Melanie Perkins
Co-founder of Canva
Quick Facts
- Born
- 1987, Perth, Australia
- Company
- Canva
- Canva founded
- 2013
- Industry
- Design & Technology
- Known for
- Co-founding Canva
- First company
- Fusion Books, started in 2007
- Canva launched
- 2013
- Co-founders
- Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams
Early Life
Melanie Perkins was born in 1987 in Perth, a city on the west coast of Australia. She was nineteen and studying at university when she started teaching other students how to use design programs like Photoshop. Watching them struggle, she kept noticing the same thing. The software was powerful, and it took months to learn, and most people gave up long before they got any good at it.
The First Company
That problem stuck with her. In 2007, working from her mom's living room, Melanie and her boyfriend Cliff Obrecht started a company called Fusion Books. It let students design their own school yearbooks online with simple drag-and-drop tools, no complicated software required. It worked. Fusion Books grew into one of the biggest yearbook companies in Australia and ran for years.
But Melanie had a bigger goal in mind. She wanted to bring that same easy design to everyone, for any kind of project.
Building Canva
Raising money was slow and hard. Investors kept turning her down, and she flew back and forth chasing meetings, including a stretch in Silicon Valley where she learned to kitesurf because one investor she wanted to reach loved the sport. In 2012 she teamed up with Cliff and a tech expert named Cameron Adams, and together they built Canva. It opened to the public in 2013.
Canva did the thing she'd been chasing since university. It let anyone make a poster, a card, or a presentation right in a web browser, with templates and a layout that made sense the first time you opened it. People didn't need a class to use it. They just started making things.
What Melanie Teaches Us
Canva caught on fast. Within a few years it had tens of millions of users around the world, from students to small businesses to huge companies. Melanie became one of the youngest self-made female billionaires in the world, and Canva kept its tools free for schools and charities.
Her whole company grew out of a small, everyday frustration that she refused to ignore. She watched people struggle, asked why it had to be so hard, and spent years building the answer. Some of the best ideas start exactly like that, with something annoying that everyone else has simply gotten used to.
Read the book about Melanie Perkins
Melanie Perkins: Founder of Canva
Explore the story of how Melanie Perkins co-founded the design platform Canva.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded Canva?
Canva was founded by Melanie Perkins along with Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams. Melanie came up with the idea, and the team launched Canva to the public in 2013.
How did Melanie Perkins start Canva?
While teaching design software at university, Melanie saw how hard it was for people to learn. She first built a simpler tool for making school yearbooks, called Fusion Books, in 2007, then used what she learned to create Canva, which launched in 2013.
How old was Melanie Perkins when she started her first company?
Melanie Perkins was nineteen when she started her first company, Fusion Books, in 2007. She ran it from her mom's living room in Perth, Australia, with her co-founder Cliff Obrecht.
What is Canva used for?
Canva is an online design tool that lets people make posters, cards, presentations, social media images, and more using simple drag-and-drop templates. It was built so people without any design training could make professional-looking work.
Is Melanie Perkins a billionaire?
Yes. As Canva grew into one of the most valuable tech companies in the world, Melanie Perkins became one of the youngest self-made female billionaires. She has also pledged to give away most of her wealth.
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