Home Business Sagas Australia's Richest Woman Who Owns $40 Billion Company Once Sold Scarves| Melanie Perkins, Co-founder, Canva Shares Entrepreneurship Lessons

Australia's Richest Woman Who Owns $40 Billion Company Once Sold Scarves| Melanie Perkins, Co-founder, Canva Shares Entrepreneurship Lessons

Urvashi Singhal

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Australia's Richest Woman Who Owns $40 Billion Company Once Sold Scarves| Melanie Perkins, Co-founder, Canva Shares Entrepreneurship Lessons

0 min read

Table of content:

Focus on Small Things
Perkins always believed in herself!
Persistence & Perseverance
Believe in the Power of Networking

Melanie Perkins (34 years old), Co-founder, Canva, is Australia's richest woman. From selling scarves to setting up her multi-billion dollar empire, this woman came up with the idea to build a free graphic design platform which is at present valued at $40 billion!

As Rome was not built in a day, so is Melanie Perkins' achievement, which is not an overnight success! Stick with us, as we share the ‘Entrepreneurship lessons’ by the Billionaire herself.

Entrepreneurship lessons from Melanie Perkins

1. Focus on Small Things, They make a BIG Difference

The rough idea of Canva popped into the mind of Perkins when she was just 15, studying at a university in Perth. Perkins, as a teen, had exceptional observational skills and wanted to do something big. She used to teach fellow students about graphic designing by conducting numerous programs, to earn some side income.

While teaching students how to use the Design Softwares, she realized the issues faced by them. The complicated interface and tedious workflow made it extremely difficult for the students to explore and self-learn. Getting inspired by this, Perkins decided to make the best out of the opportunity and went ahead to establish what we today know as Canva.

“The idea of making design simple was the first idea,” Perkins said.

2. Perkins always believed in herself!

Having no prior experience and limited resources, Perkins and Cliff Obrecht (Co-founder Canva) started small. To test their concept, they first created an online yearbook design business. The venture was named Fusion Books. They launched a student-friendly website to help them collaborate and design their profile pages & websites. The duo would also print the yearbooks and deliver them.

canva co-founder

Source: CNBC make it.

“My mum’s living room became my office, and my boyfriend became my business partner, and we started enabling schools to create their yearbooks simply,” said Perkins in an interview.

Although Fusion books turned out to be successful and remain active today, for Perkins, it was just the first step in what she considered the Crazy, big dream

3. Persistence & Perseverance: Seize every opportunity coming your way

After gaining success from their first venture, the duo got the confidence to pursue their dream. However, without funding, things did not seem to work out. Perth, a town built on mining and petrochemicals, made it even worse to gain investments.

In the following period, Perkins spotted—and seized—the narrowest of opportunities. Perkins and Obrecht had a chance encounter with Silicon Valley investor Bill Tai. Being impressed with the concept, Bill Tai helped the duo get in touch with people who could help them develop their business. This gave Perkins and Obrecht their first big break!

4. Believe in the Power of Networking

The founders left without any capital but with brand-new enthusiasm. They became fixtures at Tai's kitesurfing gatherings, which featured noteworthy tech executives looking to invest in new startups. However, the journey was far from plain sailing. Soon, the networking paid off as they met Mr. Cameron Adams, an ex-Google employee. Adams agreed to sign as the third Co-founder, thus becoming the technical leader the duo was seeking. In the subsequent months, the venture managed to raise $3 million in seed funding, coupled with crucial funding from the Australian Government.

Lesson for budding entrepreneurs

We live in an extremely dynamic world, where things change in a blink of an eye. It is indeed a blessing in disguise. All that we need is people who love challenges, irrespective of how intimidating they might appear. Perkins, right from her teenage years, had a dream to achieve something huge. Her state-of-art mindset & desire to achieve her goals have paved her way of success. Her achievement speaks for itself. Being a role model for many, Perkins has shared some of the lessons which she learnt through her journey of Entrepreneurship.

Indeed, there is a lot to learn from the Billionaire apart from the aforementioned lessons. We know, it is easier said than done, but one can try to incorporate as many qualities as he or she can. In the end, it is a tried and tested method which can lead you to something you have dreamt of!

“I think I’ve always put a lot of pressure on myself. And I think that sort of internal locus of control has been pretty strong,” said Perkins when asked about her secret of success.

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