Canva’s Melanie Perkins on scaling startup vision and values for global impact
The Upstarts Podcast kicks off with an Upstart journey from western Australian Upstart to the most valuable woman-led startup in the world.
Canva co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins leads the most valuable woman-led startup in the world, a design and publishing tool used by more than 260 million users and valued at $42 billion.
But before all that, Melanie was an Upstart: an unappreciated founder from western Australia who had to fly to San Francisco uninvited just to secure startup funding.
Melanie goes into that Upstart Moment in this debut episode of The Upstarts Podcast, covering the mindset and strategies that helped her go from university pitch competition to global phenomenon.
She also breaks down Canva’s framework for setting goals and values – and makes her case for why all startups should lean into a big vision and focus on impact from day one.
If you enjoy the episode, please consider giving us a nice review and comment wherever you watch/listen – and share it with a friend! It makes a huge difference and will help this show reach the audience we hope you agree it deserves.
A big thanks to Mercury, our presenting sponsor this season.
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Chapters:
0:00 Intro to Melanie
2:15 Canva’s scale and impact mindset
3:42 Melanie’s first startup and Canva origins
7:15 Melanie’s early motivation and facing doubts
10:19 Learning from customers and a long-term vision
16:35 Risking her life and her Upstart Moment
19:58 How to set effective team goals
22:51 Setting values, culture and priorities as you scale
28:01 Canva’s 1% pledge and giving away billions
33:02 Melanie’s homework for founders (like Alex)
On a personal note: when I launched Upstarts last year, my past coverage of Canva – and especially our groundbreaking 2019 Forbes cover story – served as major inspiration. It’s been a pleasure to cover Canva in the years since (including our interview with co-founder Cameron Adams in October), and I couldn’t imagine anyone more perfect to kick off this huge new phase of Upstarts journey.
In the episode, you’ll see what I mean: Melanie’s sense of purpose and impact is infectious – and she even tries to turn the tables on me. Paid subscribers can check out my 3 favorite lessons from the show, and the homework Melanie assigned me and I dutifully finished, below.
