Canva Will Ride Out The Storm Say Its Co-founders

This year has been tough for tech companies with more than 150,000 jobs axed worldwide so far. In Australia, some of our biggest tech companies have been hit hard including Atlassian and Xero. But Melanie Perkins, chief executive and co-founder of the successful graphic design company – Canva – has come out saying Canva will survive this difficult time and ride out the storm.

Melanie was speaking at Canva’s conference in Sydney last week. She said the company is in a uniquely strong position in the industry and she added: “There’s a lot of choppy seas out there at the moment, as I’m sure you’re all very well aware. So being profitable, with a strong cash balance, meaning we don’t need to raise funds … has been very, very helpful.”

It was also mentioned that Canva’s freemium model – where most users pay nothing to use its products – is a bonus in these uncertain economic times because this model is not affected by economics as much.

Canva’s chief product officer and co-founder, Cameron Adams, said the company’s long-term profitability and a series of capital raisings have ensured its stability in these difficult times, compared with other companies in the tech sector.

Cameron added: “I think we’ve been really well insulated. And our profitability metrics have given us the ability to kind of breathe a sigh of relief that we are much more fortunate than a lot of other companies that are out there.”

“If something drastic did occur in global markets, we would have a war chest of funds that we could draw on. But given that we’re profitable, it hasn’t been necessary, because we can afford to pay everyone – we can afford to pay for all our services.”

The company has been selective about who it hires

While it’s economically well buffeted, Canva did hold back from hiring too many people when many other tech companies were on a bit of a hiring spree in the period post-COVID. Canva remained selective with its hiring and as Cameron said, they felt that in this way, they wouldn’t have to let people go if circumstances changed.

“We didn’t want to be in that position,” said Cameron.

He added the company has carried out some recent rounds of fundraising which has served more of a strategic purpose for the company because it’s been able to bring in some trusted advisers who have helped with Canva’s growth strategy.

Currently, Canva is said to be worth 26 billion and Canva is used by 110 million people worldwide each month.

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For more from Women Love Tech on Canva, visit here.