Canva CEO Melanie Perkins Case Study: From 100 Plus Rejections To Success!

Entrepreneur Melanie Perkins has truly had a remarkable life journey. From being a teacher to being the CEO of the graphic design company Canva, Perkins has come a long way.

But there’s one inspiring aspect of Canva CEO Melanie Perkins Case Study. Follow the article until the end for every tiny detail and find out the exact story of how she built a billion-dollar company from scratch.

Melanie is, in fact, Australia’s second-richest woman who tirelessly worked to make designing easy and accessible to everyone. Stay with us till the end to learn more interesting facts about her.

Early Life And Childhood – Shaped Her Future

Perkins was born on May 13, 1987, in Perth, Western Australia. Her father is a Malaysian engineer of Filipino and Sri Lankan heritage. Meanwhile, her mom is an Australian native who works as a teacher. Perkins is the middle child of her parents.

Similarly, the Australian national attended Sacred Heart College and aspired to become a professional figure skater at the time. However, fate had something else on its hand.

Canva CEO Melanie Perkins Case Study. Image Credit: Social Media.

Melanie began her first business at the age of fourteen. She sold handmade scarves at markets and shops around the Perth area. She mentioned that this experience developed an entrepreneurial drive inside her.

After finishing high school at Sacre Heart, Melanie enrolled at the University of Western Australia (UWA) in 2005. During college, she worked as a private graphic design tutor. It was at this time the idea of creating an accessible design program was born.

Turning Points

While teaching design programs, Perkins noticed students’ difficulties while learning Adobe Photoshop and other programs. However, she saw the opportunity to make a collaborative design platform for users with minimal technical experience.

Therefore, Melanie dropped out of UWA to follow her passion for business and founded Fusion Books with her future husband, Cliff Obrecht, in 2007. Scroll down to learn about the two major turning points of her life.

But wait! Before we reveal Perkins’ life-turning events, you might want to know about innovative tech entrepreneurs such as James Bruton, Brett Adcock, and Melbourne-based WorkRex Founders.

Meeting Future Husband

Canva CEO Melanie Perkins case study is incomplete without one individual. And that person is none other than her husband and business partner, Cliff Obrecht.

Perkins and Obrecht first met in 2005 while celebrating Australian National Day under the city’s landmark bell tower. The couple instantly connected, and their entrepreneurial journey began from there.

Canva CEO Melanie Perkins case Study. Image Credit: Social Media.

As a teacher, Melanie knew something had to be done about the design accessibility problem. So, she and her then-boyfriend, Obrecht, targeted the yearbook market, which led to the foundation of FusionBooks in 2007.

Testing the idea of Canva with Fusion Books, A Yearbook Platform

Started at her mom’s garage, Melanie’s Fusion Books was a simple solution to assist students in creating and designing their school yearbooks. It used a simple drag-and-drop tool option. Similarly, it had multiple design templates, photos, illustrations, and fonts.

This creation served as the initial inspiration for Canva. The company grew into the largest Australian yearbook company in just five years after its inception. Similarly, the business expanded to New Zealand and France as well.

At its peak, Fusion Books published yearbooks for 400 high schools. However, Perkins and Obrecht wanted to make their small publishing company into a full-fledged design brand.

In 2013, Melanie and her partner, Obrecht, officially launched Canva in Australia. But they had to wait years to land their first funding.

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Canva CEO Melanie Perkins Case Study: How she tackled 100+ rejections?

Before diving into Melanie’s success story, we should know that Canva’s journey is nothing short of a miracle. From facing worse luck to making a revenue of over $2 Billion, the online design tool has seen numerous hardships.

For over three years, Melanie faced numerous rejections (as per her, she was rejected over 100 times) from venture capitalists. She once stated:

Nobody wanted to invest on Canva, nobody thought Canva would become such a high-profile company.

Determined to make her platform accessible, Melanie pitched her idea to several investors. But all she heard was ‘no.’ This rejection became a motivating factor in Canva CEO Melanie Perkins Case Study.

Canva CEO Melanie Perkins Case Study. Image Credit: Social Media.

In 2011, Melanie and Cliff attended a startup competition and came runner-up. Luckily, a prolific investor named Bill Tai was among the judges. Later, the couple pitched their idea, Canvas Chief, to Bill and other attendees. But unfortunately, they didn’t receive any capital.

Bill, a skilled kitesurfer, suggested Melanie visit Silicon Valley. Likewise, he invited the couple to most of his kitesurfing gatherings. Infatuated by the tech startup world, Perkins and her lover Cliff flew to the US and started pitching their idea. But the result was the same.

While at Silicon Valley, the couple met Cameron Adams, who agreed to fund the project and became the third co-founder of Canva in June 2012.

Similarly, why don’t you check out the Nepalese Indie Game Dev Karma Project?

The First Breakthrough: Receiving Seed Capital of $3 Million

The three co-founders of Canva were more determined than ever to make their platform reachable worldwide. The only issue was money. So, the role of initial investors is vital for Canva CEO Melanie Perkins Case Study.

Melanie, Cliff, and Cameron believed in their startup and that their efforts were proving to be worth it. In 2013, Canva raised US $3 million in seed funding from professional and angel investors.

• Hollywood Actors Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson were the initial angel investors of Canva.
• Others were Bill Tai, Google Maps founder Lars Rasmussen, and Yahoo CFO Ken Goldman.
• Professional investors were Matrix Partners, InterWest Partners, and 500 Startups.

Finally, in 2013, Canva was officially launched in Perth, Australia. It is currently headquartered in Sydney.

After a year of its launch, Canva saw 1.3 million designs created per month. By the end of 2023, Canva had surpassed 20 billion designs, including videos, presentations, docs, etc.

Becoming One of the Youngest Female CEOs of A Unicorn Company

Not many people know this, but the former CEO of Paypal, Peter Theil, suggested Melanie become the sole CEO of Canva. Therefore, she has been taking the lead position since 2013.

In its first year, Canva had over 750,000 users, and ten years later, in 2023, Canva had a staggering 170 million monthly users.

Canva CEO Melanie Perkins Case Study. Image Credit: Social Media.

With time, Canva began to expand its domain with additional funding from multiple high-profile partners. In 2018, Canva was valued at $1 billion, making history in the graphic design community. Thus, Perkins became the youngest self-made CEO of a Unicorn company.

You will be amazed to know Melanie Perkins’ Net Worth

The college dropout who once began her first start-up at her mother’s garage is now a billionaire. Yes, Melanie Perkins has a huge fortune of USD $4.4 billion, as per Forbes,

Most of Perkins’ net worth comes from her 18% ownership at Canva. For your information, Canva’s valuation reached $26 billion by September 2022. Likewise, it reached a valuation of $40.35 Billion in 2023.

Table Source: Forbes

Melanie and her husband, Cliff Obrecht, are Australia’s ‘Top 10 richest self-made billionaires.’ In 2023, they came 1st in the ‘Richest Australians under 40’ list. Their combined wealth was reported at $13 billion.

As the billionaire husband-wife duo, the couple have pledged to donate a huge sum of money towards global issues such as climate change and poverty.

In conclusion, we hope the detailed info on Canva CEO Melanie Perkins Case Studu has given some insights. Further, we hope she continues to make the world a better place with her innovative ideas.