Cameron Adams: How Canva Builds Products: Lessons Learned, What Works? What Flopped? | E1179

Intro (0s)

• Cameron Adams, the guest on the YouTube video, discusses the importance of launching products that are not only functional but also exciting and generate buzz. He emphasizes that Canva's success has been driven by launching products that people are eager to share with others.
• Adams recounts his initial meeting with Canva co-founders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht. He was initially invited to consult on their yearbook business, which was then run on Adobe Flash. Adams, with his background in graphic design and computer science, saw the potential to democratize design through technology.
• Adams was initially focused on his own startup, Fluent, which was on the verge of securing significant funding. However, the idea of democratizing design continued to resonate with him, and he eventually reconnected with Perkins and Obrecht. They were still searching for a tech co-founder, and Adams decided to join forces with them in 2012.

How Luck & Skill Contribute to Success (3m56s)

• Cameron Adams believes that success is a combination of luck and skill. While he acknowledges his own skills and leadership abilities, he also recognizes that his startup not getting funded early on was a fortunate event that allowed him to learn and grow.
• Adams emphasizes the importance of putting oneself in a position to capitalize on opportunities. This involves networking, developing relevant skills, experimenting with different products, and being open to trying new things.
• He highlights the importance of timing and the right team in achieving success. He uses the example of Google Wave, a project he worked on that was ahead of its time and ultimately failed due to insufficient technology and user readiness. He notes that similar concepts later became successful with products like Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Balancing Speed & Quality (5m12s)

• Cameron Adams, a product leader at Canva, emphasizes the importance of balancing speed and quality in product development, acknowledging the tension between the Lean Startup methodology's emphasis on rapid iteration and the desire to create a high-quality product.
• He shares that Canva initially ignored investor pressure to launch quickly, prioritizing the creation of a high-quality product that would excite users.
• Adams highlights that while speed is crucial, launching a product that merely "gets the job done" is insufficient. Canva's success is attributed to creating products that users are passionate about and eager to share with others, leading to organic growth and word-of-mouth marketing.

The Secret to Fanatical User Engagement (6m46s)

• Canva's success in creating fanatical users stems from a focus on user delight and a well-crafted product experience. This includes attention to detail, such as engaging landing pages and Easter eggs, which create a sense of love and excitement for the product.
• The "speed to delight" moment is crucial for user engagement, but it doesn't necessarily need to happen within the first 30 seconds. However, it's essential to provide a positive first impression and set the tone for the product right from the start.
• The "aha moment" for Canva users occurs when they realize they can create unique designs and become designers themselves. This moment of discovery and empowerment is the key to unlocking user engagement and fostering a sense of ownership over the product.

Mastering Simplicity in Product Design (9m18s)

• Cameron Adams emphasizes the importance of simplicity in product design, particularly for democratizing design and making it accessible to everyone.
• He believes in striking a balance between simplicity and depth, ensuring that users can quickly grasp the core functionality while also offering advanced features for those who want to explore further.
• Canva follows an 80/20 rule, providing 80% of the value upfront for immediate usability and then gradually unlocking the remaining 20% as users become more familiar with the platform, encouraging them to delve deeper and discover more advanced features.

Challenges of Moving into the Enterprise (10m41s)

• Cameron Adams, from Canva, discusses the challenges of moving into the Enterprise market.
• Canva's initial attempt at an Enterprise product three years ago was not truly an Enterprise product, but rather a way for potential customers to contact a salesperson.
• Canva did not fully understand the needs of the Enterprise audience at that time, focusing instead on scaling Canva to a wider audience through a self-service model.

Concerns About Unbundling into Specialized Products (11m21s)

• Concerns about specialization: The speaker expresses concern about the increasing trend of specialized products in the content creation space, particularly in the AI realm. They worry that these highly focused tools, while potentially efficient, might lead to a decrease in the overall value of content due to an overwhelming supply.
• Infinite content and its impact: The speaker highlights the potential for AI tools to generate an endless stream of content, which could lead to a saturation of the market and make it harder for high-quality content to stand out. They argue that while more content is being created, the value of individual pieces might diminish as a result.
• The importance of discovery: The speaker emphasizes the crucial role of discovery in a world with an abundance of content. They believe that finding and connecting with audiences is becoming increasingly challenging, even for high-quality content creators. This echoes the challenges faced by industries like podcasting and music, where success often hinges on visibility and marketing, not just quality alone.

Biggest Product Change & User Adoption Spike (14m1s)

• Cameron Adams, from Canva, identifies the launch of text-to-image functionality as the product change that led to the biggest spike in user adoption.
• The text-to-image feature, launched approximately 18 months prior to the interview, allowed Canva to scale generative images to over 100 million users.
• This launch marked Canva's initial foray into generative AI, which has since spurred significant product innovation and strategic development within the company.

Introduction of AI into Canva (14m44s)

• Canva's introduction of AI into its product was met with an overwhelmingly positive response. The company was eager to release this feature early on, and it took only six weeks to develop and deploy it to 100 million users.
• The initial AI implementation was based on Stable Diffusion, and Canva has since iterated upon it significantly.
• Canva believes in the importance of having multiple AI providers to avoid monopolies and foster innovation. The company sees a future where it can easily switch between different AI models as the technology evolves and APIs become more standardized.

Navigating Product Roadmaps in an AI-Driven World (16m25s)

• The rapid advancement of AI technology, particularly in areas like text-to-image generation, has significantly impacted product roadmaps. Companies relying on external AI infrastructure are constantly adapting to new releases and improvements, which can disrupt their planned development cycles.
• Cameron Adams believes that the rapid pace of AI innovation will eventually slow down. He predicts that within five years, AI will become more standardized, with established patterns for interaction and a better understanding of its capabilities.
• Adams emphasizes the need for more intuitive and collaborative interfaces for working with AI. He points out that current AI tools are often limited in their ability to help users explore ideas and iterate on them. Canva's "magic media tool" is an example of how the company is developing more sophisticated interfaces to address this challenge.

Using Prompts to Gauge Product Expertise (18m58s)

• Prompting is a valuable skill for product professionals, but it shouldn't be the sole determining factor in job interviews. While prompting is becoming increasingly important for interacting with AI, it's crucial to maintain creativity and innovation in product development.
• The landscape of large language models (LLMs) is currently in flux, but it will likely stabilize in the future, similar to cloud-based infrastructure. Just as there are multiple cloud providers (AWS, Google Cloud, etc.), there will likely be multiple LLMs offering different features and capabilities. This competition will drive innovation and provide users with choices.
• Canva integrates AI capabilities into its existing subscription plans, rather than charging extra for them. This approach aligns with Canva's long-standing strategy of providing significant value to subscribers, which has been a key factor in their success. While there are costs associated with AI, they are decreasing, and the value proposition of AI-powered features outweighs the potential impact on margins.

Does AI Drive Revenue or Just Improve Products? (22m3s)

• AI's Impact on Revenue: While AI might initially drive revenue through add-on packages, Cameron believes it will eventually become a standard feature, similar to cloud and mobile technology. Canva focuses on using AI to improve products and enhance user experience, aligning with their mission of democratizing design.
• AI's Influence on Product Development: AI has shifted the focus of product development towards R&D. The uncertainty surrounding AI capabilities requires more exploration and experimentation. This means product teams need to be comfortable with evolving features based on AI model development and user feedback.
• Navigating Uncertainty: Cameron acknowledges the uncertainty surrounding AI's impact on user experience. He believes experimentation is crucial to understand how users interact with AI-powered features. This involves testing and iterating based on user feedback to ensure the AI effectively serves its purpose.

Using Smaller Countries for Feature Rollouts (25m15s)

• Canva uses a phased rollout strategy for new features, starting with a small percentage of users and gradually increasing the rollout to a larger audience. This allows them to test server load, gather quantitative and qualitative data on user reception, and identify and fix any bugs early on.
• Geographic segmentation is a valuable tool for feature rollouts, particularly for testing payment methods and subscription models. Canva has used this approach to understand how users in different regions interact with various payment options and how it affects their subscription behavior.
• The specific rollout strategy employed depends on the nature of the feature being introduced. For example, a new interface design might be rolled out gradually to all users, while a new payment method might be tested in specific geographic regions first.

Change Management: Will Users Love or Hate It? (27m7s)

• Canva prioritizes user experience when implementing changes. They understand that users, even if the change is technically an improvement, may resist change, especially if they are already satisfied with the existing product.
• Canva employs a strategy called "change boarding" to manage user perception of changes. This involves clearly communicating the value of the change, presenting it in a way that is easy to understand, and providing users with a clear migration pathway.
• Canva uses a combination of methods to introduce changes, including beta testing with specific user groups, providing early access to enthusiastic users, and offering a "skip" option for users who are not ready to adopt the change immediately. This allows users to choose their own pace of adoption and minimizes disruption.

Biggest Product Mistakes (30m15s)

• Canva's biggest product mistake was trying to force a social layer into their product. They felt pressure from investors to be more like Pinterest and Instagram, but it wasn't a natural fit for their core vision of people creating content.
• They dedicated a significant amount of resources to this social feature, including an entire engineer for nine months. However, the feature didn't resonate with users and ultimately failed.
• The experience taught them to be more confident in their instincts and to focus on what they are passionate about. They realized that trying to force a feature that didn't align with their core values wouldn't have made them more successful.

Structuring Effective Remote Product Reviews (32m31s)

• Canva conducts product reviews remotely, primarily through Zoom, with occasional in-person reviews when possible. They do not have a fixed cadence for reviews, instead opting for a more flexible approach based on project milestones.
• Product reviews at Canva involve a mix of key personnel, including Mel, Cameron, the Head of Product, and relevant team members based on the specific product area being reviewed. For example, AI-related features would involve more AI engineers, while design-focused features would involve more designers and product managers.
• Canva has a significant team of approximately 100 machine learning engineers, many of whom are based in Vienna following the acquisition of Kido, a company specializing in visual AI. These engineers contribute to various aspects of the product, from behind-the-scenes data analysis to visible features like photo editing, background removal, and text-to-image generation.

Balancing Infrastructure & New Features in Resource Allocation (34m42s)

• Resource allocation is a constant challenge for product leaders, especially when balancing infrastructure investments with new feature development. There is always a limited amount of money available, and leaders must decide how to allocate it between essential but less visible infrastructure improvements (like security and stabilization) and new features that could attract more users and generate revenue.
• Canva does not have a fixed percentage allocation for infrastructure versus new features. Instead, they constantly evaluate their needs and prioritize based on current priorities. For example, five years ago, they heavily invested in security to build trust with users.
• R&D is a significant portion of Canva's budget, likely exceeding 50% of their overall spending. This reflects their commitment to product and technology development, with over 2,000 employees dedicated to building the product. While they don't have a specific percentage for R&D, they continuously invest in new experiments, features, and innovations to drive Canva's future growth.

Lessons from Competing with Adobe in Product Marketing (36m39s)

• Canva focuses on creating a new category of visual content creation, rather than directly competing with Adobe. They believe that design should be accessible to everyone, not just a select few. Canva aims to empower people to create visuals that inspire and communicate their ideas effectively.
• Canva avoids focusing on competitors as their primary motivation. Instead, they prioritize their vision for the future and how they can empower people through their products. They believe that focusing on taking something away from someone else is not inspiring.
• Canva encourages its founders to test alternative products in the same market. This helps them understand the competitive landscape and identify areas for improvement in their own products. They are particularly impressed by tools that use AI to streamline marketing workflows and provide a comprehensive solution for creating, measuring, and optimizing marketing campaigns.

Quick-Fire Round (39m32s)

• Cameron Adams believes in taking risks and being "a bit crazy" in business. He cites the recent Canva Create rap video as an example, which, despite initial doubts, has been successful in reaching a wide audience and sparking conversation. He believes that most publicity is good publicity, even if it's controversial.
• Adams rejects the idea that startups should simply "throw things out there" and iterate based on feedback. He emphasizes the importance of having a strong vision and passion for the product or company, especially during challenging times. He believes that without this passion, it's difficult to sustain a business over the long term.
• Adams is concerned about the state of the planet and our relationship with nature. He highlights the "nature crisis" as a significant issue that is often overlooked, even as we address climate change. He believes that developed countries have a responsibility to help developing countries avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and embrace sustainable practices. He emphasizes the importance of creating sustainable supply chains that benefit everyone involved, from farmers to consumers.
• Adams believes that as companies grow, they have a greater responsibility to consider their impact on employees, customers, and the planet. He encourages leaders to think deeply about the influence they have and the potential for positive change they can create. He acknowledges the power of his words and the potential for them to inspire others to take action.