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“How did they do that? How did they get there?” Companies succeed because of the people who build them - operating leaders who grow businesses to new heights and make decisions every day that can impact entire industries. Our Operator Spotlight gives you the inside track from one of our incredible Operator LPs (Limited Partners) who are changing the game – building and scaling some of the world’s most successful companies. Read on for lessons learned and mistakes made, perspectives from the top, practical advice, and ideas on what’s next.
This month, we chatted with Kelly Steckelberg, the Chief Financial Officer at Canva. Kelly leads the global finance organization, supporting the company’s mission to empower the world to design. Since its launch in 2013, Canva has become one of the world’s most valuable private companies, generating over $2.7 billion in annualised revenue and serving more than 230 million users across the globe. Prior to joining Canva, Kelly served as CFO at Zoom, where she helped guide the company through its initial public offering and a subsequent period of hypergrowth stemming from the pandemic. She has also held leadership roles as CFO and CEO of Zoosk and divisional CFO for the Consumer Segment and WebEx at Cisco. Kelly began her career at KPMG, working in both tax and audit.
You've been the CFO through some of the most defining moments in tech - from Zoom's IPO and pandemic hypergrowth to now scaling Canva past $2.5B in revenue. What's the biggest difference in how you approach the CFO role between a public company experiencing sudden explosive growth versus a high-growth private company like Canva?
There are actually a lot of similarities between these two companies in terms of having an amazing product that is very viral in nature, with tremendous customer love and a focus on solving customer problems. The difference between being public and private is that you have more flexibility while you're still private and before you step onto the public stage. We did this at Zoom too - really focusing on investing to ensure we have long-term sustainable growth before going public. At Canva, we aspire to be a generational company, so building that foundation as a private company is really critical. While there are differences between public vs. private, ultimately, it’s always about creating long term impact, not just short term momentum.
You've built and scaled finance organizations at some of the fastest-growing tech companies of the last decade. How are you thinking about retooling the office of the CFO with AI? What specific processes or functions have you found most ripe for AI transformation, and where do you still see the need for human judgment and oversight?
The way we're thinking about AI is that it absolutely augments everything we do and drives efficiency. Depending on the process, maybe it gets us 40% there, maybe 70%, and then humans finish it. But I think the big difference from 10 years ago and honestly, even eight months ago when I started, is what the future of systems and that roadmap looks like. For example, I'm not sure that everything sits within a massive ERP system any longer. There are opportunities for AI to radically change some of those processes. So before we start investing, we're really thinking thoughtfully about what this is going to look like two or three years from now. We also look to trusted advisors and leaders in the space to help us expand our vantage point on what's possible.
At Canva, we’re part of the AI-native generation of companies. If AI is in our product, it has to be embedded in our operations too. We’ve succeeded through a mix of building and buying. Long before the recent AI wave, we were already an AI-enabled platform, leading with that mindset.
While quite a bit has been built in-house, we’ve also made game changing acquisitions, from Kaleido way back in 2021 to Leonardo.ai and Magic Brief in the last year - all design-led companies to power our long term efforts. What’s worked especially well are small to mid-sized acquisitions that combine strategic tech tuck-ins with attracting exceptional talent. For us, this is ultimately both fueling product innovation and significant R&D.
How have you seen the CFO role evolve over the last decade? What skills or focus areas that weren't critical 10 years ago are now essential for finance leaders?
What’s changed dramatically is that it’s just not enough to only understand and talk about the financials. You have to be a strong storyteller; someone who can weave the numbers into a compelling narrative about the business, the product, the strategy and explain why it all matters. Investors want to dig a lot deeper in all of those other areas, so it goes so far beyond just the numbers. You have to connect the dots, bringing the overall strategy to life, and show that you're an expert in all aspects of the business, not just the balance sheet.
Having lived through Zoom's pandemic moment, you've seen firsthand how external forces can create unprecedented growth. How do you build processes that can scale both up and down rapidly when the unexpected happens?
It comes down to having the right foundation. At both Canva and previously at Zoom, we’re really thoughtful about where we want to invest for long-term, sustainable growth and making sure that is the priority. At both companies, that has meant focusing on areas of product, engineering, and sales capacity because those are really the long term sustainable drivers. And then being very, very thoughtful and frugal about G&A and any aspects of the cost of goods sold. How can you automate or bring in third party vendors to help you flex up and potentially down as needed? That's what we did during the pandemic. Certain areas that we thought would get more automated over time - for example, customer success - we brought in third party vendors to help us scale up and then we were able to scale down as needed.
Especially when you come in early, there can be a mindset (and often external validation) that top line growth hides all sins. As long as you're growing, you can just spend and do whatever you want! But that is not sustainable. The best way to adjust is to be prepared ideally before, but even while you’re in growth mode. Before something happens, you need to have that discipline and help teams prioritize. Instead of having "and" conversations you start having "or" conversations, which can help people realize that unfettered spending does not live forever. The earlier you can start to influence that mindset, the better off you are.
You've traveled to over 70 countries! How has that global perspective influenced your approach to scaling international operations for companies that serve a truly global user base?
I actually lived in Amsterdam for three and a half years as a European Finance Director at PeopleSoft. That really kicked off the realization of how differently business works around the world. How you have to really be thoughtful about how things translate.
And kind of a joke, but kind of a reality too; this was pretty eye opening to me when I moved from California back to Texas two years ago. It’s healthy to get outside of whatever bubble you might be closest to, and I think it’s very important for leaders to have different perspectives across management, policies, and products.
At Canva, the vast majority of our employees, including our founders and most of our leaders, are in Sydney. We also have teams spread out across 10 offices, so a truly global operation. That means thinking about where you need what kind of talent. With roots that didn’t start in Silicon Valley, it's never been a given that everybody's going to be in the Bay Area, or the US for that matter.
And how do I support our business partners in such radically different time zones or different cultures? Well, it’s proven to be an amazing opportunity to be intentional and ensure that we really have a global-first team mentality, building inclusively across every single time zone.
As someone who's been on the buying side of enterprise software, what advice would you offer early-stage founders building products for CFOs and finance teams? What are the biggest mistakes you see founders make when trying to crack into enterprise finance organizations, and what immediately signals to you that a vendor "gets it"?
I think the biggest mistake is assuming they know what their prospects' problems are. It may or may not be something that you're focused on at all, and that’s really the key. So the flip side where I’ve seen it be more effective is if you can understand what they're actually focused on. Also, it might not be the right time for you, but you can build a relationship over time.
I’m actually living that reality right now - I'm thinking about a systems roadmap. I have met some founders of companies, and am learning a lot, but I am not ready to make a decision right now. But that doesn't mean a year from now I won't come back to them! So my advice would be to think of it as a process. It might be a long process, and it's a relationship builder at first, but has the potential to work on both sides.
What's your secret super power?
I've been doing this for a long time! I’m able to assess quickly and see around corners because I have seen a lot of these situations before - both for opportunities and potential pitfalls that we might face.
What's a piece of advice you would give to yourself 10 years ago, if you had the opportunity?
Stop stressing and enjoy it more. I love my job, and I’ve loved it for a long time - but I would say only in the last six or seven years have I let myself really appreciate how amazing it is, and not be completely stressed all the time. I'm not going to say it's not stressful, but I don’t let it overtake my life.
