Hardware Podcasts

Canva: Melanie Perkins (2019)

How I Built This · 1 Mar 2021 · 41m

What this episode covers

Melanie Perkins, co-founder of Canva, explains how she pivoted from a yearbook tool called Fusion Books to building a global design platform after securing investment from Bill Tai and Lars Rasmussen. She details the grueling process of pitching over 100 investors in San Francisco, who repeatedly rejected the idea due to the lack of a technical co-founder, forcing her to recruit Dave Herndon and Cameron Adams. Perkins describes the strategic decision to offer a free core product with premium assets, which allowed Canva to reach 30 million monthly users and achieve profitability despite early rejections and a premature embargo break.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Adobe, Microsoft, Google, Shutterfly, Fuji Xerox
Products
Canva, Fusion Books
Also
Bill Tai, Lars Rasmussen, Dave Herndon, Cameron Adams, TechCrunch

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