How Did Canva grow into a multi-million business?
How did Canva Grow? By now you have probably heard of digital design platform Canva. But how did this Australian start-up grow to become a global leader in digital design? We take a deeper look and break down the key factors that contributed to Canvas impressive growth.
How did Canva grow?
Chapter 1 – User friendly and Accessible
Canva identified that many of the digital design tools on the market came with a steep learning curve. The likes of photoshop were difficult to master and confusing for a beginner to get to grips with. Canva therefore designed their digital creation tool with a streamlined and easy to use interface. Canva doesn’t have the depth and array of photoshop when comparing tools for digital design. However, its focus on popular design techniques and a vast array of templates allows the user to quickly create professional looking content without hours of tutorials.
Chapter 2 – Freemium
Over the last few years the freemium model has developed as a leading strategy for growth. Canva employed the model by allowing users to access a free version of the software including a limited amount of storage. Users were able to sample the digital design tool therefore and its easy to use interface quickly gained traction. Users would then be incentivised to purchase premium membership to unlock further storage and a greater degree of templates. Perhaps one of the key paid features behind the premium wall was the ability to resize works. This is paramount to many within the digital marketing space with the popular social media sites all requiring differing sizes for optimal display. For a small fee you could save yourself hundreds of hours per year.
Chapter 3 – Get the backing
At the outset Canva needed funding to build a viable solution. Unfortunately, founders Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht were not particularly well connected and living outside the realm of silicon valley in Perth, Australia. Fortunately, in 2011 Silicon Valley venture capitalist Bill Tai visited Perth to judge a startup competition. The founders used this opportunity to begin building their network and pitching their idea and eventually secured the funding required to begin building the design platform.
Chapter 4 – Timing the market
As with many successful businesses that experience explosive growth, Canva managed to get extremely lucky. The company launched in August 2013 to an underwhelming uptake. However, the dynamics of business marketing were beginning to change. Social media applications such as Twitter and Instagram were gaining traction and soon a simple to use and cheap design tool became a necessity. Those businesses and influencers without chunky design budgets were now able to boast an attractive digital presence at a fraction of the cost.
Lessons Learned – How did Canva grow
- Focus on usability and features – Canva identified a blue ocean in a very competitive environment. By focusing on ease of use and accessibility Canva eradicated the competition from more specialised design tools such as Photoshop. This focus created a new market for the design tool and allowed beginners to access a feature rich design environment without a steep learning curve.
- Use freemium to gain traction – New digital tools are a dime a dozen and it is often difficult to gain traction in such a crowded marketplace. People and businesses typically won’t pay for an unknown new software solution. Freemium allows the platform to be tested and embedded and demonstrate its value proposition. Canva did this especially well and ensured key premium features such as resizing sat behind a pay wall.
- Understanding the market – Canva launched at a time when a key market shift happened. Whilst fortunate initially, they ensured their tool catered to and was marketed toward this new growth market.
Leave a Reply