A top designer was banned from Dribbble. Now he’s building his own competitor.

DRIBBBLE has banned dozens of designers permanently from its platform after a new effort to reach the market and pursue a liquefy. This includes one of the most famous designers on the platform, Gleb Kuznetsov, founder of the design studio in San Francisco.

DRIBBble deleted his account with more than 210 million followers because he shared his contact information with potential customers through the platform in violation of its new rules.

Kuznetsov notice in a post on X, “I brought more than 100,000 users per month.

I have been tired of the changes in the company, which help the product, UX, Web, and other digital designers to show their wallets and find new customers, Kuznetsov says he was talking to investors about the release of a competitor.

Shortly after his post on social media, DRIBBLE users expressed their shock and anger at the decision, as the credit for Kuznetsov is one of their greatest inspiration and the podium will make such a misleading step.

Meanwhile, DRIBBBLE says that kuznetsov has already warned several times that he violates the new rules and that email is the last notice.

DRIBBble axis to the market

The issue is related to changing the most modern policy that was first announced on March 17, 2025.

In a joint email in March with DRIBBLE about 750,000 accredited designers – which means those who declare to communicate with others on the platform – the company said it no longer allows designers to share their contact information with potential customers even after their customer sent the payment through its platform.

The company has put this change as one aimed at protecting designers from non -payment, as well as those that allow DRIBBLE to continue to maintain its business.

This announcement was also published on social media and the company’s blog.

However, Kuznetsov claims that non -payment is not a very common problem, and in fact, this update is about trying to get a larger set of designers’ work.

DRIBBble does not oppose it.

Before changing the policy, earn DRIBBLE money in two ways. Starting in September 2024, DRIBBble began overcoming a market linking designers and clients. Designers can freely communicate on the statute, then either share 3.5 % revenues to customers who have been transferred, or they can pay a supporter subscription to overcome the REV share. In March, the company tightened the rules more, saying that anyone finds customers on DRIBBBLE will need to provide a set of revenues.

“It was my choice to use our transaction features that it was required for non -metal to use our transactions features, if they were on Derebbila, to find customers,” explains the CEO of DRIBBBLE, Castasakis, in an interview with Techcrunch. He added: “If the user is on the delbble to find inspiration or get comments on their work, or to speak with his peers, none of this will affect.”

The Exec, who joined the company after working at Market Pondplace, MARKETPLALACE POND5 (which came out to Shutterstock), and the Freelancer Fiverplace market, was set last April to prepare DRIBBble in a market. Although the company is profitable under the parent company Tiny, it is still a small team of 20 people and does not depend on project support to serve its unique visitors from 7.5 to 10 million per month.

“Dribble was very fast in our work in a day,” Kochcov told Techcrunch. Before dribbble, there was no platform where designers could share their work with others, he says. The designers have helped receive notes that were specifically from their peers and allowed new designers to learn from those at the top of the industry.

Kuznetsov is now part of the last group.

In Milkinside, Kuznetsov worked with companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, Amazon Airlines, UNITED Airlines, Honda, Mitsubishi, Mercedes-Benz and other large companies in the Gulf region.

As a result, it is likely that he does not feel that DRIBBBLE will risk banning it because of the lack of adherence to the new conditions.

Anastasakis mainly emphasized that this is true.

He told Techcrunch that Kuznetsov has received 83 inquiries from work since the new conditions were launched in March, and he responded to 61. In each message, the site shows a warning reminds users not to share contact details before paying the project. However, Kuznetsov shared his communication information in six messages, which would have been a stronger warning at that time.

Then the company followed an e -mail on July 22 about its repeated violations of the conditions of service, which informed him that he was risking a permanent comment.

Kuznetsov told us that he did not see this email at the beginning, but DRIBBLE says it follows that the email was opened three times before his suspension.

“I think DRIBBBLE – their goal was to harm me so that I could publish this [news] So that they can give a harsh lesson to everyone who tries [to break the rules]Kuznetsov says.

DRIBBBLE Anastasakis confirmed on Techcrunch.

Anastasakis told us: “In fact, there is no way to imagine in which he did not realize that what he was doing was risking a constant suspension of his accounts.”

“I think in the end he believed that we would not take action against a designer.” “As a side observation, I actually think he was very admired as much as the word deviates from our seriousness of terms.”

For kuznetsov, or any designer banned for similar reasons, the only option to return to DRIBBble is to join as an advertiser, which requires the minimum budget of the campaign of $ 1500 per month for at least three months.

A new competitor for DRIBBBLE appears?

Kuznetsov decided to formulate his own way, saying he had changed DRIBBBLE.

“This will not be copies of DRIBBBLE,” he says. Instead, it will be a supplier for designers who will also benefit from artificial intelligence.

While there was a lot of reaction to artificial intelligence models training in designing designs without compensation, Kuznetsov believes that there is a state of use of technology in terms of inspiration, creation and design.

“It is a big hole at the present time in the market … everyone is doing the startups of artificial intelligence, but no one is really doing the startup companies for designers,” Kuznetsov notes. “Artificial intelligence is something that can raise our ability to create, and make it a higher level of quality. It will help us to earn more money and growth, but also create something that we did not think it can be created without a set of specific skills.”

Kuznetsov says he expects to have MVP (the minimum applicable product) is ready in three or four months.

However, it is noted that the goal is not to “kill” DRIBBBLE, although investors offered him money to do so.

“This is not like this. I am trying to do something good for society because I am designed. So I know how painful I am designed in this world,” says Kuznetsov.

“We need to be really smart about how to invest our time – how we do our best and give our lives to other platforms. Diversification of this investment must be something that everyone should think.”