The world is growing into a technological environment in which individuals are modernizing graphic formats. With this in mind, the corporate titans launched a number of animation and graphic design platforms. However, they were unable to secure the top rank in the sector.
The only program that remains is Canva. Canva is the most popular platform, with more than 60 million monthly active users across 190 countries. And here we will see how Melanie Perkins, from an average family, backed this world-class platform and her story.
“If you can offer a free tier that provides a lot of value, it will naturally help your product to spread much more rapidly” – Melanie Perkins
Melanie Perkins Wiki Profile
Name | Melanie Perkins |
Date of Birth | May 13, 1987 |
Birth Place | Perth, Western Australia |
Age | 37 years (as of 2024) |
Height | 5 feet 6 inches |
Net Worth | $3.6 billion |
Profession | Entrepreneur, Co-founder and CEO of Canva |
Parents | Not publicly disclosed |
Marital Status | Married (husband: Cliff Obrecht) |
Nationality | Australian |
Melanie Perkins’ early life
Melanie Perkins was born in 1987 in Perth, Western Australia. She is the daughter of an Australian-born teacher and a Malaysian engineer of Filipino and Sri Lankan ancestry.
She completed her secondary studies at Sacred Heart College in the northern Perth suburb of Sorrento.
Melanie aspired to be a professional figure skater while in school, so she attended competitive ice-skating training sessions.
She would get up at 4.30 a.m. every day to workout. However, she resigned for personal reasons.
Melanie now feels that ice skating helped her become more disciplined and taught her the value of consistency. Overall, her ice skating training provided her with a solid foundation and prepared her for the future.
Melanie was already a business-savvy lady.
When she was 14, she sold homemade scarves. This demonstrates her business passion from a young age.
Melanie enrolled in the University of Western Australia after high school to study communication, psychology, and commerce. During this time, she also worked as a private tutor for graphic design students.
Melanie became aware of the issues students have when learning design applications such as Adobe Photoshop while working on this project.
She even claimed that it takes pupils about a semester at university to become acquainted with the fundamentals of these difficult design programs.
While some see it as an issue, Melanie saw it as a business opportunity. She was considering making the design process easy for the user.
Thus, at the age of 19, she dropped out of education to launch her first firm with her partner Cliff Obrecht.
Melanie Perkins, Early Career
Melanie and her partner founded Fusion Books, their first venture, after dropping out of university.
The website allowed junior and senior students to build their school yearbooks using a simple drag and drop tool that included a variety of design templates.
Melanie intended to make the entire design process easier using her software, but due to competition from established firms and a lack of experience/resources, she determined that ‘it did not seem the obvious thing to do’.
Her mother was a teacher who also coordinated the school yearbook.
She looked at the time it takes to produce a yearbook and decided that the high degree of customer friction would make yearbooks an ideal niche to test the idea for Canva.
She began working on this artwork at her mother’s Duncraig living room.
She made contacts in colleges and universities in order to gain new clientele for her firm. Sometimes her mother assisted them in printing the yearbooks.
Melanie’s pinnacle came after 5 years, when Fusion Books became Australia’s largest yearbook firm.
It eventually spread to nations such as France and New Zealand.
The establishment of Canva
Melanie and Obrecht were doing well with Fusion Books, despite a lack of funding for development and expansion.
She approached several small investors in Perth, but over 100 of them declined to invest. Overall, they had significant difficulty in raising financing from investors.
However, the two partners trusted in themselves and their firm, and they looked forward to new opportunities. During this time, notable investor Bill Trai visited Perth to judge a start-up competition.
Melanie and Obrecht presented their Canva proposal to him over dinner. In addition, there were additional venture investors, notably Rick Baker of Blackbird Ventures.
They did not receive finance, but became frequent attendees at Trai-hosted conferences for investors and start-up projects.
Some of the events were place in Silicon Valley, where the two partners met Lars Rasmussen, the co-founder of Google Maps.
He exhibited interest in their ideas but advised the founder to hold off until they found a professional tech team of the necessary caliber.
Rasmussen then worked as Canva’s technology advisor, introducing them to Cameron Adams, an ex-Google employee with significant technological experience.
However, he was not interested in working for them because he was starting his own firm.
Adam was in Silicon Valley, seeking to obtain financing for his firm. Melanie then wrote her another email, asking whether he was interested in their business.
Fortunately, he accepted to join Canva as its third founder and Chief Product Officer.
Launch of Canva
Cameron joined the firm and contributed capital to help the brand expand, thus the bad days ended. Canva was formally established in 2013, following two rounds of initial investment.
Melanie announced her appointment as CEO of Canva, Obrecht as COO, and Cameron as the company’s COP.
Canva’s growth was rapid. It swiftly expanded and diversified the business.
In fact, they had over 600,000 users in their early days. In the following months, they extended the company’s reach to Beijing and Manila.
Melanie rose to prominence in Silicon Valley after only slightly diversifying her firm outside of Australia.
She became a topic of discussion for many US IT executives. She was clearing up the graphic design industry rivalry on a massive scale.
She rose to international prominence after being included to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Asia list.
In 2020, the firm raised $60 million, bringing its worth up to $6 billion.
As a consequence, Melanie became Australia’s third richest woman, with a net worth of $1.3 billion.
Melanie Perkins Husband
Melanie Perkins married Cliff Obrecht, her long-term boyfriend and business partner, in January 2021 on Rottenest Island. The pair had been friends since college.
Obrecht proposed to Perkins in 2019 while on holiday in Turkey’s backpacker-friendly Cappadocia area.
The engagement ring cost only $30, making it less expensive than practically any modest or middle-class person.
They believe in being philanthropic rather than squandering money on frivolous items. This act captivated millions of hearts throughout the world.
Furthermore, in November 2021, they joined the Giving Pledge, pledging at least half of their money to humanitarian causes.
Melanie is an adventurous lady. She enjoys traveling and exploring new locations throughout the world. Nonetheless, she found the India trip to be the most enjoyable, and she considers it a life-changing event.
She frequently kitesurfed with venture entrepreneur Bill Trai.
Melanie Perkin Net Worth
Melanie Perkins’ estimated net worth is A$9.22 billion (US$ 6.5 billion) as of January 31, 2022, according to Forbes.
Her entire net worth was A$7.98 billion in 2021, representing a greater than 15% increase in a single year due to extensive humanitarian efforts.
Melanie had a net worth of A$ 3.43 billion in 2020. The total figure is looking quite impressive and consistent. She is continually expanding her business and improving her personal financial situation.
In 2020, she was included to the Australian Financial Review Rich List. Aside from that, she and her husband have been listed on several Australian and global richest lists.
Melanie, the CEO and Co-founder of Canva, was able to raise this much funding in a relatively short period of time. The most astonishing thing about her is that she is still in her 30s and earning this much money.
Also Read: The Life Story of Late American Motivational Speaker and Entrepreneur Jim Rohn.
The Bottom Line
Melanie has always wanted to create a platform that will simplify the entire graphic design process. However, she lacks the funding to launch and expand her initiative. However, she had trust in herself.
Her dream has finally come true, thanks to her hard work and difficulties.
We all have two alternatives in life: commit to something and work hard for it, or walk away and live a 6 to 8 job life.
More than 90% of respondents choose to work between 6 and 8 hours every day. And it is not a lie that they have no clue about anything.
Many of them had kneeled down in front of their little troubles and failed to confront the obstacles.
We encourage you to work hard till you don’t receive anything. Just don’t worry about the prize. Simply work and work consistently in the appropriate manner.
One day, success will be beneath your feet.