claims, fines, judgments, awards, penalties, sanctions, and costly litigation, including class actions. Any of the foregoing could harm our reputation, distract our management and technical personnel, increase our costs of doing business, adversely affect the demand for our products and services, and ultimately result in the imposition of liability, any of which could have an adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition.
We are subject to European digital services and content moderation regulations, which impose evolving compliance requirements that may impact how we offer our products in Europe.
The adoption of European laws relating to the internet or other areas of our business could affect the manner in which we currently conduct our business. The EU Digital Services Act (the “DSA”) governs, among other things, our potential liability for illegal services or content on our platform, and requires enhanced transparency measures, including in relation to any recommendation systems (including the main parameters used by such systems and any available options for recipients to modify or influence them). The DSA may increase our compliance costs, require changes to our user interface, processes, operations, and business practices which may adversely affect our ability to attract, retain and provide our services to users, and may otherwise adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition. Similarly, in the UK, the Online Safety Act 2023 (the “OSA”) establishes a regulatory framework for user-to-user services and imposes obligations to protect users from illegal content which may increase compliance costs and may otherwise adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition. Failure to comply with the DSA or OSA can result in significant fines.
We may become involved in litigation that may adversely affect us.
From time to time, we may be subject to claims, suits, and other legal proceedings. Regardless of the outcome, legal proceedings can have an adverse impact on us because of legal costs and diversion of management attention and resources, and could cause us to incur significant expenses or liability, adversely affect our brand recognition, or require us to change our business practices. The expense of litigation and the timing of this expense from period to period are difficult to estimate, subject to change, and could adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects. It is possible that a resolution of one or more such proceedings could result in substantial damages, settlement costs, fines, and penalties that would adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition, or cash flows in a particular period. These proceedings could also result in reputational harm, sanctions, consent decrees, or orders requiring a change in our business practices. Because of the potential risks, expenses, and uncertainties of litigation, we may, from time to time, settle disputes, even where we have meritorious claims or defenses, by agreeing to settlement agreements. Because litigation is inherently unpredictable, we cannot assure you that the results of any of these actions will not have an adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects.
Risks Related to Financial and Accounting Matters
If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or comply with applicable regulations could be impaired.
We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”), and the rules and regulations of the applicable listing standards of The New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”). The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures, and internal control, over financial reporting. We are continuing to develop and refine our disclosure controls, internal control over financial reporting, and other procedures that are designed to ensure information required to be disclosed by us in our financial statements and in the reports that we will file with the SEC is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms, and information required to be disclosed in reports under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our principal executive and financial officers. In order to maintain and improve the effectiveness of our internal controls and procedures, we have expended, and anticipate that we will continue to expend, significant resources, including accounting-related costs and significant management oversight.
Our current controls and any new controls we develop may become inadequate because of changes in conditions in our business. Further, weaknesses in our internal controls may be discovered in the future. Any failure to develop or maintain effective controls, or any difficulties encountered in their implementation or improvement, could harm our operating results, result in a restatement of our financial statements for prior periods, cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations, and adversely affect the results of periodic management evaluations and annual independent registered public accounting firm attestation reports regarding the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting that we will be required to include in the periodic reports we will file with the SEC. Ineffective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial and other information, which would likely have a negative effect on the trading price of our Class A common stock.
We expect our independent registered public accounting firm will be required to formally attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting commencing with our second Annual Report on Form 10-K. We also expect that we will be required to include an annual management report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting commencing with our second Annual Report on Form 10-K. We expect to incur significant expenses and devote substantial management effort toward ensuring compliance with the auditor attestation and management reporting requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that will apply starting with our second Annual Report on Form 10-K. As a result of the complexity involved in complying with the rules and regulations applicable to public companies, our management’s attention may be diverted from other business concerns, which could harm our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects. We have hired and expect to continue to hire additional employees to assist us in complying with these requirements, and we may also engage outside consultants, either of which will increase our operating expenses.
We incur significant costs and management resources as a result of operating as a public company.
As a public company, we incur significant legal, accounting, compliance, and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. Such additional compliance costs will continue to increase our legal, accounting, and financial compliance costs, make certain activities more difficult, time-consuming, and
costly, and place significant strain on our management, personnel, systems, and resources. For example, in connection with our IPO, we adopted additional internal controls and disclosure controls and procedures, retained a transfer agent, and adopted an insider trading policy. As a public company, we bear internal and external costs in connection with preparing and distributing periodic public reports in compliance with our obligations under U.S. securities laws.
In addition, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure, including the Exchange Act, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and rules and regulations implemented by the SEC, have increased legal and financial compliance costs and make some compliance activities more time-consuming. We have invested, and will continue to invest, resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations, and standards, and this investment has resulted, and will continue to result, in increased general and administrative expenses and may divert management’s time and attention from our other business activities. If our efforts to comply with new laws, regulations, and standards differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies due to ambiguities related to practice, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us, and our business may be harmed. In connection with our IPO, we increased our directors’ and officers’ insurance coverage, which increased our insurance-related costs. Moreover, in the future, it may be more expensive or more difficult for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain and maintain the same or similar coverage. These factors would also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members of our Board of Directors, particularly to serve on our audit committee and compensation committee, and qualified executive officers.
If our estimates or judgments relating to our critical accounting policies prove to be incorrect or financial reporting standards or interpretations change, our operating results could be adversely affected.
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in our condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, as discussed in the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. The results of these estimates form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets, liabilities, equity, the fair value of our Class A common stock prior to our IPO, and the amount of revenue and expenses, including stock-based compensation, that are not readily apparent from other sources. Significant assumptions and estimates used in preparing our condensed consolidated financial statements include, but are not limited to, those related to, stock-based compensation, including the estimation of the underlying fair value of common stock prior to our IPO and the estimation of the fair value of market-based awards. Our operating results may be adversely affected if our assumptions change or if actual circumstances differ from those in our assumptions, which could cause our operating results to fall below the expectations of industry or financial analysts and investors, potentially resulting in a decline in the market price of our Class A common stock.
Additionally, we regularly monitor our compliance with applicable financial reporting standards and review new pronouncements and drafts thereof that are relevant to us. As a result of new standards, changes to existing standards, and changes in their interpretation, we might be required to change our accounting policies, alter our operational policies, and implement new or enhance existing systems so that they reflect new or amended financial reporting standards, or we may be required to restate our published financial statements. Such changes to existing standards or changes in their interpretation may have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, financial condition, and profitability, or cause an adverse deviation from our revenue and operating profit target, which may adversely affect our financial condition.
Our Revolving Credit Facility contains restrictive and financial covenants that may limit our operational flexibility. If we fail to meet our obligations under the credit facility, our operations may be interrupted and our business, operating results, and financial condition could be adversely affected.
In June 2025, we entered into the Revolving Credit Agreement with Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc., as administrative agent and collateral agent, Bank of America, N.A., JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, and RBC Capital Markets, LLC, as joint lead arrangers and bookrunners, the letter of credit issuers from time to time party thereto, and the lenders from time to time party thereto, to fund working capital and general corporate purpose expenditures. The Revolving Credit Agreement provides for a revolving credit facility of up to $500.0 million and a subfacility of up to $150.0 million for letters of credit, and provides us with a right to increase the Revolving Credit Facility and/or add one or more tranches of term loans or to increase the amount of any existing term loans. The Revolving Credit Agreement contains a financial covenant requiring that Liquidity (defined as unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, plus the undrawn revolver commitments) is not less than $100.0 million as of the last day of each fiscal quarter. The Revolving Credit Agreement contains additional customary affirmative and negative covenants, including restrictions on indebtedness, liens, investments, asset dispositions and affiliate transactions, each subject to customary exceptions and baskets, and customary events of default. The obligations under the Revolving Credit Facility are secured by liens on substantially all of our assets.
Various risks, uncertainties, and events beyond our control could affect our ability to comply with these covenants. Failure to comply with any of the covenants could result in a default under the Revolving Credit Facility. Such a default could permit lenders to accelerate the maturity of outstanding amounts under our Revolving Credit Facility, if any, which in turn could result in material adverse consequences that negatively impact our business, the market price for our Class A common stock, and our ability to obtain other financing in the future. In addition, the Revolving Credit Agreement’s covenants, consent requirements, and other provisions may limit our flexibility to pursue or fund strategic initiatives or acquisitions that might be in the long-term interests of us and stockholders.
We may require additional capital to fund our business and support our growth, and any inability to generate or obtain such capital may adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
In order to support our growth and respond to business challenges, such as developing new features or enhancements to our platform to stay competitive, acquiring new technologies, and improving our infrastructure, we have made significant financial investments in our business and we intend to continue to make such investments. As a result, we may need to engage in additional equity or debt financings to provide the funds required for these investments and other business endeavors. If we raise additional funds through equity or convertible debt issuances, our existing stockholders may suffer significant dilution and these securities could have rights, preferences, or privileges that are superior to those of holders of our Class A common stock. We expect that our existing cash and cash equivalents, and marketable securities will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for working capital and capital expenditures for at least the next twelve months. If we obtain additional funds through debt financing, we may not be able to obtain such financing on terms favorable to us. Our ability to raise capital in the future may be impacted by global macroeconomic conditions, which may make it difficult to raise additional capital on favorable terms, if at all. Such terms may involve restrictive covenants making it difficult to engage in capital raising activities and pursue business opportunities, including potential acquisitions. Furthermore, we have authorized the issuance of undesignated preferred stock and blockchain common stock that our Board of Directors could use to, among other things, issue shares of our capital stock in the form of blockchain tokens, implement a stockholder rights plan, or issue other shares of preferred stock or common stock. If we issue additional equity securities, stockholders will experience dilution, and the new
equity securities could have rights senior to those of our currently authorized and issued common stock. We do not currently have any specific plans to issue shares of our capital stock in the form of blockchain tokens.
The trading prices of the common stock of technology companies have been highly volatile in recent years as a result of factors including inflation, interest rate volatility, actual or perceived global banking and finance related issues, geopolitical instability, warfare, macroeconomic uncertainty, including uncertainty regarding the impact of AI on software-as-a-service business models, and market downturns, which may reduce our ability to access capital on favorable terms or at all. In addition, a recession, depression, or other sustained adverse market event could adversely affect our business and the value of our Class A common stock. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us when we require it, our ability to continue to support our business growth and to respond to business challenges could be significantly impaired and our business may be adversely affected, requiring us to delay, reduce, or eliminate some or all of our operations.
We are exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates, which may be exacerbated in the future and could negatively affect our business, operating results, and financial condition.
Our sales are currently denominated in U.S. dollars, Euros, British pounds, Japanese Yen, and the Canadian Dollar, and will likely be denominated in other currencies in the future. Because we report our operating results and revenue in U.S. dollars, we currently face exposure to foreign currency exchange risk and may in the future face other foreign currency risks. We do not currently hedge against the risks associated with foreign currency fluctuations. If we are not able to successfully hedge against the risks associated with currency fluctuations, our operating results could be adversely affected. Further, to the extent that our customer agreements with our customers outside of the United States are denominated in U.S. dollars, strengthening of the U.S. dollar increases the real cost of our platform to our customers outside of the United States, which could lead to delays in the purchase of our platform and the lengthening of our sales cycle. If the U.S. dollar strengthens relative to the foreign currencies in the jurisdictions in which we have operations, this could adversely affect our business, operating results, and financial condition. Conversely, if the U.S. dollar weakens relative to the foreign currencies in the jurisdictions in which we have operations, our cost of revenue and operating expenses will increase, which would have an adverse impact on our operating results. In addition, increased international sales in the future, including as a result of our continued international expansion, could result in foreign currency denominated sales, which would increase our foreign currency risk.
Our operating expenses incurred outside the United States and denominated in foreign currencies are increasing and are subject to fluctuations due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates. We do not currently hedge against the risks associated with currency fluctuations but may do so, or use other derivative instruments, in the future.
Moreover, in addition to risks associated with traditional fiat currency, the emergence of cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin, as potential alternative mediums of exchange may introduce further risk. If the adoption of Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency increases to the point where it has the potential to displace traditional fiat currencies in our markets, this may exacerbate the risks described above.
We could be subject to additional tax liabilities and U.S. federal and global income tax reform could adversely affect us.
We are subject to U.S. federal, state, and local income taxes, sales, and other taxes in the United States and income taxes, withholding taxes, transaction taxes, and other taxes in numerous foreign jurisdictions. Our existing corporate structure has been implemented in a manner that we believe is in compliance with current prevailing tax laws. Moreover, changes to our corporate structure, including increased headcount
and expanded functions outside of the United States, could impact our worldwide effective tax rate and adversely affect our operating results and financial condition. Significant judgment is required in evaluating our tax positions and our worldwide provision for income taxes. During the ordinary course of business, there are many activities and transactions for which the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. The relevant taxing authorities may disagree with our determinations as to the income and expenses attributable to specific jurisdictions. If such a disagreement were to occur, and our position were not sustained, we could be required to pay additional taxes, interest, and penalties, which could result in one-time tax charges, higher effective tax rates, reduced cash flows, and lower overall profitability of our business, with some changes possibly affecting our tax obligations in future or past years. In addition, our future income tax obligations could be adversely affected by changes in, or interpretations of, tax laws in the United States or in other jurisdictions in which we operate.
Due to the expanding scale of our international business activities, these types of changes to the taxation of our activities could impact the tax treatment of our foreign earnings, increase our worldwide effective tax rate, increase the amount of taxes imposed on our business, and harm our financial condition. Such changes may also apply retroactively to our historical operations and result in taxes greater than the amounts estimated and recorded in our financial statements.
Our ability to use our deferred tax assets may be subject to certain limitations under U.S. or foreign law.
Realization of our deferred tax assets, in the form of future domestic or foreign tax deductions, credits, or other tax benefits, will depend on future taxable income, and there is a risk that some or all of such tax assets could be subject to limitation or otherwise unavailable to offset future income tax liabilities, all of which could adversely affect our operating results. For example, future changes in our stock ownership, the causes of which may be outside of our control, could result in an ownership change under Section 382 of the Code, which could limit our use of such tax assets in certain circumstances. Similarly, additional changes may be made to U.S. (federal and state) and foreign tax laws which could further limit our ability to fully utilize these tax assets against future taxable income.
Under the Inflation Reduction Act, our ability to utilize tax deductions or losses from prior years may be limited by the imposition of a minimum tax referred to as the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax, if such minimum tax applies to us. Therefore, we may be required to pay additional U.S. federal income taxes despite any available tax deductions, U.S. federal NOL carryforwards, credits, or other tax benefits that we accumulate.
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Class A Common Stock
The market price of our Class A common stock may be volatile, and you could lose all or part of your investment.
We cannot predict the prices at which our Class A common stock will continue to trade. The market price of our Class A common stock depends on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, those described in this “Risk Factors” section, many of which are beyond our control and may not be related to our operating results. In addition, the current limited public float of our Class A common stock will tend to increase the volatility of the trading price of our Class A common stock, which may be further increased due to retail investor interest. Since our IPO, the trading price of our Class A common stock has experienced significant volatility. For example, our Class A common stock has traded as high as $124.63
per share on the first day of trading following our IPO and, during the three months ended March 31, 2026, traded as low as $20.16 per share. The trading price of our Class A common stock may continue to be volatile and decline further, including for reasons unrelated to our operating performance, such as valuation compression due to investor sentiment regarding software, AI, or obsolescence risk. You may not be able to resell your shares at or above the price you paid for them, and could lose all or part of your investment in our Class A common stock. Factors that could cause fluctuations in the market price of our Class A common stock include, but are not limited to, the following:
•actual or anticipated changes or fluctuations in our operating results;
•the global political, economic, and macroeconomic climate, including, but not limited to, the imposition of trade barriers, tariffs, and other protectionist measures, actual or perceived global banking and finance related issues, uncertainty with respect to the U.S. federal debt ceiling and budget and potential U.S. federal government shutdowns related thereto, labor shortages, high unemployment rates, labor displacement, supply chain disruptions, potential recession, inflation, and interest rate volatility;
•our incurrence of any material amounts of indebtedness;
•our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements;
•the financial projections we may provide to the public, any changes in these projections, or our failure to meet these projections;
•announcements by us or our competitors of new offerings or new or terminated significant contracts, commercial relationships, acquisitions, or capital commitments;
•industry or financial analyst or investor reaction to our press releases, other public announcements, and filings with the SEC;
•rumors and market speculation involving us or other companies in our industry;
•price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market from time to time;
•sales of substantial amounts of our Class A common stock in the public markets, particularly sales by our directors, executive officers, and principal stockholders, or the perception that such sales might occur;
•the overall performance of the stock market or the performance of public technology companies;
•the expiration of contractual lock up agreements and sales of shares of our Class A common stock by us or our stockholders;
•failure of industry or financial analysts to maintain coverage of us, changes in financial estimates by any analysts who follow our company, or our failure to meet financial analysts’ estimates or the expectations of investors;
•actual or anticipated developments in our business or our competitors’ businesses or the competitive landscape generally;
•developments in AI;
•litigation or other proceedings involving us, our industry, or both, or investigations by regulators into our operations or those of our competitors or others that may be associated with us;
•developments or disputes concerning our intellectual property rights, or third-party intellectual property or other proprietary rights that we rely on or have implemented into our platform;
•new laws or regulations or new interpretations of existing laws or regulations applicable to our business;
•any major changes in our management or our Board of Directors;
•geopolitical instability, warfare, and uncertainty, or responses thereto; and
•actual or perceived cybersecurity incidents.
In addition, the stock market in general, and the market for technology companies in particular, has experienced price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies, particularly during the current period of global macroeconomic uncertainty. In particular, market sentiment regarding software-as-a-service business models, the pace of AI adoption, and the perceived risk that AI could reduce demand for, or change monetization of, design, development, and collaboration tools may contribute to valuation compression for our company and other software companies, even if our historical operating results and near-term financial performance remain relatively stable. These economic, political, regulatory, and market conditions may negatively impact the market price of our Class A common stock, regardless of our actual operating results. In the past, securities class action litigation and derivative litigation have often been instituted against companies following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities. These types of litigation, if instituted, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of management’s attention and resources, which could adversely affect our business, operating results, or financial condition. Additionally, the dramatic increase in the cost of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance may cause us to opt for lower overall policy limits and coverage or to forgo insurance that we may otherwise rely on to cover significant litigation defense costs, settlements, and damages awarded to plaintiffs, or incur substantially higher costs to maintain the same or similar coverage. Any of the above potential effects relating to potential volatility in the market price of our Class A common stock could have an adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition, and future prospects.
The multi-class structure of our common stock has the effect of concentrating voting power with Dylan Field, our Chair of our Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer, and President, which will limit your ability to influence the outcome of important transactions, including a change in control.
Our Class B common stock has 15 votes per share, and our Class A common stock has one vote per share. Our Class C common stock has no voting rights, except as required by law.
As of March 31, 2026, Mr. Field and Evan Wallace, our other co-founder, collectively held substantially all of the issued and outstanding shares of our Class B common stock. Moreover, pursuant to an irrevocable proxy granted by Mr. Wallace and the Wu-Wallace Family Trust (the “Wallace Proxy”), an affiliate of Mr. Wallace, to Mr. Field, Mr. Field has the complete and unlimited authority to act, in his sole discretion, on their behalf, to vote any number of shares of our capital stock, owned or beneficially held by them at any time and from time to time (the “Wallace Proxy Shares”) on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders at a meeting of stockholders or through the solicitation of a written consent of stockholders and for any contractual voting rights that may be applicable to the Wallace Proxy Shares.
As of March 31, 2026, Mr. Field held approximately 72.3% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock, including 23.8% of the voting power subject to the Wallace Proxy, which voting power may increase over time upon the exercise or settlement of equity awards held by Mr. Field. As a result, Mr. Field is able to control matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election of directors, amendments of our organizational documents, and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or
substantially all of our assets, or other major corporate transactions. Mr. Field may have interests that differ from yours and may vote in a way with which you disagree and which may be adverse to your interests. This concentrated control may have the effect of delaying, preventing, or deterring a change in control of our company, could deprive our stockholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their capital stock as part of a sale of our company, and might ultimately affect the market price of our Class A common stock. In addition, we and Mr. Field are party to a Nominating Agreement under which we and Mr. Field are required to take certain actions to include Mr. Field in the slate of nominees nominated by our Board of Directors for the applicable class of directors (or the full Board of Directors, if the Board of Directors is not classified at such time), include him in our proxy statement, cause our Board of Directors, subject to their fiduciary duties, to recommend in favor of Mr. Field’s election or re-election to our Board of Directors and solicit proxies or consents in favor of electing Mr. Field to our Board of Directors.
Future transfers by the holders of Class B common stock will generally result in those shares converting into shares of Class A common stock, subject to limited exceptions, such as certain transfers effected for estate planning or charitable purposes. The conversion of Class B common stock to Class A common stock will have the effect, over time, of increasing the relative voting power of those holders of Class B common stock who retain their shares in the long term. As a result, it is possible that one or more of the persons or entities holding our Class B common stock could increase their voting control as other holders of Class B common stock sell or otherwise convert their shares into Class A common stock.
The multi-class structure of our common stock may adversely affect the trading market for our Class A common stock.
We cannot predict whether the multi-class structure of our common stock will, over time, result in a lower or more volatile market price of our Class A common stock, adverse publicity, or other adverse consequences. Certain stock index providers exclude or limit the ability of companies with multi-class share structures from being added to certain of their indices. In addition, several stockholder advisory firms and large institutional investors oppose the use of multi-class structures. As a result, the multi-class structure of our common stock may make us ineligible for inclusion in certain indices and may discourage such indices from selecting us for inclusion, notwithstanding our automatic termination provision, may cause stockholder advisory firms to publish negative commentary about our corporate governance practices or otherwise seek to cause us to change our capital structure, and may result in large institutional investors not purchasing shares of our Class A common stock. Given the sustained flow of investment funds into passive strategies that seek to track certain indices, any exclusion from certain stock indices could result in less demand for our Class A common stock. Any actions or publications by stockholder advisory firms or institutional investors critical of our corporate governance practices or capital structure could also adversely affect the value of our Class A common stock.
Sales of substantial amounts of our Class A common stock in the public markets, or the perception that they might occur, could cause the market price of our Class A common stock to decline.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock into the public market, particularly sales by our directors, executive officers, and principal stockholders, or the perception that these sales might occur, could cause the market price of our Class A common stock to decline.
Upon the expiration of the Extended Lock-Up Period, as defined and described further below, all of the shares of our Class A common stock will be freely tradable without restrictions or further registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), except that any shares held by our affiliates, as defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act (including any shares that were purchased by any of our affiliates in our IPO), will only be able to be sold in compliance with Rule 144 under the Securities Act.
On August 30, 2025, we entered into an extended lock-up agreement (the “Extended Lock-Up Agreement”) with holders of approximately 54.1% of our outstanding shares of Class A common stock as of August 30, 2025 (such holders, the “Extended Lock-Up Holders”), pursuant to which the Extended Lock-Up Holders have agreed that, without our prior written consent, they will not, during the period commencing on the date of such Extended Lock-Up Agreement and ending on August 31, 2026 or such other earlier date as described below (such period, the “Extended Lock-Up Period”): (a) offer, pledge, sell, contract to sell, sell any option or contract to purchase, purchase any option or contract to sell, grant any option, right or warrant to purchase, lend or otherwise transfer or dispose of, directly or indirectly, any shares of our common stock or any securities directly or indirectly convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for our common stock; (b) enter into any swap, hedging transaction, or other arrangement that transfers to another, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of our common stock, whether any such transaction described above is to be settled by delivery of our common stock or such other securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for our common stock, in cash or otherwise; (c) publicly disclose the intention to take any of the actions restricted by clause (a) or (b); or (d) make any demand for, or exercise any right with respect to, the registration of any shares of our common stock or any securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for our common stock, in each case, subject to certain exceptions.
Notwithstanding the foregoing,
(a)17.5% of the aggregate number of shares of Class A common stock held by the Extended Lock-Up Holders (approximately 38.9 million shares) were released and became available for transfer, distribution, or sale at the discretion of the Extended Lock-Up Holders beginning at the commencement of trading on November 7, 2025;
(b)20% of the aggregate number of shares of Class A common stock held by the Extended Lock-Up Holders (approximately 44.4 million shares) were released and became available for transfer, distribution, or sale at the discretion of the Extended Lock-Up Holders beginning at the commencement of trading on February 20, 2026;
(c)we expect that up to an additional 27.5% of the aggregate number of shares of Class A common stock held by the Extended Lock-Up Holders (approximately 61.1 million shares) will be released and may be transferred, distributed, or sold at the discretion of the Extended Lock-Up Holders beginning at the commencement of trading on May 18, 2026; and
(d)the remainder of the shares of Class A Common Stock held by the Extended Lock-Up Holders (approximately 77.7 million shares) will be released and may be transferred, distributed, or sold at the discretion of the Extended Lock-Up Holders and the Extended-Lock-Up Period will terminate on the earlier of (i) the commencement of trading on the second trading day after the date that we announce earnings for the quarter ending June 30, 2026 and (ii) August 31, 2026.
When the Extended Lock-Up Period expires, the Extended Lock-Up Holders will be able to sell our shares in the public market, subject to compliance with Rule 144 under the Securities Act. In addition, we may release all or some portion of the shares subject to the Extended Lock-Up Agreement prior to the expiration of the Extended Lock-Up Period at any time. Sales of a substantial number of such shares upon expiration of the Extended Lock-Up Period, or the perception that such sales may occur, or early release of all or some portion of the shares subject to the Extended Lock-Up Agreement, could cause the market price of Class A common stock to fall or make it more difficult for you to sell your Class A common stock at a time and price that you deem appropriate.
Our Board of Directors has adopted a settlement practice under which, based on certain pre-approved parameters, we will either use a sell-to-cover settlement method or a net settlement method to satisfy tax withholding and remittance obligations associated with the vesting and settlement of restricted stock units (“RSUs”) held by our employees, including our CEO. Under a sell-to-cover method, shares of our Class A common stock are sold into the market on behalf of our employees to cover the associated tax
withholding obligations. Such sales will cause dilution to our stockholders and could increase the volatility of the trading price of our Class A common stock. Under a net settlement method, we withhold shares of our Class A common stock in an amount sufficient to satisfy the applicable tax withholding obligations and remit the appropriate taxes to the relevant tax authorities on the employee’s behalf, which we expect would require us to expend significant funds.
Portions of the 2025 CEO Service Award and the 2025 CEO Stock Price Award (each as defined and described further in Note 8 “Stockholders’ Equity—RSUs” to our condensed consolidated financial statements included in Part I, Item 1 of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q) are expected to settle in July 2026, in each case so long as Mr. Field continues to provide qualifying service to us as of such date. The remaining portions of the 2025 CEO Stock Price Award and 2025 CEO Service Award will vest and settle from time to time in accordance with the terms of the applicable award, in each case so long as Mr. Field continues to provide qualifying service to us as of the applicable vesting dates. To the extent shares subject to Mr. Field’s awards are net settled, the settlement could result in significant cash expenditures by us. Alternatively, to the extent we use the sell-to-cover method for settlement, the settlement will result in dilution to our stockholders and could increase volatility in the trading price of our Class A common stock.
As of March 31, 2026, we had stock options and RSUs outstanding that, if fully exercised or vested and settled, as applicable, would result in the issuance of 6,672,629 shares of Class A common stock and 53,055,384 shares of Class A common stock, respectively. In addition, as of March 31, 2026, we had RSUs outstanding that, if fully vested and settled, would result in the issuance of 28,960,338 shares of Class B common stock. All of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise or settlement of stock options or RSUs, and the shares reserved for future issuance under our equity incentive plans, are registered for public resale under the Securities Act. Accordingly, these shares will be able to be freely sold in the public market upon issuance, subject to applicable vesting requirements.
Certain holders of our Class A common stock have rights, subject to some conditions, to require us to file registration statements for the public resale of the Class A common stock or to include such shares in registration statements that we may file for us or other stockholders.
We may also issue our shares of common stock or securities convertible into shares of our common stock, including in the form of blockchain tokens, from time to time in connection with a financing, acquisition, investment, or otherwise. Any further issuance could result in substantial dilution to our existing stockholders, especially if the issuance were to occur at a price below the then-current market price of our Class A common stock. Any future issuances could cause the market price of our Class A common stock to decline.
If financial analysts issue inaccurate or unfavorable research regarding our Class A common stock, our stock price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our Class A common stock is influenced by the research and reports that financial analysts publish about us, our business, our market, and our competitors. We do not control these analysts or the content and opinions included in their reports. As a newly public company, the analysts who publish information about our Class A common stock have had relatively little experience with our company, which could affect their ability to accurately forecast our results and make it more likely that we fail to meet their estimates. If any of the analysts who cover us issue an inaccurate or unfavorable opinion regarding our stock price, our stock price would likely decline. In addition, the stock prices of many companies in the technology industry have declined significantly after those companies have failed to meet, or significantly exceed, the financial guidance publicly announced by the companies or the expectations of analysts. If our financial results fail to meet or significantly exceed our announced guidance or the expectations of analysts or public investors, analysts could downgrade our Class A
common stock or publish unfavorable research about us. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our Class A common stock or fail to publish reports on us regularly, our visibility in the financial markets could decrease, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.
Any future issuance of our Class C common stock may have the effect of further concentrating voting control in our Class B common stock, may discourage potential acquisitions of our business, and could have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock.
Under our restated certificate of incorporation, we are authorized to issue up to 1,000,000,000 shares of our Class C common stock. Although we have no current plans to issue any shares of our Class C common stock, we may in the future issue shares of our Class C common stock for a variety of corporate purposes, including financings, acquisitions, investments, and equity incentives to our employees, consultants, and directors. Any future issuance of our Class C common stock may have the effect of further concentrating voting control in our Class B common stock, may discourage potential acquisitions of our business, and could have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock. Our authorized but unissued shares of Class C common stock are available for issuance with the approval of our Board of Directors without stockholder approval, except as may be required by the listing rules of the NYSE. Because our Class C common stock carries no voting rights (except as otherwise required by law) and is not listed for trading on an exchange or registered for sale with the SEC, shares of our Class C common stock may be less liquid and less attractive to any future recipients of these shares than shares of our Class A common stock, although we may seek to list our Class C common stock for trading and register shares of our Class C common stock for sale in the future. Further, we could issue shares of Class C common stock to Mr. Field and, in that event, he would be able to sell such shares of Class C common stock and achieve liquidity in his holdings without diminishing his voting power. In addition, because our Class C common stock carries no voting rights (except as otherwise required by law), if we issue shares of our Class C common stock in the future, the holders of our Class B common stock may be able to hold significant voting control over most matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders for a longer period of time than would be the case if we issued our Class A common stock rather than our Class C common stock in such transactions. Further, any and all outstanding shares of Class C common stock will convert automatically into Class A common stock, on a share-for-share basis, following both (a) the earliest to occur of (i) the conversion or exchange of all outstanding shares of our Class B common stock into shares of Class A common stock, (ii) the Class B Automatic Conversion (as defined below) and (iii) the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of Class B common stock, voting separately as a single class and (b) the date and time, or occurrence of an event, specified by the holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of Class A common stock, voting as a separate class.
We do not intend to pay dividends in the foreseeable future. As a result, your ability to achieve a return on your investment will depend on appreciation in the price of our Class A common stock.
We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings for use in the operation of our business and do not anticipate paying any dividends in the foreseeable future. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on our operating results, financial condition, capital requirements, general business conditions, instruments, and other factors that our Board of Directors may deem relevant. Additionally, our ability to pay dividends is limited by restrictions on our ability to pay dividends or make distributions under the terms of our Revolving Credit Facility. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their Class A common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investments.
General Risk Factors
We may be adversely affected by natural disasters, pandemics, and other catastrophic events, and by man-made problems such as geopolitical instability, warfare, and uncertainty, that could disrupt our business operations, and our business continuity and disaster recovery plans may not adequately protect us from a serious disaster.
Natural disasters or other catastrophic events may cause damage or disruption to our operations, international commerce, and the global economy, and thus could have an adverse effect on us. Our business operations are also subject to interruption by fire, power shortages, flooding, and other events beyond our control. In addition, our global operations expose us to risks associated with public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics, which could harm our business and cause our operating results to suffer. Further, acts of war, armed conflict, terrorism, and other geopolitical instability or uncertainty could cause disruptions in our business, the businesses of our partners or customers, or the economy as a whole. Moreover, the risks associated with AI technology are still unknown and advances in AI could pose risks, including, but not limited to, cyberattacks, terrorism, disruption to labor markets, criminal misuse, autonomous warfare, and catastrophic accidents.
In the event of a natural disaster, including, but not limited to, a major earthquake, blizzard, or hurricane, or a catastrophic event such as a fire, power loss, cyberattack, or telecommunications failure, we may be unable to continue our operations and may endure system interruptions, reputational harm, delays in development of our platform, lengthy interruptions in service, breaches of data security, and loss of critical data, all of which could have an adverse effect on our future operating results. Climate change could result in an increase in the frequency or severity of such natural disasters. Moreover, any of our office locations may be vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. For example, our corporate headquarters are located in California, a state that frequently experiences earthquakes, wildfires, and resultant air quality impacts and power shutoffs associated with wildfire prevention, heatwaves, and droughts. These events can, in turn, have impacts on inflation risk, food security, water security, and on our employees’ health and well-being. Additionally, all the aforementioned risks will be further increased if we do not implement and maintain an effective disaster recovery plan or our partners’ or customers’ disaster recovery plans prove to be inadequate.
We are an “emerging growth company” and the reduced reporting requirements applicable to emerging growth companies could make our Class A common stock less attractive to investors.
We are an “emerging growth company” as defined in the JOBS Act. For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including (i) not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, (ii) reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and (iii) exemptions from the requirements of holding nonbinding advisory stockholder votes on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved.
We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years following the completion of our IPO, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer,” which occurs when the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates equals or exceeds $700.0 million as of the prior June 30, or if we have total annual gross revenue of $1.235 billion or more during any fiscal year before that time, in which cases we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31, or if we issue more than $1.0
billion in non-convertible debt during any three-year period before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company immediately.
Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can also delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have elected to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period. Our financial statements may therefore not be comparable to those of companies that comply with such new or revised accounting standards. Until the date that we are no longer an “emerging growth company” or affirmatively and irrevocably opt out of the exemption provided by Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act, upon issuance of a new or revised accounting standard that applies to our financial statements and that has a different effective date for public and private companies, we will disclose the date on which adoption is required for non-emerging growth companies and the date on which we will adopt the recently issued accounting standard.
Provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of us, which may be beneficial to our stockholders, more difficult and may limit attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management.
Provisions in our restated certificate of incorporation and restated bylaws may have the effect of delaying or preventing a merger, acquisition, or other change of control of the company that the stockholders may consider favorable. In addition, because our Board of Directors is responsible for appointing the members of our management team, these provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our Board of Directors. Among other things, our restated certificate of incorporation and restated bylaws include provisions that:
•from and after the date on which the voting power of all of the then-outstanding shares of our Class B common stock represents less than a majority of the total voting power of all of the then-outstanding shares of our capital stock (the “Trigger Date”), subject to the special rights of the holders of any preferred stock or blockchain common stock then-outstanding, provide that our Board of Directors is classified into three classes of directors with staggered three-year terms;
•permit our Board of Directors to establish the number of directors and fill any vacancies and newly created directorships, provided that prior to the Trigger Date, vacancies and newly created directorships may be filled by our stockholders with the approval of a majority of the voting power of all of the then-outstanding shares of our capital stock;
•from and after the Trigger Date, require supermajority voting to amend some provisions in our restated certificate of incorporation and restated bylaws;
•authorize the issuance of undesignated preferred stock and blockchain common stock that our Board of Directors could use to implement a stockholder rights plan or issue other shares of preferred stock or common stock, including blockchain tokens;
•from and after the Trigger Date, provide that only the Chair of our Board of Directors, our Chief Executive Officer, our Lead Independent Director, or a majority of our Board of Directors will be authorized to call a special meeting of stockholders;
•from and after the Trigger Date, eliminate the ability of our stockholders to call special meetings of stockholders;
•do not provide for cumulative voting;
•from and after the Trigger Date, subject to the special rights of the holders of any preferred stock or blockchain common stock then-outstanding, provide that directors may only be removed “for
cause” and only by the affirmative vote of the holders of at least two-thirds of the voting power of all of the then-outstanding shares of our capital stock;
•provide for a multi-class common stock structure in which holders of our Class B common stock may have the ability to control the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval, even if they own significantly less than a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock, including the election of directors and other significant corporate transactions, such as a merger or other sale of our company or its assets;
•from and after the Trigger Date, subject to the rights of the holders of any preferred stock or blockchain common stock then-outstanding, prohibit stockholder action by written consent, which requires all stockholder actions to be taken at a meeting of our stockholders;
•provide that our Board of Directors is expressly authorized to adopt, amend, or repeal our restated bylaws; and
•establish advance notice requirements for nominations for election to our Board of Directors or for proposing matters that can be acted upon by stockholders at annual stockholder meetings.
Moreover, Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”), may discourage, delay, or prevent a change in control of our company. Section 203 imposes certain restrictions on mergers, business combinations, and other transactions between us and holders of 15% or more of our common stock.
Our restated bylaws contain exclusive forum provisions for certain claims, which may limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or employees.
Our restated bylaws provide that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, to the fullest extent permitted by law, will be the exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty, any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to the DGCL, our restated certificate of incorporation, or our restated bylaws, any action to interpret, apply, enforce, or determine the validity of our restated certificate of incorporation, or our restated bylaws, any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine or any action asserting an internal corporate claim (as defined in the DGCL).
Moreover, Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for U.S. federal and state courts over all claims brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Our restated bylaws provide that the federal district courts of the United States will, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act (the “Federal Forum Provision”). Our decision to adopt a Federal Forum Provision followed a decision by the Supreme Court of the State of Delaware holding that such provisions are facially valid under Delaware law. While there can be no assurance that U.S. federal or state courts will follow the holding of the Delaware Supreme Court or determine that the Federal Forum Provision should be enforced in a particular case, application of the Federal Forum Provision means that suits brought by our stockholders to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act must be brought in U.S. federal court and cannot be brought in state court.
Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all claims brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Accordingly, actions by our stockholders to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder must be brought in U.S. federal court.
Our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the federal securities laws and the regulations promulgated thereunder.
Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding any interest in any of our securities shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to our exclusive forum provisions, including the Federal Forum Provision. These provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum of their choosing for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers, and employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our restated bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, operating results, and financial condition.