Lydia Hall, Venture Lead & Co-Founder
Aqua by Adobe
What happens when a serial founder becomes a mom — and refuses to choose between ambition and family?
Lydia Hall built a startup and did it inside Adobe.
As Venture Lead and Co-Founder of Aqua by Adobe, Lydia pitched the idea to Adobe’s executive team directly: the company had Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro — some of the most powerful creative tools on the planet. But nothing for kids. Aqua changes that.
Aqua is a free creativity app for children ages 4–12, available on iPhone, iPad, Android, and at aqua.adobe.com. It’s part digital art studio, part role-play environment, part museum-building platform — and every single feature came from listening to actual kids in focus groups.
In this episode:
✦ How Adobe’s internal incubator gave Lydia the startup energy she craved — with the stability she needed as a parent
✦ The precise philosophy behind how Aqua uses AI: always child-first, never a shortcut
✦ Why kids wanted to protect their paper drawings — and how Aqua solved it with ‘Capture Cove’
✦ The surprisingly moving experience of reading daily app store reviews written in kid-speak
✦ The career ‘car crash’ that taught Lydia to stop waiting out her vesting cliff
✦ What she’d tell her younger self: fail fast — and actually mean it
MBTI vibe: ENTJ / ENTP / INTJ
Strategic thinking • Comfort with ambiguity • High drive and initiative • Systems thinking • Independent decision-making
Need to Know Facts*
Salary Range:
Entry-Level Education &
Additional Certification
Work Experience in Related
Occupation:
Type of organizations to
work for:
Job Outlook:
Resources:
Annual pay: $150K – $300K+
Bachelor’s Degree – business,
finance
Master’s Degree – MBA
Founder mode operators
with 3-10+ years in start-up
operations, management
consulting, or early-stage
investing
Active Venture Capital &
Studios
Corporate Venture Capital
(CVC) & Innovation Labs
Remote Tech Venture
Roles
Hotel Brand Management
Hotel Ownership Groups
+12% over the next few years
includes tech management
roles category
About Lydia Hall
Lydia Hall is Venture Lead and Co-Founder of Aqua by Adobe, where she co-leads the company’s first-ever product for kids and families. Built within Adobe’s incubator program, Aqua was inspired by Lydia’s experience as a parent.The app extends Adobe’s creative ecosystem to young creators through art, design, and play in a safe, educational mobile environment.
A serial founder and growth strategist, Lydia has held executive roles across four venture-backed startups. She founded her first company, an edtech platform, while attending Penn Law and Wharton; and later served as COO at Chalkup, a content collaboration platform acquired by Microsoft. Lydia participated in Y Combinator Imagine K12, and was recognized by the Forbes 30 Under 30.
Outside of work, Lydia is a lifelong sailor and U.S. Sailing Association–certified coach. Competitive racing has shaped her approach to leadership — balancing focus and adaptability amid shifting winds, changing tides, and the occasional sea monster.
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