HubSpot to Canva: focus on culture right, go public

HubSpot’s co-founder Dharmesh Shah’s message to Canva’s founders is: being a public company ‘is actually not that bad’.

Canva co-founder Cameron Adams. Picture: Britta Campion / The Australian

The co-founder of multi-billion-dollar marketing software company HubSpot has a message for Canva’s co-founders, who are mulling a likely IPO in what would cement its place as one of Australia’s premier tech success stories.

The Massachusetts-based marketing software group HubSpot went public in 2014 at $US25 ($36) per share, and since then has more than quadrupled in valuation with its share price sitting today at $US155. Its co-founder and chief technology officer Dharmesh Shah told The Australian running a publicly listed company can in some ways be less stressful.

“The prevailing wisdom is to put it off as long as possible,” Mr Shah said.

“It’s actually not that bad. If you asked my co-founder and CEO, he and I are both actually happier now than we were. There’s nice things about being a public company, you have all the kind of private capital rates and things behind you. So don’t fear it, is message number one.

“Number two is, continue to focus on culture. Get that right, keep it right, and the rest of it will work itself out over time.”

Mr Shah added that when tech companies go public they can decide how many designated “insiders” they have, meaning a list of people who will have full access to the company’s financials and related documents. Most companies pick four or five executives, but HubSpot made each of its 1000 employees insiders. “It was about us preserving that start-up spirit, and that transparency is the kind of thing that makes companies like ours work,” he said.

Canva co-founder Cameron Adams said he wasn't sure whether his company would go down the same route and allow each of its 800-plus employees to be insiders, but did promise the company would maintain its spirit of transparency if it was to go public. The start-up soared to a $US3.2bn ($4.75bn) valuation when it announced a $US85m raising in October.

“We do work hard to maintain that transparency, and we’re constantly sharing information with everyone who works here and making sure they have all the same information we have,” Mr Adams said.

The pair are in Singapore on Monday to talk up an integration deal between the two companies, in which HubSpot users will be able to access Canva's online design tools from within the HubSpot platform, by clicking a “Canva Button”. Previously, HubSpot users would have to leave the platform and go to Canva’s website for their design needs.

Mr Adams told The Australian that users could expect the “Canva Button” to pop up in a lot more places. The company’s product suite is popular with consumers, but it is now trying to aggressively ramp up business and commercial use. In October the company launched Canva for Enterprise, which the company says will help businesses ensure consistent use of their brand in design work.

“We want to be the design engine of the world, and we can only do that if we’re serving our customers and being where they're doing their work,” Mr Adams said. “Our ultimate aim is to have the Canva button anywhere you need to create content.”