The woman behind Canva shares how she built a $42B company from nothing | Melanie Perkins · Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth summary

Key takeaways

Vision is crucial for success; start with 'Column B' thinking and imagine your ideal future.
Set ambitious, 'crazy big goals' to motivate your team and inspire incremental progress.
Learn from setbacks; challenges can provide valuable feedback for growth.
Rejection can strengthen your strategy; use feedback to refine your approach.
Integrating social responsibility alongside business objectives creates a strong organizational foundation.
Imagination is vital in addressing global challenges and shaping a better future.
AI technology should enhance user experience, not just be adopted for the sake of trend.
Prioritize community input to align product development with user needs.

Summary

Building a 'Column B' Company

Melanie Perkins shares insights on her approach to building Canva through 'Column B' thinking, where the focus is on aspirational visions rather than present constraints. She highlights the importance of imagining an ideal future and cultivating the courage to pursue seemingly impossible goals.

The Power of Crazy Big Goals

Perkins emphasizes setting ambitious, 'crazy big goals' to inspire teams and fuel motivation. She discusses how aiming high requires a deep commitment and underscores the importance of celebrating incremental achievements along the journey.

Navigating Challenges and Setbacks

The conversation reveals the challenges Canva faced, including a painful two-year period without new features during a significant technical rewrite. Perkins explains how these setbacks were learning experiences, reinforcing their mission and clarifying their vision.

Investor Rejections and Learning Through Feedback

Perkins recounts her experience of facing over 100 investor rejections and how each rejection improved her pitch deck. This adaptive approach to feedback transformed setbacks into stepping stones, ultimately leading to one of the most successful tech companies.

The Two-Step Plan for Impact

The 'two-step plan' Perkins introduces consists of building a highly successful company while emphasizing the importance of doing good. This dual focus shapes the company culture and decision-making process, integrating social responsibility from the start.

The Relationship Between Imagination and Reality

Perkins shares her vision for 2050 and encourages imaginative thinking as a means to address current global issues. By articulating a clear, hopeful vision, she believes we can collectively strive toward a brighter future.

Integrating AI into Canva's Platform

The discussion highlights how Canva is leveraging AI to enhance user experiences across various functionalities, making design processes smoother. Perkins emphasizes that AI should genuinely benefit users rather than just be a trend to follow.

Community-Driven Product Development

Perkins explains how Canva actively listens to user feedback, resulting in valuable insights that inform product development. With over a million requests each year, she illustrates the deep connection between community needs and the company's evolution.

Show notes

Melanie Perkins is CEO and co-founder of Canva, currently valued at over $42 billion, generating over $3 billion in annual revenue, with more than 240 million monthly active users and, incredibly, eight consecutive years of profitability. But the journey was far from smooth. Melanie was rejected by over 100 investors during her first fundraising round, her team spent two years without being able to ship a new feature during a technical rewrite, and the company pivoted early from a yearbook publishing platform to become the design powerhouse it is today. Through it all, she maintained what she calls “column B” thinking: building toward a dream future rather than just using the bricks around you.

We discuss:

1. How “column B” thinking helped Melanie build Canva, by starting with an impossible vision rather than existing constraints

2. The power of setting “crazy big goals”

3. How Canva survived a painful two-year period without shipping any new features while rewriting their codebase

4. How Melanie pushed through 100 investor rejections, and how she used each rejection to strengthen her pitch

5. Canva’s “two-step plan”: build one of the world’s most valuable companies, then do the most good possible

6. Melanie’s vision for 2050 and why she believes imagination is the first step toward a better world

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Transcript: ⁠https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-making-of-canva⁠⁠

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My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/176082995/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation

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Where to find Melanie Perkins:

• X: https://x.com/melaniecanva

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanieperkins/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to Melanie Perkins and Canva

(04:44) Building a “column B” company

(06:36) Operationalizing big visions

(13:13) Crazy big goals and celebrations

(22:00) Challenges and setbacks in Canva’s journey

(26:30) Fundraising and investor rejections

(29:36) Leadership and growth lessons

(34:38) Canva’s goal-driven structure

(35:46) Balancing work and personal life

(38:02) Community-driven product development

(40:37) The two-step plan for global impact

(45:04) Canva’s biggest launch yet

(48:10) How Canva approaches product expansion

(52:37) AI integration in Canva

(53:56) AI corner

(55:22) Melanie’s vision for 2050 and beyond

(01:00:07) Lightning round and final thoughts

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Referenced:

• Canva: https://www.canva.com/

• Brian Chesky’s new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach

• Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-high-performing-teams-melissa

• UserTesting: https://www.usertesting.com/

• Figma: https://www.figma.com/

• Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/

• Calm: https://www.calm.com/

• Gandhi’s quote about happiness: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/mahatma_gandhi_105593

• Help us improve Canva: https://www.canva.com/help/get-in-touch/general-feedback/

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Recommended books:

• Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration: https://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Inc-Expanded-Overcoming-Inspiration/dp/0593594649/

• The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses: https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898/

• The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact: https://www.amazon.com/Power-Moments-Certain-Experiences-Extraordinary/dp/1501147765

• Designing the Obvious: A Common Sense Approach to Web and Mobile Application Design: https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Obvious-Common-Approach-Application/dp/0321749855

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

The woman behind Canva shares how she built a $42B company from nothing | Melanie Perkins