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Melanie Perkins is CEO and co-founder of Canva, valued at over $42 billion, with over $3 billion in annual revenue and eight consecutive years of profitability. She describes being rejected by over 100 investors in her first raise. She argues for "column B" thinking: build toward a dream future rather than just using the bricks around you.
We link to the original and never republish it. All credit to Melanie Perkins.
Key takeaways
- Perkins's "column B" thinking starts from an impossible vision rather than from the constraints you already have.
- She was rejected by over 100 investors in her first fundraising round and used each rejection to strengthen her pitch.
- Canva went two years without shipping a new feature during a technical rewrite, and the company survived it.
- Canva pivoted early from a yearbook publishing platform into the design product it is today.
- Canva's two-step plan is to build one of the world's most valuable companies, then do the most good possible.
Who it's for
Early-stage founders facing repeated fundraising rejection or weighing a pivot or a long rebuild of their product.
Why it's worth your time
It shows how one founder kept going through 100+ rejections and a two-year feature freeze, and how she frames big goals, which holds up whatever the market looks like.
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