This Journalist Put Learning First to Become CMO of Canva

It’s a tale as old as startups: One day you’re going through the motions at work. The next, your company has run out of money and you’re left looking for a new job. That’s the position Zach Kitschke was in nine years ago. At the time, he was writing about technology and startups for From Little Things, a news site in Australia, but was on the hunt for a new role just six months later when the company was sold. Between his journalism experience and a past life in communications and PR with the city council of Wollongong, Australia, Kitschke leveraged his network to try to find the next gig. Eventually, he connected with Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, who were in the process of launching a graphic design platform called Canva. But after an initial conversation with the two, Kitschke had a feeling he needed to do more. “I [hadn't] really done the best job of selling myself and knew that if I was to land a job, I needed to put a better foot forward," he said. "So I reached out to them with an email and sent them a long list of ideas." Progress Is Too Often a Decoy. Diversity Needs a Do-Over His initiative got his foot in the door as a founding employee, taking the role of head of communications. But being at a startup means wearing many hats, and he spent the next few years taking on other roles including customer service, building out subscription products and even cooking lunches for the team—all while learning to be an effective leader along the way. “I've been a constant beginner in each of the roles that I've taken on, and what that's meant is that it has been really important to be able to learn quickly,” Kitschke said. “I've leaned really heavily on mentors and advisers to help fill those gaps and areas along the way.” Last February, Kitschke was promoted to chief marketing officer. Looking back on his trajectory since 2013, his biggest takeaway is that growth begins when you take initiative. “The first step to achieving anything big is just to get going,” he said. Big mistake Kitschke accidentally sent out an email about the launch of Canva for Work (now Canva Pro) to about 400,000 people before the company was ready to announce it. But there was an upside: Canva’s follow-up apology was one of its best-performing emails ever. Lesson learned Following his email blunder, Kitschke understood the importance of “owning up to your mistakes” while also putting “community front and center.” How he got the gig Kitschke’s many contacts after working in journalism, communications and PR eventually led to Niki Scevak, a partner at venture capital fund Blackbird Ventures. Scevak introduced him to Canva’s co-founders, CEO Melanie Perkins and her now-husband, COO Cliff Obrecht. Pro tip “Just ask for feedback, whether it's from your peers, a mentor or your boss,” he said. “Generally, people have a lot of value and perspective to add, but so many of us don't ask for it.” Sara Moorthy Was Working With Data in Advertising Before It Was Cool

Leadership & Talent

This Journalist Put Learning First to Become CMO of Canva

Zach Kitschke has been with the graphic design platform since its founding

Tiffany Moustakas

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Tiffany Moustakas