Steve Ruiz: He Turned Down Adobe. Then He Shelved His Own Product.

Steve had his bags packed for Adobe. Then he turned the job down, and went all-in on TLDraw. Take the 2026 State of Prototyping Survey: https://survey.uxtools.co Get the UX Tools Newsletter (written by me) https://uxtools.co CHAPTERS: 00:00 - He turned down Adobe on a Friday 01:30 - How studying ink on paper became a software superpower 06:08 - "Product Maker Fit" — trusting your gut over ROI 08:22 - The content creation ladder: tweets to products 10:49 - Is a digital canvas still an art medium? 14:42 - "Most software experiences haven't been discovered yet" 17:10 - When the prototype becomes the product 19:14 - Make Real: one of the first vibe-coding tools 21:13 - The cycling analogy — optimize for points of contact 23:51 - tldraw's origin and the Adobe decision 29:19 - Open source monetization: "Just ask for money" 31:34 - Defining craft in 2026 34:08 - Why craft only matters for high-agency users 36:14 - What keeps him coming back 37:28 - My takeaways LINKS: tldraw: https://tldraw.com Steve Ruiz: https://x.com/steveruizok LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/st... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3zDPTGH... FOLLOW ME: X / Twitter: https://x.com/designertom Instagram:   / itsdesignertom   LinkedIn:   / tommygeoco