While Canva technically “launched” in fall 2013, it wasn’t immediately available to everyone. Instead, users were asked to reserve a username and join a waitlist - which grew to 50k people before the official public debut.

Canva generated buzz within the design community and adjacent groups needing design help.

reached out to blogs, podcasts, and conferences to offer “early access” to their audiences (and get them to publish reviews!).

“The whole point was that we took all these complex things and made them simple...that took a lot longer than a weekend."

To boost confidence, new users went through a “how-to” guide before entering the product.

The Canva team also built starter challenges, like changing the color of a circle or adding a hat to a monkey - which helped users get acclimated to the platform.

The Facebook templates spurred referrals, as users invited their colleagues to collaborate on designs. And when they posted a slick Canva graphic on Facebook, others would ask how they made it.

For the company’s first holiday season, Canva worked with artists to create 30+ templates for beautiful digital cards. Most were distributed via Facebook and email, which again funneled users back to Canva.