Inside Canva: Coaches not managers, giving away your Legos, and embracing AI | Cameron Adams

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 — Brought to you by: • WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs: https://workos.com/lenny • Attio—The powerful, flexible CRM for fast-growing startups: https://attio.com/lenny • Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security: https://vanta.com/lenny Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-canva-with-cameron-adams Where to find Cameron Adams: • X: https://twitter.com/themaninblue • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themaninblue • Website: https://themaninblue.com/ Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ 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 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/ Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.