
Sketch raises $20M in Series A funding - 3stripe
https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/13/sketch-maker-of-popular-design-tools-just-landed-20-million-in-series-a-funding-from-benchmark-in-its-first-outside-round/
======
rsweeney21
I'm a developer and I remember the first time I tried to do some design work.
My design friends told me to use Photoshop and I just couldn't figure it out.
The learning curve was so steep I gave up on my ambitions to learn UX design.
Plus it seemed weird to be using a photo editing tool to design software.

A few years later Sketch came along and it was so easy and intuitive to use
that I was able to pick it up immediately. I've been able to get pretty good
at UX design now because the barrier to entry on the tools side got so much
lower.

I wonder if there's a way to lower the barrier to entry for coding in the same
way. I mean, when you think about it, we're still using text editors to build
software. Seems odd.

Anyway, Sketch is awesome and the first of this new wave of design tools. I
use Figma now. It has most of the benefits of sketch and it supports Mac,
Windows and in browser. I fear this funding may have come too late.

~~~
dvdhsu
Wow, this comment got me really excited. I, too, have always wondered why
programming has always been us programmers, sitting down in front of a text
editor, writing tokens (def, if, = etc.).

It’s what got me working on Retool
([https://tryretool.com](https://tryretool.com)). The idea is that visual
programming has a bad rap, primarily because it’s being used in the wrong
places. Most people try to apply visual programming to end-user software
(Twitter, Airbnb, etc.). But because visual programming is really good for
getting to an 80% solution in 20% of the time, and because 80% of Twitter
really isn’t good enough (imagine Twitter with no autocomplete for tagging
other users), building customer-facing software is precisely visual
programming’s worst use case!

Retool’s focused specifically on building internal software. The idea is that,
for internal software, 80% literally is 80%. And so visual programming is
particularly suited for building internal stuff. Here’s a 4 minute demo video:
[https://vimeo.com/303811211](https://vimeo.com/303811211). (People have
described it as Delphi or Visual Basic in the cloud. In this case, the cloud
is actually helpful, since it lets you distribute the created apps easily with
authentication, authorization, and audit logs.)

If anybody has any feedback, or otherwise wants to hypothesize on why we’re
still programming in text editors, please let me know! I’m david@.

~~~
chansiky
Visual programming was pretty popular in the architecture industry last I
remember. Mograph is also another area where I've seen people use it a lot,
(its hard to hand model and animate thousands of objects), It's also great for
developing shaders and textures that depend on different colors and noise
values.

Programmers might dislike visual programming because you give up a lot of
control, but artists have a far easier time using them than writing "const int
x = foo", etc since they have to basically learn a whole new language/subject
matter.

On that note, I think anything that isn't particularly algorithm heavy and
visual could enable a different class of people (like designers and artists)
to access the utility of programming logic without having to learn a whole new
language and paradigm of thinking. Who knows, maybe in the future, front-end
ui work might be done by designers using a "photoshop-for-interfaces" software
rather than programmers writing react components.

------
pavlov
This means Sketch is now tied to VC’s revenue growth demands. Framer went down
the same path of VC megabuck-driven development and a vocal part of the
community seems unhappy with the outcome.

A few years back, the Sketch founder made a convincing case in interviews for
why the product is better off when they’re bootstrapped... This turn of events
suggests they might be feeling the heat from well-funded competitors like
Figma and Invision.

~~~
manmal
I‘m sure that Bohemian Coding are _very_ scared of Figma. Just read the
comments here - many switch from Sketch to Figma now. Multi-platform is more
important than ever, with alienated Mac users switching to Win/Linux, and the
iPad Pro becoming a part time computer for many. Having real-time
collaboration also doesn’t hurt - Sketch cloud is way behind this.

If they don’t act now, fast, they will soon become irrelevant.

~~~
ichik
> real-time collaboration also doesn’t hurt

No, that's not the icing on the cake. That's the primary reason for why design
teams are switching to Figma. This changes so much, you wouldn't believe:
primarily because it means effectively side-stepping version control pains.
With Sketch you either have to use external software (Abstract, Plant etc.) or
resort to manual “check-outs” while working in design team. With Figma this
problem simply doesn't exist.

~~~
manmal
That’s a great argument, thank you.

------
filleokus
I haven't really used Sketch that much, but I always liked the native feel of
it on the Mac. In the world of Slack-esque memory gobbling monstrosities it
was just nice to use a piece of software made for the Mac, similar to the Omni
Group applications.

I'm for sure hoping that the web move isn't a step in ditching the Mac app.
But perhaps the actual users of Sketch don't care, Figma is mostly a web app
right?

~~~
itronitron
I tried adopting Sketch about a year ago but just couldn't figure out what the
utility of it is over other design applications. If anyone has any thoughts on
that please share.

~~~
mattkevan
It’s light, fast, cheap, easy to use and has excellent support for reusable
components, making working with design systems a breeze. Adobe have been
working on XD for years and are still nowhere close.

Sketch also can’t do much more design-wise than you can with HTML and CSS, a
good thing as it’s too easy to put things into a design with photoshop or
illustrator that are a pain to implement.

The file format is basically zipped json files, so there’s a robust plugin
ecosystem and you can do things like git integration pretty easily. And it’s a
native Mac app, unlike Figma, its closest competitor, which is Electron.

It’s an example of simpler is better, especially when compared to Adobe
software which doesn’t just include the kitchen sink, but the kitchen, the
house and a large part of the street.

~~~
seeekr
Worth noting though that Figma is developed in C++ and compiled for the web,
and they've stated that they're using Electron for the native apps for now,
but it would certainly be thinkable and straightforward to switch to properly
native apps.

~~~
h1d
Why waste time for little gain by going native than try to compete on
features?

~~~
nine_k
Think about iOS?

~~~
WA
Cordova has you covered.

------
redindian75
I agree with other commenters here. Its too late for Sketch. Sketch has
promised to go Browser by the year end. Figma was already there 2 years back.

Figma is eating their lunch. It does what Sketch does & much much more - in
the browser.

I moved from Sketch to Adobe XD to Figma. Not going back.

~~~
nkrisc
What's the benefit of doing it in the browser? That sounds like a downside for
me. I like having my documents stored on my drive, I even have some scripts I
wrote to format my files.

~~~
ichik
Collaboration and version control. With Sketch you either roll other software
on top (Abstract or Plant) or painstakingly adhere to manual check-out
process. With Figma your design team always has the latest version of the
component libraries and can collaborate effortlessly.

------
yodon
In case anyone's worried about Figma not getting any love, they pulled in $40m
from Sequoia last month.[0]

[0] [https://www.figma.com/blog/figma-
series-c/](https://www.figma.com/blog/figma-series-c/)

~~~
designcode
Ha, doubt very much anyone is worrying if Figma is _underfunded_ !

------
Ecco
I quite don’t get the math behind this. That’s a 50 person company with 100M
of revenues. Their yearly operating costs are probably around 5M. Even if said
revenues spanned 10 years they would still be making 5M in profit each year.
Since they most likely have some amount of growth, last year’s profit has to
be much higher than that.

Then why bother raising $20M? Isn't that amount a bit small compared to what
they already made in yearly profit?

~~~
whoisjuan
You don't raise money against your profits or available cash reserves. You
raise money because you need it to do something.

I can save a solid 40K a year in savings on a 120K salary, that doesn't mean I
can't or shouldn't get a 20K loan to help with a significant expense.

They already stated that the 20MM is meant to accelerate their development of
a web version. That's why they raised this money.

------
social_quotient
I really hope they put some of those dollars towards Windows development. I
find it odd that sketch is so awesome yet only works on 13% of the market
machines. I’ve wanted my company to look at adopting sketch but it’s weird to
have a file not everyone can open, edit, extend.

Philosophically I find it odd to use a closed system which only runs on Mac to
build experiences for web. Something about it rubs me wrong.

Mac market share [https://www.statista.com/statistics/576473/united-states-
qua...](https://www.statista.com/statistics/576473/united-states-quarterly-pc-
shipment-share-apple/)

~~~
kitsunesoba
Sketch heavily relies on Quartz/Cocoa, which is Mac/iOS only. Both are very
powerful and allow devs to produce high quality graphics apps with relatively
little time and manpower.

Had they started out cross platform it’s doubtful they’d been able to achieve
what they did when they did.

------
3stripe
A browser-based version of Sketch would be huge - this is Figma's killer USP
at the moment

~~~
noir_lord
It would, I'd buy it immediately (at a reasonable highish) price since over in
Linux land I have much fewer choices for this kind of thing.

~~~
sandebert
I recommend WireframeSketcher, works fine on Linux.
([https://wireframesketcher.com](https://wireframesketcher.com))

~~~
noir_lord
Already have a license for an older version of that.

------
yazr
Can anyone estimate how much revenue/users Sketch has?

A great sustainable comfortable product company. But its a developer tool, so
of course we will get endless competitors products. So we need capital. So VC
are now in a position to offer offers. And we get a bloodbath ?

~~~
wousser
In 2018 Sketch crossed 1,000,000 paying customers. Sketch license is $99/year.

See their official announcement: [https://blog.sketchapp.com/sketch-
raises-20m-in-series-a-fun...](https://blog.sketchapp.com/sketch-
raises-20m-in-series-a-funding-from-benchmark-ea298764d7d1)

~~~
chdaniel
They offer education discount as well for $50/yr plus the $69/yr renewal
someone else mentioned. So it’s definitely not a clear $100M mark but I’d say
they’re doing good

------
usaphp
Sketch to me is like Sublime Text, every time I try a new shiny toy (figma,
adobe xd, framer/vscode, atom) I keep coming back to Sketch/Sublime Text. I
really like their latest big update, it made the UI so much cleaner and easier
to use.

~~~
skilled
Sketch has a distinct premium feel to it, even if you swear by Figma, the UI
aspect you have to give Sketch credit for.

------
skilled
Surprised by this. I thought Sketch was doing well for itself.

~~~
michelb
Maybe, but many people that used to use Sketch are now using Figma. Adobe is
doubling down on XD, and Framer is also rapidly turning into an extremely
powerful tool.

~~~
skilled
Yep. I switched to Figma as well.

~~~
cageface
It's pretty impressive that a browser based app can compete with such a
complex and performance sensitive app like sketch. I understand why sketch is
a native Mac app but having no windows or Linux port leaves the door open for
competition.

~~~
manigandham
The core parts are built in C++ and compiled to WebAssembly:
[https://www.figma.com/blog/webassembly-cut-figmas-load-
time-...](https://www.figma.com/blog/webassembly-cut-figmas-load-time-by-3x/)

~~~
cageface
Interesting. Sounds like the benefit here is mostly in improving load time,
not performance, right?

~~~
manigandham
It's both: [https://www.figma.com/blog/figma-
faster/](https://www.figma.com/blog/figma-faster/)

------
lostgame
All the people clamouring for Windows support clearly do not understand the
philosophy behind how Sketch is made.

It’s a MacOS app because it takes advantage of specific MacOS frameworks that
allow it to feel like a quality and ‘native’ piece of software.

We have different operating systems for different purposes. Many designers
like to use a Mac anyway. They decided to fill that niche.

Ports would mean massive, fundamental rewrites of huge chunks of the
application’s infrastructure.

------
MrTrvp
[https://icons8.com/lunacy](https://icons8.com/lunacy)

Lunacy is a good windows alternative to Sketch!

~~~
skilled
Yes, this is a top-product! As an OSX user, I sometimes curl up inside because
of how bad I want to try some of the Windows-only software.

------
huffmsa
Good now please support other OSes

~~~
huffmsa
Why the negs? They've got $20m in VC money. Time to get that user count
strapped to a rocket.

I'm having to keep an old Mac Mini around just to run Sketch. I'd gladly pay
for a new Ubuntu license

~~~
Veen
I doubt that an Ubuntu release is more likely in the wake of a $20 million
investment. Ubuntu is not exactly the platform of choice for web and mobile
developers. Perhaps a web version though.

~~~
huffmsa
Fair. But it could be rolled with Electron for a desktop experience.

I'm not a fan of not having access to a tool just because the internet is
down.

------
pcurve
If this helps them innovate and roll out features faster, it is all good.
Competition is catching up quickly.

I just hope they don’t go to mandatory annual fee model.

~~~
ichik
But… they already did? In 2016 no less [1]. That $100 buys you exactly 1 year
of updates. After that you have to renew at $69 per year.

[1]: [https://blog.sketchapp.com/versioning-licensing-and-
sketch-4...](https://blog.sketchapp.com/versioning-licensing-and-
sketch-4-0-8ad98783e9ba)

~~~
pcurve
Yep. But you don't have to pay to keep using Sketch, as long as you're ok with
not upgrading. Unlike Adobe creative cloud that stops functioning the moment
you don't pay.

~~~
ichik
That is true, although compatibility issues will quickly catch up with you
(both with file format and plugins).

------
sixdimensional
I still miss Adobe Fireworks.

~~~
ssharp
I recently got a new laptop and finally made the decision to free myself from
Adobe Fireworks. It was a hell of a tool and the fact that it hadn't been
updated in nearly a decade and was still doing its job is a testament to its
ability to scratch a certain UI design itch.

I'm using Sketch now and find it to be very good. There are a lot of great
features in Sketch that don't exist in Fireworks and I've been slowly getting
better and better with it. I have a difficult switching tools, especially
something like Fireworks that I had been using for about 15 years, maybe even
longer!

What I miss in Sketch is the ability to do non-UI work effectively. Fireworks
almost sits in the middle of Photoshop and Sketch. You could even do some
light vector work in there, all while eliminating the massive confusion newbs
have when opening up Photoshop or Illustrator.

~~~
sixdimensional
That's exactly it for me... I can use Photoshop and Illustrator, but there
were just times I wanted to do a vector and bitmap work combined and the ease
of use in Fireworks really made that feel right to me. Maybe it felt like.. a
shortcut - if I have to admit it!

Unfortunately, the last Mac laptop I had died (it was quite old), so I only
have a Windows laptop at the moment. I haven't made the switch to Sketch yet
as a result.

Sketch seems heavily used for UI/UX designs/mockups, but do you find it as
good for just individual image construction/building tasks? Or is it better
for the overall layout, flow, mockup and design workflow?

I'm finding it hard to explain what it was about Fireworks that felt so right
to me - there were times I could get an interesting image built that was both
vector and bitmap, very quickly. Sometimes, I think it was the accessibility
of the tools offered, it just had the right combination for what I spent most
of my time doing (graphics for web/digital, that could move in or out of the
print world if needed since it could be vector, sometimes whole
layouts/designs, other times just detail work or piecemeal work).

------
k__
At the moment I mostly use Gravit Designer.

~~~
sixdimensional
I noticed recently that Corel acquired Gravit. This is an interesting move - I
used to use Corel a lot, especially Photo Paint, back in the early days of the
web.

------
owenwil
I honestly don't understand this in the context of Figma, and especially
considering how coy they're being about what this means. I have heard from my
own network that the 'web version' of Sketch is not designed to subsume the
macOS version, which seems...misguided.

------
rman666
Clearly they deserve it. At least half the designers on the Internet use
Sketch!

------
coldtea
> _and that one million people have already paid $99 for a perpetual license
> (with one year of free updates)._

$100 per year no matter what! That's mind boggling! Congrats to the team for
making a useful app.

------
5_minutes
Let’s just hope Adobe doesn’t buy it as they did and ruined Macromedia

~~~
balls187
Have you tried Adobe XD?

~~~
rhodysurf
It’s simpler, I like XD a lot. Being free doesn’t hurt too

------
xivzgrev
I’m amazed this is their first outside round. From what I hear it’s already
kind of the standard tool for designers.

------
aiisahik
Sketch is suffering from the result its own breath-taking success.

As a result of its incredible popularity, too many other companies with larger
war chests have started to compete against it head to head \- Adobe XD \-
Invision Studio \- Figma Every single one of them allows you to import sketch
files.

Bohemian has made a lot of money for its founders already. Now it needs to
stay in the game.

------
pier25
I've never loved using Sketch. Granted it has some cool features, but I've
found the performance and workflow to be poor.

Personally I wish Adobe released a new version of Fireworks or a version of
Illustrator with less illustration features. I tried XD and didn't love it
either.

------
sirwanqutbi
Will they develop a Windows version with this funding? Sorry tldr;

~~~
kowdermeister
A browser version will come sooner IMHO.

------
sonnyblarney
Sorry but Sketch still feels like an upstart.

So many little things - selection into layers, resizing groups, etc. etc. -
all of it feels 'off'.

Illustrator, I think is plain superior it's just considerably more expensive.

Given that Sketch has not changed that much in the last few years, I can't
fathom what's going on.

And the lack of Windows support ...

