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Canva Sales

To empower the revenue organization to democratize design globally by reaching $10 billion in annual revenue with 100 million paid subscribers

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To empower the revenue organization to democratize design globally by reaching $10 billion in annual revenue with 100 million paid subscribers

Strengths

  • PRODUCT: Intuitive platform with 85M+ monthly active users
  • PRICING: Freemium model drives 7-10% conversion to paid tiers
  • MARKET: Strong brand recognition across 190+ countries
  • ECOSYSTEM: 800,000+ templates and comprehensive design suite
  • CULTURE: Innovative employee-first approach with 97% retention

Weaknesses

  • ENTERPRISE: Limited penetration in large corporate segment
  • ANALYTICS: Inadequate customer journey and usage analytics
  • SALES: Underdeveloped direct sales team for enterprise accounts
  • CUSTOMIZATION: Limited advanced customization for power users
  • INTEGRATION: Fewer third-party integrations than competitors

Opportunities

  • EXPANSION: Untapped B2B market estimated at $25B globally
  • EDUCATION: Growing demand in K-12 and higher education sectors
  • LOCALIZATION: Enhanced regional content for high-growth markets
  • VIDEO: Expanding video editing features for content creators
  • AI: Integration of generative AI to increase product stickiness

Threats

  • COMPETITION: Adobe's Creative Cloud expansion into simplicity
  • SATURATION: Slowing growth in core SMB design market segments
  • COPYCATS: Emergence of lower-cost design platform alternatives
  • PRIVACY: Increasing global data privacy regulations
  • RECESSION: Economic downturn affecting subscription renewals

Key Priorities

  • ENTERPRISE: Develop robust enterprise sales motion and features
  • AI: Accelerate AI integration across product suite
  • ANALYTICS: Build comprehensive customer journey analytics
  • EXPANSION: Targeted penetration into education and B2B markets
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To empower the revenue organization to democratize design globally by reaching $10 billion in annual revenue with 100 million paid subscribers

DOMINATE ENTERPRISE

Become the design platform of choice for Fortune 2000

  • PIPELINE: Build $125M enterprise pipeline through targeted outbound strategy and events
  • FEATURES: Launch enterprise governance, compliance, and SSO features for regulated industries
  • ENABLEMENT: Train 100% of sales team on enterprise selling methodology and vertical solutions
  • PARTNERSHIPS: Establish 15 strategic system integrator relationships for enterprise deployment
LEAD WITH AI

Deliver unmatched AI design capabilities and adoption

  • INNOVATION: Launch 5 proprietary AI design tools that outperform competitors in benchmarks
  • ADOPTION: Achieve 65% weekly active usage of AI features across all subscriber segments
  • MONETIZATION: Generate $45M ARR from premium AI feature packages and enterprise solutions
  • EDUCATION: Create comprehensive AI feature learning path with 75% completion rate
DATA ADVANTAGE

Transform customer insights into revenue acceleration

  • PLATFORM: Deploy comprehensive analytics dashboard with predictive churn indicators
  • SEGMENTATION: Implement AI-driven customer segmentation model across all 8 target personas
  • JOURNEYS: Map and optimize conversion paths for 90% of customer acquisition channels
  • ENABLEMENT: Train 100% of customer-facing teams on data-driven decision making framework
NEW FRONTIERS

Capture high-growth verticals and emerging markets

  • EDUCATION: Achieve 35% market share in K-12 education segment in target regions
  • B2B: Launch specialized solution for 3 high-value verticals with industry-specific templates
  • INTERNATIONAL: Expand localized solutions and go-to-market in 5 emerging market regions
  • PARTNERSHIPS: Establish 25 strategic channel partnerships in education and corporate sectors
METRICS
  • ARR: $2.5B target with 40% YoY growth
  • NET DOLLAR RETENTION: 140% target across all segments
  • PAID SUBSCRIBERS: 8M target by end of fiscal year
VALUES
  • Empower others
  • Pursue excellence
  • Be a force for good
  • Make complex things simple
  • Own it
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Align the learnings

Canva Sales Retrospective

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To empower the revenue organization to democratize design globally by reaching $10 billion in annual revenue with 100 million paid subscribers

What Went Well

  • REVENUE: Achieved 38% YoY revenue growth exceeding forecast by 6% points
  • RETENTION: Improved net dollar retention to 137% through expansion strategy
  • PRODUCT: Successfully launched Canva for Teams with 22% adoption in target
  • INTERNATIONAL: APAC region growth accelerated to 42% YoY from 31% prior yr

Not So Well

  • ENTERPRISE: Large account acquisition fell 18% below target for the quarter
  • CHURN: SMB segment experienced increased churn rate to 5.7% from 4.2% prior
  • SALES: Average sales cycle extended to 68 days from 52 days year over year
  • MARGINS: Gross margins declined 2 percentage points due to hosting costs

Learnings

  • PACKAGING: Enterprise feature bundling needs clearer value articulation
  • PROCESS: Sales enablement materials require vertical-specific customization
  • COMPETITIVE: Must address growing competitive pressure in education segment
  • TECHNICAL: API limitations hindering enterprise integration capabilities

Action Items

  • SALES: Implement targeted enterprise sales training program by end of Q3
  • PRODUCT: Develop enterprise-grade API and integration capabilities by 2025
  • MARKETING: Launch vertical-specific campaigns for education and healthcare
  • RETENTION: Design enhanced onboarding sequence for business subscriptions
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To empower the revenue organization to democratize design globally by reaching $10 billion in annual revenue with 100 million paid subscribers

Strengths

  • FOUNDATION: Strong ML infrastructure for content recommendations
  • ADOPTION: 45% of users already engaging with AI features
  • TALENT: Growing AI engineering team of 150+ specialists
  • INVESTMENT: $200M+ dedicated to AI research and development
  • INTEGRATION: Seamless AI incorporation in existing workflows

Weaknesses

  • DEPTH: Limited advanced AI capabilities vs dedicated competitors
  • MESSAGING: Unclear AI value proposition to enterprise clients
  • MONETIZATION: Insufficient premium AI feature revenue strategy
  • EDUCATION: Low user awareness of full AI feature capabilities
  • TECHNICAL: Occasional latency issues with complex AI operations

Opportunities

  • PERSONALIZATION: AI-driven content customization at scale
  • CREATION: Generative design tools for instant brand assets
  • EFFICIENCY: Workflow automation to increase user productivity
  • INSIGHTS: AI analytics to drive strategic design decisions
  • ENTERPRISE: AI governance features for regulated industries

Threats

  • COMPETITORS: Rapid AI innovation from Adobe and newer startups
  • COMMODITIZATION: AI features becoming standard across industry
  • REGULATION: Evolving global AI regulatory frameworks
  • EXPECTATIONS: Growing sophistication of user AI expectations
  • DEPENDENCIES: Reliance on third-party AI model providers

Key Priorities

  • INNOVATION: Accelerate proprietary AI feature development
  • ENTERPRISE: Develop AI governance features for regulated sectors
  • EDUCATION: Launch comprehensive AI feature awareness campaign
  • MONETIZATION: Create premium AI feature packages and pricing