How Shantanu Narayen transformed Adobe

Masters of Scale

WaitWhat

Diversity & Inclusion, Jeff Berman, Bob Safian, Startups, Business, Management, Entrepreneurship, Mindset, Reid Hoffman

4.6 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 14 March 2026

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Shantanu Narayen announced this week that he will step down after nearly two decades as CEO of Adobe. In this conversation first published in early 2025, Narayen talked with host Reid Hoffman about how he led the transformation of Adobe’s creative tools like Photoshop to cloud-based subscriptions, how that unlocked faster innovation, and why those lessons are serving the company well in the new age of AI.

Synthetic voiceover of Reid Hoffman used in this episode was produced by Respeecher with full consent and permission.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	As your company scales, the hardest part isn't ambition, it's alignment. That's why Atlassian built
0:07.3	the teamwork collection, an AI-powered teamwork platform designed to help teams move faster together.
0:13.1	By connecting Jira, Confluence, Lume, and Rovo, teams can easily align work to real business goals,
0:20.5	plan and track progress together,
0:22.6	remove knowledge silos, and access the real magic of AI plus human collaboration.
0:29.0	Visit at lassean.com slash team changer to learn more. That's A-T-L-A-S-S-I-A-N dot com slash team changer.
0:41.4	On Masters of Scale, we talk a lot about inflection points, those moments when a technology
0:47.4	stops being optional and starts being fundamental.
0:51.7	AI presents one of those moments, and behind every breakthrough, whether it's medical
0:55.9	research or education or even cinematic visual effects, there's infrastructure most people
1:03.2	never see. As the essential cloud for AI, core weave is building that foundation. It provides a purpose-built AI cloud designed specifically for
1:13.5	pioneers at leading AI labs and enterprises ready to power the biggest ideas and the boldest ambitions.
1:21.7	Ready for anything. Ready for AI. To learn more about how CoreWeave powers the world's best AI, go to coreweave.com
1:30.2	slash ready for anything.
1:34.5	I wish I could look at you and say, we knew all of that up front. We didn't.
1:41.4	AI models are upending the market for tools that help people make things like illustrations and animations.
1:48.4	But this isn't the first time Adobe CEO, Shantanun Orion, has had to lead the iconic software company through a moment of monumental change.
1:58.1	He spearheaded Adobe's transition to a cloud-based subscription model more than a decade ago.
2:05.3	There was a lot of opposition from existing customers as well, because they were a little
2:11.6	skeptical and or cynical about why Adobe was doing it. But there was a lot of excitement.
2:19.6	This transformation wasn't just about the sales model for Adobe.
2:23.6	It also revealed a more powerful way to respond to customers' needs.
	...

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