Lessons from Canva’s Global Head of Product Robert Kawalsky
Things I overheard in conversation with a $50B product leader and the head of product at the hottest AI product company around.
Earlier this week, I had the privilege of sitting with two product heavyweights:
Robert Kawalsky, Global Head of Product at Canva, now leading a 1,800-person product org serving 220M+ users at a $50B company.
Rebecca Hu, the first product manager at Suno, a generative music model with 30M users and more than 4 billion songs created.
We host “expert office hour” sessions between our portfolio and the most impressive operators we know. These sessions benefit our founders – but this chat had takeaways I wanted to share broadly.
🤖 “AI Equals Less UI”
Suno is tackling a unique twist on the cold start problem: creative inertia. Their team’s mission is to lower the barrier to making something—whether you’re Grammy winner Timbaland or just a tinkerer with a mic.
Robert offered a pithy take on AI’s potential in product design:
“AI equals less UI.”
The best AI tools don’t add features—they subtract friction. They guide the user invisibly until everything feels like instinct.
7⃣ Seven Traits That Make a Great PM
Rebecca asked Robert what he looks for in PMs. His list was straightforward but striking:
+ Agency: You never have perfect data. You can’t wait forever. Push forward anyway.
+ Taste: Hard to teach. Easy to feel.
+ Product Sense: The ability to look at a page and intuit how users will respond to changes.
+ Systems Thinking: Seeing how all the pieces connect—not just your slice.
+ Clarity: Speak simply. Verbosity isn’t a virtue.
+ Humility: Be comfortable saying “I don’t know” or “I don’t get it.”
+ Attitude: “Optimism is good. Skepticism can help. Cynicism is poison.”
This last bit felt relevant for founders: Optimism is non-negotiable. If you don’t believe in what you’re building—even before there’s proof – no one else will.
🧐 Training your instincts
Robert emphasized the role of instinct and taste in great product judgment. Both can (and must) be trained. He pointed to Canva’s CEO, Melanie Perkins, whose product vision still shapes the roadmap. Her “instinct” results from a decade spent absorbing every post, piece of community feedback, stat, and dashboard that moves the business.
Taste is not a magic trick or purely innate talent – it’s a muscle built through exposure and repetition.
🏆 “Don’t set MAUs as goals. Set the thing you believe will move MAUs.”
While many companies obsess over metrics, Robert shared that Canva doesn’t use OKRs.
Their method, captured in Canva’s company value of “Set crazy big goals and make them happen”, is refreshingly human:
– Set an audacious goal.
– Row in the same direction.
– Achieve it.
– Celebrate.
– Repeat.
The team doesn’t just ask what number to move, but what matters enough to move it. As Robert put it, “Ask if the juice is worth the squeeze.”
There’s more to share, but as good PMs know – sometimes the best move is to stop scrolling and start building.