Canva just announced $3 billion in ARR, 230 million monthly active users, and 24 million paying subscribers—including 95% of the Fortune 500. Even more impressive? They’ve been profitable for seven years while growing at 40–50% per year.
In this episode, Canva’s Head of Engineering, Brendan Humphreys, reveals how he went from employee #12 to leading 2,300 engineers across continents, and why Canva’s “pragmatic excellence” lets them ship AI features at breakneck speed—like launching Canva Code to 100 million users in just three months.
Brendan shares the story of Canva’s AI journey: building an in-house ML team back in 2017, acquiring visual AI startups like Kaleido and Leonardo AI, and why they use a hybrid of OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and their own foundation models. He explains how Canva’s App Store gives niche AI startups instant access to millions, and why their $200M Creator Fund is designed to reward contributors in the AI era. You’ll also hear how AI tools like Copilot are making Canva’s senior engineers 30% more productive, why “vibe coding” isn’t ready for prime time, and the unique challenges of onboarding junior engineers in an AI-driven world.
We also dig into Canva’s approach to technical debt, scaling from 12 to 5,000 employees, and why empathy is a core engineering skill at Canva.
Canva
Website - https://www.canva.com
X/Twitter - https://x.com/canva
Brendan Humphreys
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanhumphreys
X/Twitter - https://x.com/brendanh
FIRSTMARK
Website - https://firstmark.com
X/Twitter - https://twitter.com/FirstMarkCap
Matt Turck (Managing Director)
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/turck/
X/Twitter - https://twitter.com/mattturck
(00:00) Intro
(01:14) Canva’s Mind-Blowing Growth and Profitable Journey
(03:41) Why Brendan Left Atlassian to Join a Tiny Startup
(06:17) What Being a Founder Taught Brendan About Leadership
(07:24) Growing with Canva: From 12 Employees to 2,300 Engineers
(10:02) How Canva Runs a Global Team from Sydney to Europe
(13:16) Is AI a Threat or a Superpower for Canva?
(15:22) The Real Story Behind Canva’s AI and Machine Learning Team
(17:23) How Canva Ships New AI Features So Fast
(19:19) A Tour of Canva’s Latest AI-Powered Products
(21:03) From Design Tool to All-in-One Productivity Platform
(26:21) Keeping Up the Pace: How Canva Moves So Quickly
(30:22) The Future: AI Agents, Copilots, and Smarter Workflows
(33:14) How AI Tools Are Changing the Way Engineers Work
(35:47) Rethinking Hiring and Training in the Age of AI
(37:01) Why Empathy Matters in Engineering at Canva
(39:41) Building vs. Buying: How Canva Chooses Its AI Tech
(41:23) Lessons Learned: Technical Debt and Scaling Pains
(51:18) Shipping Fast Without Breaking Things
(53:08) What’s Next: AI Video, New Features, and Big Ambitions
The MAD Podcast with Matt Turck