Inside Canva: Coaches not managers, giving away your Legos, and running profitably | Cameron Adams (co-founder and CPO)
Cameron Adams is the co-founder and chief product officer of Canva. Canva is one of the world’s most valuable private software companies, used by 95% of Fortune 500 companies. Since its launch in 2013, Canva has grown to over 150 million monthly users in more than 190 countries, generating $2.3 billion in annual revenue. Prior to Canva, Cameron ran a design consultancy, worked at Google on Google Wave, and founded the email startup Fluent. He is also an author of five web design books and a regular speaker at global conferences. In our conversation, we discuss:
- Why they spent a year building their minimum viable product (MVP) before launch
- Why Canva has no managers, and their unique approach to coaching and performance reviews
- Why they encourage employees to “give away their Legos”
- Insights into Canva’s SEO growth strategy
- Their three-pillar framework for integrating AI into their product
- Stories from the early days
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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-canva-with-cameron-adams
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Where to find Cameron Adams:
- X: https://twitter.com/themaninblue
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themaninblue
- Website: https://themaninblue.com/
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Where to find Lenny:
- Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
- X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Cameron’s background
(02:00) Reflecting on the success of Canva
(04:50) Reflecting on hard times
(10:01) Canva’s product-obsessed culture
(12:02) Why they prioritize internal promotions and hires
(13:56) What makes Canva unique
(16:31) The concept of giving away your Legos
(21:44) Why Canva has no managers
(24:29) Product management at Canva
(27:56) Reflections on working with a married couple
(30:37) Why they spent a year building their MVP before launch
(33:49) Advice for building an MVP
(41:23) Canva’s onboarding transformation
(44:25) Canva’s SEO strategy
(50:37) The success of Canva’s freemium strategy
(54:24) Integrating AI into Canva’s product
(01:01:50) Where to find Cameron
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Referenced:
- Canva: https://www.canva.com/
- Melanie Perkins on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanieperkins
- Cliff Obrecht on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cliff-obrecht-79ba9920
- Jennie Rogerson, Head of People, LinkedIn post about “season opener” events: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jennierogerson_season-opener-is-one-of-my-favourite-events-activity-7006815614556135424-73bD/
- Game of Thrones on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones
- Woodstock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock
- ‘Give Away Your Legos’ and Other Commandments for Scaling Startups: https://review.firstround.com/give-away-your-legos-and-other-commandments-for-scaling-startups/
- Minimum viable product (MVP): https://www.productboard.com/glossary/minimum-viable-product-mvp
- Canva’s SEO Strategy Is Elite: https://thegrowthplaybook.substack.com/p/canvas-seo-strategy-is-elite
- The SEO Strategy That Led Canva to a $40 Billion Valuation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INyGKt6LAqM
- Andrianes Pinantoan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrianes/
- Canva Create: https://www.canva.com/canva-create/
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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
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