July 29, 2025<\/a><\/p>\nShortly after his social media post, Dribbble users expressed their shock and anger over the decision, crediting Kuznetsov as being one of their biggest inspirations and lamenting that the platform would make such a misguided move.<\/p>\n
Dribbble, meanwhile, says Kuznetsov was actually warned multiple times that he was violating the new rules and the email was the final notice.<\/p>\n
Dribbble\u2019s pivot to a marketplace<\/h2>\n
The issue has to do with a more recent policy change first announced on March 17, 2025.<\/p>\n
Techcrunch event<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span>
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 27-29, 2025<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\nIn an email shared in March with Dribbble\u2019s some 750,000 approved designers \u2014 meaning those who are authorized to communicate with others on the platform \u2014 the company said it was no longer allowing designers to share their contact information with prospective clients until after their client sent payment through its platform.<\/p>\n
The company positioned this change as one meant to protect designers from non-payment, as well as one that allows Dribbble to continue to sustain its business.<\/p>\n
The announcement was also posted to social media and the company blog.<\/p>\n
Image Credits:<\/strong>Dribbble<\/span><\/p>\nHowever, Kuznetsov claims that non-payment isn\u2019t a very common problem, and really, this update is about Dribbble attempting to take a larger cut of designers\u2019 business.<\/p>\n
Dribbble doesn\u2019t dispute that.<\/p>\n
Before the policy change, Dribbble made money in one of two ways. Starting in September 2024, Dribbble began pivoting to a marketplace that connected designers and clients. Designers could communicate freely on the platform and then either share a 3.5% revenue cut on clients they converted, or they could pay for a Pro subscription to skip the rev share. In March, the company tightened the rules further, saying that anyone finding clients on Dribbble would need to offer the platform a cut of their revenue.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt went from it was optional to use our transactional features to it was required for non-advertisers to use our transactional features, if they were on Dribbble, to find clients,\u201d explains Dribbble CEO Constantine Anastasakis, in an interview with TechCrunch. \u201cIf a user is on Dribbble to find inspiration or to get feedback on their work, or to talk shop with their peers, none of this affects them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Image Credits:<\/strong>Dribbble<\/span><\/p>\nThe exec, who joined the company after working at direct-to-consumer lender Lower, video marketplace Pond5 (exited to Shutterstock), and freelancer marketplace Fiverr, was hired last April to pivot Dribbble into a marketplace. While the company is profitable under parent company Tiny, it\u2019s still a small 20-person team and isn\u2019t reliant on venture backing to serve its 7.5 to 10 million monthly unique visitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cDribbble was something that really accelerated our business dramatically back in the day,\u201d Kuznetsov told TechCrunch. Before Dribbble, there was no platform where designers could share their work with others, he says. It helped designers receive feedback that came specifically from their peers and allowed newer designers to learn from those at the top of the industry.<\/p>\n
Kuznetsov is now part of the latter group. <\/p>\n
At Milkinside, Kuznetsov has worked with companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, Scandinavian Airlines, United Airlines, Honda, Mitsubishi, Mercedes-Benz, and other large companies in the Bay Area. <\/p>\n
As a result, he likely didn\u2019t feel that Dribbble would risk banning him for not abiding by the new terms. <\/p>\n
Anastasakis essentially confirmed this to be true. <\/p>\n
He told TechCrunch that Kuznetsov received 83 work inquiries since the new terms rolled out in March, and responded to 61. In each message, the site shows a warning that reminds users that contact details should not be shared before project payment. However, Kuznetsov shared his contact information in six messages, which would have displayed a stronger warning at that time. <\/p>\n
Image Credits:<\/strong>Dribbble<\/span><\/p>\nImage Credits:<\/strong>Dribbble<\/span><\/p>\nThe company then followed up with a warning email on July 22 about his repeated terms-of-service violations, which informed him he was risking permanent suspension.<\/p>\n
Kuznetsov told us he didn\u2019t see this email initially, but Dribbble says it tracked that the email was opened three times before his suspension. <\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that Dribbble \u2014 it was their goal to hurt me so I can spread that [news] so they can give a harsh lesson to everyone who tries [to break the rules],\u201d Kuznetsov says. <\/p>\n
Anastasakis confirmed as much to TechCrunch.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s really no conceivable way in which he did not realize that what he was doing risked permanent suspension of his accounts,\u201d Anastasakis told us.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that ultimately it was that he believed that we wouldn\u2019t take action against a designer of his caliber,\u201d he continued. \u201cAs a side note, I actually think that he\u2019s done us a big favor as far as getting the word out about how seriously we take the terms.\u201d <\/p>\n
For Kuznetsov, or any designer who was banned for similar reasons, the only option to come back to Dribbble is by joining as an advertiser, which requires a minimum campaign budget of $1,500 per month for at least three months. <\/p>\n
A new competitor to Dribbble emerges?<\/h2>\n
Kuznetsov has decided to forge his own path, saying that he\u2019s hurt by Dribbble\u2019s change.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be a copycat of Dribbble,\u201d he says of his pending startup. Instead, it will be a resource for designers that will also leverage AI. <\/p>\n
While there has been a lot of backlash about AI models training on creatives\u2019 work without compensation, Kuznetsov believes there\u2019s a use case for the technology in terms of inspiration, creation, and design. <\/p>\n
Image Credits:<\/strong>Gleb Kuznetsov<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s a big hole right now in the market\u00a0\u2026 Everybody\u2019s doing AI startups, but nobody\u2019s really doing AI startups for designers,\u201d Kuznetsov notes. \u201cAI is something that really can elevate our ability to create, and make it on a much higher level of quality. It\u2019s going to help us to not only earn more money and grow, but also create something we never even thought was possible to create without a specific skill set.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kuznetsov says he expects to have an MVP (minimum viable product) ready in three or four months.<\/p>\n
However, he notes the goal is not to \u201ckill\u201d Dribbble, even though investors offered him money to do so. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not like that. I\u2019m trying to do something good for the community because I\u2019m a designer. So I know how painful it is to be a designer in this world,\u201d says Kuznetsov. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to be really smart about how we invest our time \u2014 how we give our best and give our life to other platforms. Diversification of that investment should be something that everyone should be thinking about,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n