Inside Canva: Coaches not managers, giving away your Legos, and embracing AI | Cameron Adams
Executive Summary
A Lenny's Podcast conversation with Cameron Adams, co-founder and chief product officer at Canva, on Canva's scale, its coach-not-manager culture, how it approaches product management, and its freemium and subscription strategy. PARTIAL COVERAGE: the available caption text is auto-generated, lightly punctuated and cut off during the discussion of Canva's subscription, so any later topics such as AI in the product are not covered here. Scale figures such as the 2.3 billion dollars in annual recurring revenue are the host's and unverified.
Key Takeaways
Canva's scale
The host says Canva is bigger than Figma, Miro and Webflow combined, with about 2.3 billion dollars in ARR, profitable for about seven years and growing about 60 percent a year.
Coaches, not managers
Adams says everyone at Canva has a coach who works with them on skills and on when it is time to move to the next level.
Performance reviews
He says the coach feeds into reviews, which also use 360 feedback from the people you work with on a six-month cycle.
Product management done differently
He says he did not want to do product management the way Google did, and Canva went back to first principles, with product managers close to teams.
Giving away your Lego
He says it took four or five years before there was another product owner besides the founders, partly because of the time it took to give up their Lego.
Why freemium
He says freemium came from the mission to democratize design and get the tool into billions of hands, balanced with a viable business.
Early business model
He says Canva first charged a dollar for stock elements used in a design, which grew about 30 percent a month, before a subscription product brought hockey-stick growth.
The Conversation Breakdown
Canva's scale
⏱ Untimed topicThe host says Canva is bigger than Figma, Miro and Webflow combined, with about 2.3 billion dollars in ARR, profitable for about seven years and growing about 60 percent a year.
Coaches, not managers
⏱ Untimed topicAdams says everyone at Canva has a coach who works with them on skills and on when it is time to move to the next level.
Performance reviews
⏱ Untimed topicHe says the coach feeds into reviews, which also use 360 feedback from the people you work with on a six-month cycle.
Product management done differently
⏱ Untimed topicHe says he did not want to do product management the way Google did, and Canva went back to first principles, with product managers close to teams.
Giving away your Lego
⏱ Untimed topicHe says it took four or five years before there was another product owner besides the founders, partly because of the time it took to give up their Lego.
Why freemium
⏱ Untimed topicHe says freemium came from the mission to democratize design and get the tool into billions of hands, balanced with a viable business.
Early business model
⏱ Untimed topicHe says Canva first charged a dollar for stock elements used in a design, which grew about 30 percent a month, before a subscription product brought hockey-stick growth.
Core Frameworks & Ideas
Coach, not manager - Canva's culture
Pair each person with a coach who helps with skills and growth.
First principles for product management - Adams's approach
Design the role around your own culture.
Mission-led freemium - Adams's reasoning
Let the mission set what is free and what is paid.
Actionable Next Steps
- ✓Ask whether each person on your team has someone focused on their growth.
- ✓Write what product managers should do in your own culture.
- ✓Decide what must stay free to serve your mission and what supports the business.
- ✓Check the revenue and growth figures against Canva's public statements.
Notable Quotes
“we truly want to democratize design”
“we almost went back to First principles on how product management should be done”
“I didn't want to do product management like they did at Google”
The One Thing to Remember
Adams says Canva built its own approach to product management and used freemium because its mission is to democratize design.