Happy Friday, creatives!

March was full of Adobe drama, new tech announcements, and a whole lot of creativity. Let’s get into it!

Adobe just hit its lowest stock price in 5 years.

At the same time:

So what’s actually going on?

For almost 30 years, Adobe owned the creative industry. Photoshop. Illustrator. Premiere. After Effects. If you were a creative, Adobe wasn’t optional, it was industry standard.

But that’s starting to change because of a few major problems:

1. The Creative Cloud subscription model
What started as a solution for keeping software up-to-date turned into constant price hikes and “renting” your software.

2. Product frustration
Users have complained about bloated apps, bugs, and slow performance for years.

3. Bad press

And now… leadership change.

Adobe’s biggest problem isn’t Adobe.

It’s everyone else.

For the first time, the most exciting tools are not coming from Adobe.

Not even close. Adobe is still massive:

And honestly, I’ve tried tons of alternatives and the Adobe’s comprehensive suite of tools is hard to beat.

That said, unless something changes, the future is still bleak for Adobe. I predict two potential outcomes:

They adapt
This is an opportunity for a new CEO to come in and improve their products, position Adobe as the leader in AI, and rebuild a strong connection with creatives.

Or… They slowly lose ground
Not overnight. But over time, to faster, cheaper, and easier to use tools.

For decades, learning Adobe meant learning the future. But for the first time… that might not be true anymore.

This newsletter has grown to over 1,500 creatives. But I don’t want this to be a one-way street.

Let’s make this a place where creatives actually connect.

Whether you’re a:

I want to see your work.

I’ll start. When I quit my 9–5, I had a closet full of business casual clothes. So I started painting them.

At first it was accidental. Then I leaned into it. Now I’ve been doing it for over a year.

This past month, I turned it into a full project. I built a brand called Paint Factory.

I used Fourthwall for the store and Claude to help with some custom animations. This has been one of the most fun things I’ve worked on, even if I’m still the only person in the world wearing painted clothes.

If you’ve got something you’re working on, send it in! I’ll feature someone in next month’s issue.

Click here to submit your work!

I compiled all of my thoughts on Adobe into one video. This is my in-depth analysis on where I think Adobe is headed…

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