SXSW Sydney: Key takeaways from Canva’s Melanie Perkins

Canva went from an idea to a startup to a world leader with a $26 billionaire dollar valuation in 10 short years, bringing the company to an international stage and making it an Australian success story, inspiring other Australian founders, especially women, to try and make their own startup dreams a reality.

Canva CEO and co-founder Melanie Perkins opened SXSW Sydney on Monday morning, speaking alongside BOND General Partner Mary Meeker.

The talk started with a candid story that many aspiring entrepreneurs can relate to, one where she began her career with a scarf-making business at 15 years old in Perth, Australia.

In college, she tutored part-time teaching design to students using tools like Dreamweaver and Flash instruction manuals from her UWA Communication classes – if only she knew then where she’d be today.

There, she started to understand how hard these advanced tools can be to use, often taking an entire semester to learn what every button does, and that’s before you can even begin understanding what makes a great design.

While she started her professional career in 2007 with an easy-to-use yearbook company called Fusion Books that was quickly adopted by international markets, it wasn’t until 2012 that Canva was born with her co-founder (and now husband) Cliff Obrecht.

During her SXSW panel, she spoke of how she flew to San Francisco to raise money for her quickly successful startup. However, after three months of rejection, she had no luck and was forced to return home with her visa expiring.

This would be a really defeating moment for anyone, but instead of basking in rejection, Perkins wrote a letter to herself:

“Mel, you’re extremely tired.

“You are in a challenging situation, though you can pull through. Nothing bad is really happening, you’re just feeling depressed because you are used to achieving things quickly. It’s a hard environment. There is no doubt you will succeed and you will find the team you need, get the investment you need and build the company you have always wanted.

You have chosen to put yourself in a challenging situation. If it wasn’t challenging you wouldn’t feel as satisfied when you get to the end goal.”

This motivation and reflection motivated her to try again a year later, where she secured a third co-founder, landed funding, and the rest is history.

Want to know how she met this co-founder? On a kite surfing trip. That’s why it’s just as important to invest in extracurricular activities while you’re working hard on your business.

Perkins also shared during the panel that every time they pitched and got rejected, they worked on improving their package based on feedback.

If someone said the market share wasn’t big enough, they’d add a new slide to address that concern. If a comment were made about people not needing it, a new section would explain its benefits. They were constantly perfecting it.

“Raising capital is like boot camp, you get questions from every angle.” – Melanie Perkins, Canva.

When venture capitalists ask you all the tough questions you haven’t even begun to consider, it helps you refine your answers and be ready for anything.

Canva quickly gained a million monthly active users but didn’t stop there; it introduced dozens of new languages, even challenging ones like Arabic, and by September 2024, 59% of Canva’s 190 milliom monthly active users came from non-English speaking markets.

Another key learning is to listen to your audience. Canva would write personalised letters to users who suggested features, thanking them and letting them know the update was made. Finally, instead of constantly trying to one-up your rivals, focus on what the market and industry need most. This approach allows you to set trends rather than follow them.

Never miss a story: sign up to SmartCompany’s free daily newsletter and find our best stories on LinkedIn.