When Innovation Stops, Death Follows

In 2024, a quiet but significant announcement shook the design world:

InVision, once a darling of the UX/UI collaboration space, would shut down its design services by the end of the year.

For those of us who remember when InVision was the tool for prototyping, collaboration, and managing design systems, it felt like the end of an era.

But beneath the surface, it was something more: a cautionary tale of what happens when innovation stalls in an industry that never stops moving.

From Rising Star to Industry Standard

Founded in 2011, InVision rapidly became a symbol of modern design tooling.

It wasn’t just a prototyping platform — it introduced Freehand, a digital whiteboard; a Design System Manager (DSM); and an ecosystem of tools that promised seamless collaboration for design teams.

By 2018, the company had raised over $115 million in funding and was valued at $2 billion.

Customers included Fortune 100 giants like American Express, Netflix, Slack, and HBO. InVision was the name in digital product design — alongside Slack, Trello, and the other breakout SaaS stars of the 2010s.

But while the product matured, the world around it changed even faster.

The Innovation Gap

The cracks didn’t appear overnight — but they were visible to those paying close attention.

While InVision stuck to a workflow that still relied heavily on uploading static files and syncing externally,

Figma was rewriting the rules. Its real-time collaboration, cloud-native infrastructure, and tight developer-designer integration won over teams in droves.

Figma wasn’t just a better tool — it was a better system. While InVision offered features, Figma offered fluidity.

InVision struggled to respond. Innovation slowed. Internal culture grew confused about whether to prioritize expansion or usability.

And in a market that rewards speed, the company started falling behind.

2024: A Quiet Goodbye

When CEO Michael Shenkman announced the end of InVision’s design services, the tone was gracious — but the message was final.

“We’re committed to making this transition as smooth as possible,” he wrote.

But the reality was clear: the battle had been lost long before the announcement.

InVision didn’t just lose to Figma.

It lost to change itself — to the accelerating demands of users, to shifts in collaboration culture, and to the unforgiving pace of software innovation.

Innovation Is a Treadmill, Not a Mountain

InVision’s downfall wasn’t a surprise. It was a lesson.

• Markets don’t wait for you to catch up.

• Past success does not protect you from future irrelevance.

• And in tech, standing still is the same as moving backwards.

Despite reaching unicorn status and securing major clients, InVision failed to adapt to the evolving expectations of its own users. The tools felt dated. The workflows weren’t integrated. The feedback wasn’t heard.

Meanwhile, Figma was acquired by Adobe for a staggering $20 billion in 2022 — an exclamation point on a generational shift.

Internal Struggles and Strategic Missteps

Many post-mortems will focus on product gaps, but the problems went deeper.

Internally, InVision struggled with:

• - Leadership alignment

• - Prioritization paralysis

• - Disconnected roadmap execution

Externally, the company misread its competition. It underestimated just how fast Figma would grow. And it failed to leverage its early lead into sustained community and ecosystem momentum.

Even with impressive brand loyalty in its early days, InVision couldn’t deliver the clarity or confidence users expected in later years.

What Happens Now?

The market abhors a vacuum — and InVision’s departure leaves one.

But Figma won’t be alone forever. Startups around the world are exploring:

• AI-assisted design workflows

• Code-to-design and design-to-code convergence

• Real-time multiplayer UX prototyping

• New paradigms for cross-functional collaboration

Tools will come and go. The needs of creative teams will keep evolving. And somewhere, right now, a new team is building the “next InVision.”

The Brutal Truth: Innovation Has No Finish Line

The story of InVision isn’t just about a company shutting down. It’s about a truth every founder, product leader, and investor must accept:

In tech, you are only as relevant as your latest innovation.

Designers don’t use InVision anymore — but they remember it. Not as a failure, but as a reminder.

A reminder that innovation is not a checkbox. It’s a commitment.

Because once you stop innovating, you’re not just pausing — you’re falling behind.

And sometimes, you don’t recover.