Canva co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins talks about the company’s early struggles, leadership lessons, growth in India, and plans for the future.
When Melanie Perkins first started teaching design software at university, she noticed a problem that would eventually become the foundation of Canva.
Students had to learn different tools every time they wanted to create something new. Perkins believed design should be simpler, more accessible, and available online.
Together with her husband and co-founder, Cliff Obrecht, she initially built an online design platform for school yearbooks. The bigger idea, however, was always to make design accessible to everyone.
Turning that idea into a global company took years of rejection. Investors questioned whether a design platform for non-designers could become a large business. Canva eventually launched in 2013 and has since grown into one of the world’s most widely used visual communication platforms.
Forbes estimates Perkins’ net worth at $7.6 billion, placing her at No. 498 on its 2026 Billionaires list. Her wealth is largely linked to her approximately 18% stake in Canva, which private investors valued at $42 billion in August 2025.
Rejection Forced Canva to Sharpen Its Story
Building Canva from Australia rather than Silicon Valley presented its own challenges.
Perkins says the Australian culture of being less focused on self-promotion initially made fundraising difficult. The repeated rejection, however, forced the founders to become better at explaining the opportunity.
When investors questioned the size of the market, the team prepared evidence showing its potential. When they said competitors already existed, Canva demonstrated the gap it believed those companies were leaving behind.
The founders even had to explain basic design concepts to investors so they could understand the product.
Perkins says those experiences ultimately helped the team articulate Canva’s vision more clearly.
AI Is Making Design More Accessible
Perkins sees AI as an extension of Canva’s original mission rather than a replacement for designers.
The company has added AI-powered features including Canva Code and Magic Layers, building on tools such as its Background Remover.
India has become one of Canva’s strongest markets for AI and Canva Code usage, according to Perkins.
She also sees collaboration as an important distinction. While AI tools can often be individual experiences, Canva is designed around people creating and working together.
Why India Has Become a Key Canva Market
India is now Canva’s fourth-largest market, and the company has invested heavily in localisation.
Canva has created around 300,000 localised templates for India and says nearly 246 million videos have been created on the platform in the country. More than a billion designs have been created in India in the past year alone, according to Perkins.
The platform is available in 10 Indian languages, and Canva works with around 500 local creators to develop templates for Indian users.
Perkins describes the strategy through a simple analogy. The core product is the “cupcake”, representing universal design needs, while the “icing” comes from local templates, fonts, payment methods, and publishing options.
The goal is to make the product feel genuinely local rather than simply offering an international platform in India.
Canva Is Keeping Its Free Product Generous
India’s price sensitivity has also influenced Canva’s approach to monetisation.
Perkins says the company has deliberately invested in a generous free product that allows users to create and download designs without paying.
For users who want additional features, Canva offers an affordable paid product in India, including “sachet pricing” that allows customers to purchase access for periods as short as a day or a week.
The strategy is designed to let users experience the platform before deciding whether to upgrade.
Giving Back Is Part of Canva’s Growth Strategy
Canva’s social-impact initiatives are closely tied to its product strategy.
The company provides its paid product free to students and teachers, allowing schools to use Canva for classroom materials. Perkins says the approach also helps introduce young users to the platform before they enter the workforce.
Canva’s nonprofit programme has more than one million organisations using its paid product for free.
Perkins argues that these initiatives do not necessarily compete with growth. Instead, they can build goodwill while expanding the number of people familiar with Canva.
She says investors have supported the strategy alongside the company’s growth over the past decade.
Perkins’ Leadership Lessons From Canva
After more than a decade of running Canva, Perkins says alignment and communication remain two of the most important leadership lessons.
Being aligned on the company’s broader direction makes smaller decisions easier, she says. Communication becomes particularly important when problems appear overwhelming.
Perkins compares those moments to finding a small door through a difficult situation. For Canva, the early investor rejections were the problem. Finding a way to communicate the company’s vision more effectively became the door through which the founders could move forward.
Building Canva Without the Traditional Tech Background
Perkins also entered the technology industry without many of the credentials traditionally associated with startup founders.
She was young, Australian, female, and did not come from a software background.
Instead of seeing that as a disadvantage, she says not knowing what she did not know allowed her to focus on the idea she believed in: that design should be online, collaborative, and simple enough for anyone to understand.
Her advice to young women entering technology centres on determination and maintaining an internal sense of control over their goals.
Perkins kept a note reminding herself that the future she envisioned would exist. The question was whether she would be the person who built it.
Canva’s Next Chapter Is About More Than Design
Canva’s ambition now extends well beyond making graphic design easier.
Perkins says the company wants to become one of the world’s most valuable companies while continuing to pursue its broader goal of doing good.
AI, localisation and collaboration are likely to remain central to that journey as Canva expands its role from a design tool into a broader platform for visual communication.
For Perkins, the central idea has remained remarkably consistent since those early university classrooms. People should be able to turn their ideas into something visual without first having to become professional designers.
Melanie Perkins, CEO & Co-founder, Canva. Photo: Courtesy Canva
Source: Forbes
