I think this is my favorite comment of the year. We've all become so inured to the idea, especially in startup land, that the purpose of building a business is just the exit (and hopefully we can get out soon enough with someone else "holding the bag").
As you point out, if Figma can build a growing, profitable business, there is no reason they can't IPO at some point. But still, this shows how even the purpose of an IPO these days is completely opposite from the original intention. I.e. the original intention was to get access to public market funds to grow a business. Now it's usually just a method of "exit" to let retail investors take the lion's share of the risk - one only need to look at 95%+ of the past few years' SPAC deals to see how much of a "pump and dump" the market has become.
As you point out, if Figma can build a growing, profitable business, there is no reason they can't IPO at some point. But still, this shows how even the purpose of an IPO these days is completely opposite from the original intention. I.e. the original intention was to get access to public market funds to grow a business. Now it's usually just a method of "exit" to let retail investors take the lion's share of the risk - one only need to look at 95%+ of the past few years' SPAC deals to see how much of a "pump and dump" the market has become.