Lenny's PodcastMelanie Perkins: How 'column B' thinking built Canva's $42B
Designing the future first, then working backwards into mission pillars; Perkins folded 100 investor rejections into clearer pitches and a two-step plan.
At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
From 100 investor rejections to Canva’s $42B column‑B empire
- Melanie Perkins, CEO and co-founder of Canva, explains how she built a $42B global design platform by obsessing over a ‘column B’ future: envisioning an ideal world first, then working backwards into concrete steps.
- She breaks down Canva’s internal operating system—crazy big goals, mission pillars, chaos-to-clarity decks, and rigorous customer feedback loops—that turn huge, vague ambitions into shippable products.
- Perkins also shares hard-earned lessons from two years of not shipping during a massive rewrite, more than 100 investor rejections, and the importance of protecting her energy to sustain long-term execution.
- Underpinning it all is Canva’s “two-step plan”: build one of the world’s most valuable companies and use its success and equity to do the most good, including large-scale poverty alleviation and free tools for schools and nonprofits.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasStart with the world you want, not the resources you have.
Perkins contrasts “column A” (stacking today’s bricks) with “column B” (imagining a magical future and then building towards it), arguing that transformative companies begin by designing the future reality they want to exist, then constructing a ladder of small, concrete steps to get there.
Turn rejection into an asset by systematically upgrading your pitch.
After 100+ investor rejections, Perkins folded every criticism into her deck—market size, differentiation, problem explanation—so that future pitches pre-answered objections; the vision stayed the same, but articulation and clarity improved dramatically.
Operationalize vision with clear mission pillars and measurable goals.
Canva’s mission (“empower the world to design”) is decomposed into explicit pillars—everyone, anything, every ingredient, every language, every device—then into annual, numeric goals (e.g., language coverage, device parity), making a huge vision executable and trackable.
Accept that timelines will be wrong, but stay committed to direction.
From a ‘six-month’ rewrite that took two years to long-range 2026 decks, Perkins emphasizes that while time estimates are often wildly off, continued compounding effort in the same direction eventually makes many of the original ‘crazy’ goals real.
Embed customer voice deeply: requests, tests, and closed feedback loops.
Canva collects over a million feature requests a year, tallies them, routes them to product teams, and explicitly “closes the loop” on 200+ requests annually; this, plus constant user testing, drives everything from small features (gradient text) to major products (Sheets, AI access for teachers).
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesIt was really clear in my mind that it was the future and I thought the investors were wrong.
— Melanie Perkins
A crazy big goal is something you feel completely inadequate before, but you want to work really hard to will it into existence.
— Melanie Perkins
Most planning is done by looking at the bricks and trying to stack them. Column B is imagining the castle on the hill and then working backwards.
— Melanie Perkins
We have a two-step plan: build one of the world’s most valuable companies and do the most good we can do.
— Melanie Perkins
Everything good was once imagined. If you don’t imagine it, you can’t will it into existence.
— Melanie Perkins
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