100 rejections -> Founder of a $25B Startup

100s of investors rejected her startup proposal

But she never backed down...and the result?

Her startup is now worth $25,000,000,000

This is the never-heard-before story of Canva:

Meet Melanie Perkins, the co-founder of Canva

She is worth over $5.27B

Just like any other entrepreneur, she had an interesting beginning

You see...

She wanted to make design accessible and simple to everyone

Why?

She was teaching a class how to create designs using Photoshop and Microsoft

The result?

She saw students struggling to learn the software

So?

She joined hands with her now-husband, Cliff Obrecht and friend Cameron Adams

Their aim was to build software - which would help create high-quality visuals effortlessly

But it was not easy...

Canva faced several challenges in the beginning:

• Low capital
• No resources
• 0 business experience

This is when she reached out to 100+ potential investors

All of those who rejected the proposal

But Canva soon got its first breakthrough...

Melanie realized:
Most non-designers want a user-friendly tool to make designs

So?

They started working on its MVP- Minimum Viable Product

Its simplified the design process - without losing quality

Soon...

Canva spread like wildfire...

Non-designers loved the:

• intuitive interface
• wide variety of pre-built templates
• Seamless user experience

Melanie decided to use some other growth-hacking strategies

And this is where things get interesting:

She integrated viral loops - attaching social media share options

Users loved it and started sharing it with their friends

The Canva team also encouraged users to create and share designs - with their family and friends

The result?

Today, 135,000,000+ people use Canva to create designs every month

Back to the story...

Canva introduced the freemium model
and improved and added more features

Soon, investors were eager to invest in Canva

Since 2014, Canva has raised $570M+ from various investors

And since then...

Canva has offices in China and the Philippines

And has more than five hundred thousand paying customers!

They are currently valued at $25B

And the best part:
It continues to help non-designers create designs seamlessly

But again...

All of this would not be possible if Melanie had given up
on her 36th rejection of 79th rejection...

She kept refining her pitch everytime she failed

And this is her #1 advice to all aspiring young entrepreneurs:

“The rejection is often not because of the reasons you think they are rejecting you.”

Today, Canva:

• has users in 190+ countries
• is one of the most visited websites
• is used by 400k+ non-profits
• has donated $10M+ to charity

All because of the grit of a young Australian female entrepreneur!

And that was the story...

I hope you loved reading the story of your favorite design company

Every week, I bring you the best success stories in the tech industry...
and things you can learn from them