Canva & Melanie Perkins: From Rejection to Unicorn
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Canva & Melanie Perkins: From Rejection to Unicorn

Mark Collins
By Mark Collins
October 14, 2026 6 Min Read
2

Canva is now used by more than 240 million people a month. Its early years were much harder. This article looks at the story of co-founder Melanie Perkins and what it teaches about handling rejection, making a product easy to use, and testing an idea before betting everything on it.

The Short Version

  • In 2007, at about age 19, Melanie Perkins started an online yearbook business called Fusion Books with her partner (now husband) Cliff Obrecht, while studying at the University of Western Australia. It began in her mother’s living room in Perth.
  • She wanted to build a much simpler design tool for people who were not professional designers. She kept developing Fusion Books because she lacked the resources to build that bigger idea.
  • In 2011 she met the US investor Bill Tai when he visited Perth. After that she learned to kitesurf, partly to attend his networking events.
  • She has said she faced more than 100 investor rejections. Reported reasons include being based in Australia and not having a technical background.
  • In 2012, according to several accounts, she raised about $1.6 million from angel investors and venture firms, including Bill Tai and Blackbird Ventures. Canva launched in 2013.
  • In August 2025, Canva said it had over 240 million monthly users, 27 million paying subscribers, $3.3 billion in annualized revenue and had been profitable for eight years. An employee share sale valued it at $42 billion.

Lesson 1: Treat Rejection as Information, Not Just a Test of Willpower

“Never give up” is the popular takeaway. A more useful version is: listen to the “no,” then decide what to change.

Perkins did not simply repeat the same pitch. According to the accounts I found, she kept working on Fusion Books to show real demand, built relationships with people in the investor network, and eventually found technical support. Reported advisors included Lars Rasmussen, and Cameron Adams later became a co-founder.

Warning: persistence does not make every idea good. Many people hear 100 “no” answers and the idea really is not working. The skill is separating “investors don’t get it yet” from “customers don’t want it.”

Try this: a rejection log. For each “no,” write down:

  • Who said it and when
  • The reason they gave
  • Whether it is about the idea, the team, the numbers or the timing
  • What you will change, test or ignore

After 10 entries, look for patterns. If the same reason appears again and again, that is data.

Lesson 2: Test a Small Version First

Fusion Books was not a side story. It was a working business with real customers (schools) and a template-based design tool. Accounts differ on its growth. One says it started with 16 schools, another says it later worked with about 400. Either way, it gave Perkins proof that people would use easy online design software and a team that had shipped a real product.

For your own idea, a small test might be:

  • A simple version of the product for one type of customer
  • Pre-orders or a paid pilot
  • A basic landing page that measures sign-ups
  • Five to ten customer interviews

The goal is to learn cheaply whether people will pay or keep using it.

Lesson 3: Simplicity Is a Strategy

Canva’s core promise was a design tool for people who are not designers. Professional design software is powerful but complicated. A simpler tool opens up a much bigger audience: teachers, small business owners, students and anyone making a flyer or a social post.

Simplicity here means choosing a limited number of jobs and doing them very easily. You can apply this idea to any product:

  1. Name one job. “Help a non-designer make a good-looking poster in minutes.”
  2. Remove steps. Count the clicks between starting and finishing.
  3. Test with a beginner. Ask someone who has never used your product to try it while you watch silently.
  4. Add features later, after the core works.

A caution on “simple.” Canva has expanded far beyond its early features. It has added docs, sheets, video and AI tools, and it is competing with large companies like Adobe and Figma. A simple start does not mean staying simple forever, but it gave the product a base people understood.

Lesson 4: Free Plus Paid Can Help a Product Spread

Canva offers a free version and sells paid plans. Of its 240 million monthly users, about 27 million were paying subscribers as of the 2025 company statement. That means roughly one in nine users paid. Free users can also tell others about the product.

This model suits some businesses and not others. Free users cost money to support, and the paid conversion rate matters. Before copying it, work out what each free user costs you and what share must upgrade for the business to work.

Lesson 5: Be Careful With Funding Headlines

Startup stories often highlight valuations. Here is what the numbers mean:

  • A valuation is what investors think a company is worth. It is not cash the founders hold.
  • An employee share sale (tender offer) lets staff sell some shares to investors. It does not raise money for the company in the usual way.
  • Annualized revenue is a snapshot projected over a year. It is not the same as audited yearly revenue.
  • Canva is a private company, so these numbers come from company statements and press reports.

On IPO plans, sources I found say Canva has not filed publicly. Its COO said in 2026 that Canva is ready but expected to list in 2027. Plans can change, so please do not treat any IPO date as certain.

Note for readers who invest: Be careful with offers to buy “pre-IPO” shares in private companies. The SEC publishes investor alerts about private-company and pre-IPO offerings. Check these before sending any money.

What This Story Does Not Prove

  • The “100 rejections” figure is self-reported and widely repeated, but it is not independently audited.
  • Survivorship bias. We hear about the founder who succeeded after many rejections, not the many who did not.
  • Access and timing mattered. Meeting a well-connected investor and entering the market as web-based tools were growing helped. Not everyone has those openings.
  • Sources disagree on details, such as school counts and exact dates, and some are low-quality. I used points that appear in more than one place.

Simple Worksheet: Test Your Idea and Handle the “No”

  1. One-sentence job: “My product helps [who] do [what] in [how fast/easily].” ___
  2. Smallest test version: ___
  3. Five people I will ask or show it to: ___
  4. Success signal (e.g., 3 of 10 say they would pay): ___
  5. Rejection log: Write each “no,” the reason, and what I will change. ___
  6. Beginner test: Can a first-time user finish the main task in under 5 minutes? Yes / No
  7. Things I will not build yet: ___
  8. Funding plan: Savings, early customers, loan or investors? What do I give up with each? ___
  9. Stop or change point: What result tells me to change direction? ___

Key Takeaways

  • Rejection is information. Record it, look for patterns and decide what to change.
  • Test a small version of your idea before a big bet.
  • A simple product with one clear job can reach more people.
  • Free-plus-paid models need careful math.
  • Valuations and share sales are not the same as cash in the bank.

Read our other inspiring real life stories too

How Gymshark Turned a Garage Startup Into a Cult Brand

The Story of Mailchimp: From Agency to SaaS

What Sara Blakely and Spanx Can Teach You on Starting Small

Sources and Further Reading

Disclaimer: This article is for general education and is not investment advice. Please speak to a licensed financial professional about your own situation.

Mark Collins
Author

Mark Collins

I’m Mark Collins—finance enthusiast, learner, and educator. I translate complex finance, investing, and economics into simple, bite-sized lessons for beginners. Join me as I decode the world of money so you can reach your financial goals with total confidence.

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